Chicken Kiev

Beat the softened butter with the garlic paste, the parsley, the dill, the lemon juice and the 2g of fine salt until evenly green.

Roll the butter into a tight log about 3cm across inside cling film and twist the ends closed.

Freeze the log for 30 minutes, until hard right through.

Cut the frozen log into four short batons and return them to the freezer.

The butter must be frozen solid, not merely cold. Soft butter smears as you wrap the chicken around it, and every smear is a channel for it to escape through later.

Lay a chicken breast between two sheets of cling film and beat it out to an even 5mm with a rolling pin.

Work from the centre outwards with glancing, sideways blows rather than hammering straight down. Straight-down blows punch holes, and a hole is exactly where the butter will leave.

Season the flattened breasts on both sides with the 4g of fine salt and the ground peppercorns.

Lay a frozen butter baton across the narrow end of each breast.

Fold the two long sides in over the butter, then roll the breast up into a tight parcel with no opening anywhere along it.

Put the flour, the beaten eggs and the breadcrumbs in three shallow dishes.

Roll each parcel in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, keeping the seam side down as you work.

Now do the egg and the breadcrumbs a second time.

Double-crumb every one. The first coat wets and fills the irregularities in the surface but seals nothing; the second coat is the one that actually holds. A single-crumbed parcel splits at the seam as soon as the butter turns liquid and starts pushing outwards.

Chill the crumbed parcels uncovered in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or freeze them for 30 minutes.

This chill does two jobs: it dries the crumb into a firm shell, and it keeps the butter solid for the first minutes in the oil, which is when the seams are most vulnerable.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F.

Heat the oil in a deep heavy pan to 175C/350F, with at least 8cm of clear space above the surface.

Fry two parcels at a time for 4-5 minutes, turning once, until deep even gold.

Lift them onto a rack set over a tray and finish in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Check with a thermometer pushed into the meat at the thickest point, avoiding the butter channel, and look for 74C/165F.

Rest for 4 minutes on the rack, not on kitchen paper, which traps steam and softens the underside.

Cut into them at the table, with the plate tilted, and stand back. The butter comes out fast and hot.