Seasoning and tasting flour for chicken marsala>?

[freshbytes]

Maybe a dumb question but when seasoning flour for a dish like chicken marsala with salt and pepper, should you be able taste only a small bite of both spices and mainly flour or a heavy taste, and should you season the chicken breast themselves or should the salt and pepper in the flour be enough.

Thanks

 

[amazingrace]

Just my opinion [FWIW]:  There should be a harmony of flavors, balanced so they all work together, rather than any one being predominant.  As for the flour,  I do not think you should be able to taste that at all. 

 

[french fries]

I personally find it easier to season the protein first then flouring it.

 

[boar_d_laze]

Fresh,

Not a dumb question at all.  It goes to one of the most basic and most frequently overlooked principle of good cooking which is seasoning in layers. 

Season the chicken breasts lightly, before flouring.  Season the flour lightly as well. 

Season in layers, whenever possible -- even if it's only a pinch of salt and a turn of pepper per layer.

BDL

 

[french fries]

Hey BDL! Thanks for chiming in. I've heard of that "seasoning in layers" quite a lot - what does it mean exactly in this case? I have trouble understanding why a pinch of salt in the flouring (which is going to be a very light coating correct?) will make a difference in the final product. Since you're the expert and I'm only a humble pupil, I'll try salting my flour from now on - but ... care to explain the always elusive "why"? Is it the chicken that will taste different? The sauce? Both? Why?

Thanks!! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

French-Fries-a-k-a-Mr-I-need-to-understand-everything-I-do.

 

[boar_d_laze]

Yet more good questions.  Everything tastes different when its seasoed.  Layering develops "depth," a quality hard to describe but easy to spot. 

I suspect cooking with things which already taste good helps as well. 

BDL

 

[french fries]

Thanks BDL. I don't want to hi-jack this thread, I think I'll start a new thread on the layering topic shortly.

 

[gobblygook]

You should season the chicken, which seasons the chicken.  You should season the breading, which seasons the breading.  You should season the sauce which seasons the sauce.  You wouldn't make gravy for potatoes without seasoning the gravy, would you?  You wouldn't season ONLY the gravy and have bland potatoes, right?  Same idea. 

 

[french fries]

You should season the chicken, which seasons the chicken.  You should season the breading, which seasons the breading.  You should season the sauce which seasons the sauce.  You wouldn't make gravy for potatoes without seasoning the gravy, would you?  You wouldn't season ONLY the gravy and have bland potatoes, right?  Same idea. 

Thanks - the analogy with potatoes and gravy doesn't really work because you can clearly taste the gravy, and you can clearly taste the potatoes independently of each other. With chicken Marsala, you can't really taste the flour, it's just melded into the chicken and/or the sauce, but it's not an individual element of the dish. It's not really a breading either (which one could taste separately from the other elements).

Let's say you're making a Bechamel, you're not starting with seasoned flour, salted butter and seasoned milk, right? You just build the sauce without seasoning, and season the sauce at the end. If you're doing any differently for a chicken Marsala, I wonder... why?

 

[chrisbelgium]

French Fries, maybe this explanatin will clarify a bit more. When cooking stuff for a longer period of time you always need to season at the beginning, or you will never be able to correct the seasoning again.

It's not all that clear in covering a chickenbreast with flour and immediately frying it, but it is all the more in stews like boeuf bourguignon, carbonades ets. You need not only to sear the meat properly at the beginning of the preparation, you need to season it correctly at that time. Then follows a very long cooking time. Forgetting the initial seasong will never get you a good result.

 

[freshbytes]

No need to post another thread, thanks for the replies everyone. I think I found the answers I was looking for.

 

[french fries]

French Fries, maybe this explanatin will clarify a bit more. When cooking stuff for a longer period of time you always need to season at the beginning, or you will never be able to correct the seasoning again.

It's not all that clear in covering a chickenbreast with flour and immediately frying it, but it is all the more in stews like boeuf bourguignon, carbonades ets. You need not only to sear the meat properly at the beginning of the preparation, you need to season it correctly at that time. Then follows a very long cooking time. Forgetting the initial seasong will never get you a good result.

Chris, thanks for trying to help, but seasoning the protein prior to cooking has never been questioned by me. You must have read only my last post and misinterpreted what I said. The discussion was about the need to season the FLOUR in addition to seasoning the protein.