First off, really glad you like the dish. Isn't it amazing how simple it can be sometimes to achieve such great flavors.

As for the timing, I guess how quickly everyone works in the kitchen is a bit different. In the end what really matters is how did it turn out and were you happy with it?

As for how long it should take to make the sauce, this will depend on your stove, how hot you had the heat and also on the stock you used. In this recipe we use a homemade dark chicken stock, which is already naturally thicker from the gelatin in the bones. This means it will not take as long to reduce. We are merely looking for the right consistency, not the amount of reduction, so thicker stock equals quicker time to achieve right consistency.

If you need to "crank up" the heat a bit to reduce the stock then go ahead, just keep an eye on it. In this case, the lower heat is just easier to manage but it will take more time, so feel free to turn the heat up a bit to reduce the stock quicker.

If you haven't already you should try making this recipe with the Dark Chicken Stock, it will make quite a difference, with flavor, consistency and even on time. Here is a link to the recipe - http://epi1.rouxbe.com/recipes/800
When I make a batch of this stock I usually take half of it and reduce it down to half it's volume. This makes it much quicker later, when I go to make a sauce. You can see how to do this in Step 4 of the link I added.

Hope this helps Mark, good luck!

Thanks for the tips Dawn. I will attempt to make dark stock for this next time, if I can get the required bones for that.

The marsala recipe calls for 1 cup of dark stock... Does that mean 1 cup of reduced stock (as in step 4 from your link), or would you use less stock (half?) if it's already been reduced?

I would use less of the reduced chicken stock, but like you inferred, this will depend on how much you reduce it beforehand. Just remember that you are just looking for the right consistency, so try to steer away from "exactly" how much you are using and just look for that sauce-like consistency.

Once you work with your own stock you will know better how much to add and how much to reduce it to get that consistency. Let me know how it turns out Mark...good luck!

Can anyone recommend a nice vegetable dish to go with this recipe?

Here are a few suggestions for sides:
Lemon Garlic Rapini
Roasted Glazed Carrots
Sautéed Green Beans
Grilled Asparagus

This one would also go nicely
Braised Kale - you can serve it either braised or even just sautéed would be nice.

Hope this helps – Happy Cooking!

Wat is marsala wine? not sure i can find them wer i lived but was wondering, can it be marsala paste mixed with red wine? just a thought or is there any other alternatives
tx

I wouldn't recommend a paste. Marsala has a very unique flavor that gives this dish it's unique taste. However, you could try a dry sherry or even a port. Red wine will also produce a great sauce, but it will not taste like Marsala.

Here is some additional information:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/332974

Hope this helps.

Made this for my 7 year old and I tonight. Couldn't make or find the Dark Stock so I used regular. Was in a bit of a rush in the very end and grabbed a handful of Cilantro instead of Parsley, Wow... Great kick from it.
Turned out great. I loved the cilantro on top. It seemed to add a punch to the whole dish.
I will make it again someday with the proper ingredients.
I never seem to be able to find all the ingredients were I live. Always a problem finding all the parts to build it to factory specs and finding fresh ingredients is just about imposable. I plan to grow most of it next year.
Anybody in my area, come on over and play in the kitchen with us.

Thanks Rouxbe!

1st time making Chicken Mmarsala turned out incredible! Even my picky eating kids 6, 9 and 12 couldn't get enough. I pared this entre with long grain rice and sautéed zucchini. I rated this 100 even though my sauce didn't thicken up as much as I expected. Maybe it had to do with the light chicken stock. I can't find dark stock at my local grocery store. I'll probably be making my own soon. Thanks Rouxbe for another wonderful meal!!

When I first made this sauce successfully, I loved it so much that I made it with both beef and pork tenderloin, cod, and tuna filets. Am I correct to assume that the basic sauce can be used successfully with all of these other meats/fishes? I have to say that both the people I served it to loved it.

That is the beauty of cooking David...if you like something then it works!

I think traditionally Marsala sauce was served with veal, but these days it is served with pasta, poultry, fish and much more.

Keep up the good work with experimenting David...this is a sign that you are thinking like a chef!

First off, I love this recipe for this favoured dish. It turned out perfectly for me - perfect balance. Yep, speed of assembly and organized procedure do go a long way. My question is, in your opinion, would it worth brining the breasts?
Thanks and happy new year!

For sure you could brine the breasts, just not for very long as the breasts are small (watch the lesson on brining for more detail on how long to brine.)

My suggestion to truly know if it is worth it to you, would be to do an experiment - brine one breast and leave one unbrined...cook them both to see if you notice a difference. I personally do, but others may not. Hope this helps Peter!

Thank you so much, Dawn. May I say I am learning so much from your site - taking my time, and spending good time in learning the best lessons of all - the mistakes! hehehe I am not quick to create variations on something someone else of skill has created - I prefer to learn from them first. Taking my time. Thanks for taking *your* time to respond. I will experiment with brining and not brining the breasts prior to a marsala preparation and see how it goes. Forgive my asking this in the context of this recipe comment space but I don't know where else to ask... I now have in the freezer enough of a collection of lamb trimmings and bones to make a nice dark stock. Can you suggest some ideas on its uses? :) What would you do if a friend gifted you with rich lamb demi glace? If there's a better way for me to ask ?s and keep clutter down in a recipe comment area let me know. Best, Peter

Peter I am so glad you are learning and enjoying the lessons. As far as where to ask questions you can either search the site for what you are looking for; for example if you are looking for information about lamb stock, you can search for "lamb" or even "stock". There you may find some already existing forums on the subject (under the tab "forum discussions" or even under some of the other tabs). If not you can always start a new discussion.

That being said, don't worry about it too much...we are all here to help, no matter where the questions are asked. As far as what I would do with a nice lamb dark stock...well I might use it to make a nice lamb tagine or maybe use it to make a nice pan sauce to go with either of the lamb loin taster or maybe a piece of lamb sirloin.

Hope this helps Peter...Happy Cooking!

After following your excellent directions to cook steaks with a pan sauce for my family, I was ready to stretch out. Tonight was Chicken Night and I decided to give this recipe a try. It was wonderful!

I'm wondering if I was supposed to further reduce the sauce after I squeezed the lemon into it? It seemed a bit runny.

I love responding to these types of comments. And Jim, please don't take this as condescending in any way. Conversely, give yourself a pat on the back.

Short answer. If it seemed a bit runny, then it was, and yes...reduce it a bit more. For more information, watch the Cooking School Lesson on How to Make Pan Sauces.

Why I like responding to these types of comments is that I can see a potential student (Jim, you need to join the school) sitting on the edge of the culinary fence - the great divide between home cooks that follow like drones and those that lead with confidence in the kitchen. Jim, you are so close to falling over to the right side and I can see this because you are making observations and almost answering your own question based on your intuition. You just need to start trusting this intuition and taking action. Trust comes from knowledge and lots of practice. Most people when cooking recipes simply follow. They don't always think. They don't take auditory and visual cues and ask the right questions. Cooking even the simplest dishes WILL involve making many continual small cooking adjustments along the way.

Reducing a pan sauce, if you have built the sauce correctly and used a good stock, is as simple as waiting for the right cues. Keep reducing and you will get there. That's it.

Jim, you're asking the right questions. Now trust your own instincts and take corrective action until you reach the desired end result. I bet if you did this dish tomorrow it would be perfect - especially if you watched the lesson on pan sauces and armed yourself with some professional chef knowledge.

See you on the other side :-). You're almost there.

Well, before I'd seen Joe's comments above, I made the dish again. I notices that the demonstrating cook caught the lemon pips in her hand, so I did that. After adding the lemon juice and warming the chicken, I reduced the sauce again. That worked much better!

Friday's Chicken Marsala was much better than anything I'd done with bird before. But last night was marked improvement over that. I will say that both times I added mushrooms to the pan sauce...because we like mushrooms. So, technically, I suppose it was Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms.

Joe, thanks for your encouragement. I plan to get a membership once payday rolls around this week. I vastly enjoy the video lessons, which are clear and easy to understand. I've found the quizzes a great tool to distill the lessons and focus on technique. I'm looking forward to learning a lot from you all! Perhaps, when I update my travel papers, I'll make the "pilgrimage" to your school, only two hours away from my home town.

We have an electric stove :( . I would like to buy a stainless steel pan as you recommend through must of your lectures. My wife insists that a stainless steel pan will develop hot spots. Is this correct?

Jorge I. Auñón

If you are asking if stainless steel pans are what you should be buying or if they are worth it, the answer is yes. Stainless steel pans are good pans to invest in.

This dish came out terrifically. Thank you! Just a couple of questions. Marsala is typically defined as a sauce with mushrooms. I'm not particularly a fan of mushrooms, but was wondering why you left them out of the recipe. Also, I know it's common to dredge the chicken in flour. I thought the chicken was great without the flour, but was wondering if dredging added any benefits.

hey sorry just wanted to know if i don't drink wine replace it wiv?? thanks

How about a wine called Fre. It has no alcohol.

You can use many different liquids, it's up to you and the flavor profile you are looking to create. I suggest you watch the Rouxbe Cooking School Lesson on How to Make a Pan Sauce to learn more about this. Cheers!

Hi Basadie! The alcohol in the Marsala cooks off in the process of making the sauce. There's no alcohol left by the time you've reduced the wine to its sugars.

As one of the staff told me at one point, you can use whatever you wan't--it just wouldn't be correct to call it Marsala if you don't use Marsala wine. I made a nice sauce recently using Blasamic vinegar. And, in Korean cooking, people sometimes use Coca-Cola. So, there are ways of doing sauces without using alcoholic beverages.

The thing is, even if you were to use Vodka or Rum, you would cook off the alcohol before you proceed to the stock. That's my take away, anyhow.