Cooking food in pouches can seem gimmicky, but it’s actually a great method for preparing quick and easy meals for one person or a party for ten! Cooking in pouches, known in French as en papillote, or “in paper,” is a method of steaming foods with their own juices, with all of the dish’s components wrapped up together in the pouch—sauce included! These foods cook quickly, require little fat, and can be prepared ahead of time. Cooked at the last minute, they are often served in their pouch, meaning no time spent plating individual components.
En papillote indicates a specific preparation, but there are similar dishes, known by regional names, throughout the world. Like other methods of steaming, cooking en papillote is best suited to naturally tender foods like chicken, fish, and shellfish. Though foods cooked en papillote are typically baked in the oven, pouches made of foil or other heat-safe wrappers are perfect for grilling season!
Trim and portion the food as required by the recipe. It may be marinated or seared as an initial step, if appropriate. The classic wrapper for a dish en papillote is parchment paper, but the effect is similar when aluminum foil, lettuce, plantain, grape or banana leaves, corn husks, or similar wrappers are used to enclose foods as they cook—the wrapper traps the steam driven from the food as it heats up. The dish is often presented to the guest still in its wrapper, and when the packet is opened, it releases a cloud of aromatic steam.
To cook en papillote, cut the parchment paper to the appropriate size and butter or oil it. The shape doesn't matter, as long as there is enough room for your foods to be wrapped fully. Place a bed of aromatics, vegetables, or sauce on one half of the paper, then top the bed with the main item.
Fold the parchment paper in half, and crimp the edges to seal the pouch. Place the paper packet on a hot baking sheet or shallow pan.
Bake the packet in the oven until it is puffed and browned. Serve immediately.
