Chicken cutlets Pojarsky

This is a semi-processed preparation: where a mincer gives the coarse meat of a burger, the food processor gives an ultra fine texture.

Cut the chicken into rough large cubes and cut the butter into cubes.

Soak the white of the bread in cream for a few minutes and mix it with a fork.

If there is excess liquid, put the soaked bread in a sieve and press it down -- too much moisture in the bread is the main fault in this recipe.

Chill the chicken pieces, then pulse them in the food processor with the metal blade for a few seconds to preprocess them.

Add the bread mixture, broken down small with the fork, and pulse again a few times.

Season with two or three pinches of salt and a good grind of white or black pepper.

Variation: flavour the mixture at this stage with a pinch of paprika powder, a little curry powder, or a few onions that must themselves be processed.

Add the cubed butter and process a final few seconds, until the butter is totally dissolved in with no visible traces, but no longer.

Cover the mixture and rest it 15 minutes in the fridge before shaping.

With clean hands on a bench with a little flour, take about a spoonful at a time and shape it; the shape does not matter.

Roll each shaped piece in breadcrumbs, or put the plate back in the fridge first -- the mixture softens very fast and has to stay stiff to work with.

If the patties feel soft enough to break, fridge them 30 minutes, or freeze them and cook them straight from hard.

Fry them in one or two tablespoons of clarified butter over moderate heat, not really hot; a little neutral oil works too.

Allow a good 10 to 15 minutes for a batch. Wait at least five minutes without moving them, until they have colour, before turning.

Turn them once and give another five minutes, ten minutes in all; keep a flat surface against the pan so the edges cook.

Lift them out with tongs -- they firm up and become solid only once cooked -- and drain them on a kitchen towel.