This recipe is adapted from Julia Child’s classic recipe in ‘Master the Art of French Cooking’. You might want to read this blog also: The 10 Commandments of Coq au Vin but not until after you’ve made the recipe(s) below. There are three: the main coq au vin, the onions and the mushrooms. There is no ‘one pot’ short cuts here. Settle in and cook.
Ingredients – Main Recipe
4. ounces unsmoked bacon lardons
Butter
3 pounds of jointed chicken – legs & thighs with the bone in are best
Salt & pepper
½ cup of cognac
2 cups of decent red wine
2 cups of chicken stock (approximate)
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 clove of mashed garlic
1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of thyme
1 ounce of flour
1 ounce of very soft butter
Instructions – main recipe
- Cook the bacon in the butter in a deep cast iron stock pot, remove with a slotted spoon when crisp.
- Dry the chicken thoroughly, season with salt and pepper then brown the chicken quickly in small batches.
- Heat the cognac in the microwave and return to the pot with the chicken and the bacon, VERY CAREFULLY flame the cognac.
- Turn the heat to low, pour in the red wine, enough chicken stock to cover the chicken, the tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf and thyme.
- Simmer slowly for 30 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked.
- Remove the chicken from the cooking liquid, cover and keep warm.
- Boil the cooking liquid down so there are about 2 cups left, remove the bay leaf and thyme.
- Make a beurre manie (combine the butter and flour) and whisk into the cooking liquid to thicken and make gravy. It’s going to be a purple brown colour depending on your red wine. This is the thing that you think won’t work, but it does.
- Return the chicken to the pot, add the mushrooms and the onions (see following recipes). Bring up to heat and serve.
Ingredients – brown braised miniature onions
18-24 miniature onions
2-4 tablespoons of butter, a shot of olive oil
½ cup of chicken stock or red wine (or a combination of the two
A bouquet garni
- Peel the onions. This is annoying so use this blog, it works great. https://www.finedininglovers.com/article/how-to-peel-pearl-onions
- Bring the butter and oil up to temperate in a skillet, add the onions and brown.
- You will need to roll them around in the butter and keep them moving. They won’t be perfectly even in colour.
- Add the liquid, salt and pepper to taste and the bouquet garni. Simmer for 40/50 minutes.
- Put to one side ready to combine in your coq au vin.
Ingredients – sauteed mushrooms
½ pound of quality small mushrooms (double this recipe if you have mushrooms lovers in your house)
2 tablespoons of butter
Splash of olive oil
2 tablespoons of finely chopped shallots (optional)
- Prep the mushrooms to a nice eating size, if small just remove stems, otherwise half or quarter.
- Heat the butter and oil.
- Add the mushrooms and shallots if using,
- Sauté for 2-3 minutes until browned but don’t overcook.
- Put to one side ready to include in your coq au vin