A Dijon specialty of roast chicken served with a sauce of Dijon mustard, grated Comte cheese, and cream. Created in 1930 by Reine Genevieve Bourgogne, wife of Gaston Gerard — deputy and mayor of Dijon — and publicized by the celebrated gastronomic writer Curnonsky.
Chicken Gaston Gerard was created in 1930 in Dijon, Burgundy, and is attributed to Reine Genevieve Bourgogne, the wife of Gaston Gerard — a deputy and the mayor of Dijon from 1919 to 1935. According to the established account, she developed the recipe, and it was validated and publicized by Curnonsky — Maurice Edmond Sailland, the celebrated gastronomic writer known as the Prince of Gastronomes — who promoted it as a Dijon specialty. The dish combines a roast chicken — traditionally a prized Bresse chicken — with a sauce built from the pan juices, deglazed with white wine, and finished with Dijon mustard, grated Comte or Gruyere cheese, and cream.
The chicken arrives golden-roasted, carved and nappe with a glossy, pale-yellow sauce of mustard, cream, and melted Comte. The sauce is the point — tangy from the Dijon mustard, rich and coating from the cream and cheese, with a savory depth that lifts the simple roast bird. Eaten hot, the sauce should be the dominant element; the chicken is its vehicle.
Chicken Gaston Gerard rests on a sauce finished with mustard, cheese, and cream. The chicken is roasted to develop Maillard browning and to render its fat into the pan; the fond — the browned juices — is then deglazed with white wine to capture every savory compound. Into this base, Dijon mustard is whisked for its pungency and its emulsifiers (mucilage from the mustard seed), grated Comte for its savory depth and melting fat, and cream for the fat that tempers the mustard and binds the sauce into a stable emulsion. The sauce must be warmed through after these additions, not boiled, because high heat would destroy the mustard's volatile aromatics and risk splitting the cream-and-cheese emulsion.
Variations
Some versions use Gruyere instead of Comte; the Dijon mustard, the grated cheese, the cream, and the Bresse chicken are the regional signatures.
On the Palate
Where Gaston Gerard Chicken sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
6 steps · 30 min
- 140 min
Roast a chicken — traditionally a Bresse bird — until golden and cooked through.
- 25 min
Lift the bird to rest; reserve the pan with its juices and fond.
- 38 min
Deglaze the pan with white wine, scraping up the fond; reduce slightly.
Watch outDeglaze the roasting pan with wine, scraping up every browned bit of fond — that stuck-on fond is the sauce's whole savory backbone.
- 45 min
Off the heat, whisk in Dijon mustard to taste, then grated Comte cheese.
- 55 min
Stir in heavy cream; warm through gently without boiling until the sauce is smooth and glossy.
Watch outWarm the mustard-cheese-cream sauce through gently, never boiling — a boil splits the emulsion into grease and curdles the mustard sharp.
- 65 min
Carve the chicken, nappe with the sauce, and serve at once.
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