Coq au vin
By tradition a dish for an old rooster whose tough meat needed a long soak in wine and several hours of braising. Today it is made with chicken, but the marinating remains and is not a formality: a night in wine gives the meat flavour and a deep colour. The second crucial step runs against instinct — the meat must be patted completely dry before it hits the pan.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Marinating 600 min
- Browning 25 min
- Braising 90 min
- Onions and mushrooms 20 min
- Reducing the sauce 15 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneMarinate the chicken in wine overnight
Cover the chicken pieces with the wine, onion, carrot, thyme, bay and peppercorns and refrigerate for 10 hours. The wine flavours the meat and its pigments (anthocyanins) stain the surface — after marinating the chicken is purple, as it should be.
Ingredients: 1600 g chicken · 750 ml red wine · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs carrots · 4 pcs thyme · 2 pcs bay leaves · 10 pcs peppercorns
Meat fully submerged, overnight in the fridge.Pat the meat completely dry
Lift out the chicken and dry it thoroughly with kitchen paper, keeping the marinade. Skipping this ruins the dish: wet meat in a pan steams instead of browning, and without browning the sauce stays thin and sour.
Ingredients: 1600 g chicken · 750 ml red wine · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs carrots · 4 pcs thyme · 2 pcs bay leaves · 10 pcs peppercorns
A dry surface — otherwise the meat steams, it does not brown.Render the bacon and brown the chicken in batches
Render the bacon in a cast iron pot and lift it out. Salt the chicken lightly. In the bacon fat with the butter, brown it in batches, 4 minutes a side, without crowding, and set each batch on a plate. With the bacon this takes about 25 minutes. Crowded pieces drop the temperature and start steaming again.
Ingredients: 200 g bacon · 40 g butter · 2 tbsp plain flour · 60 ml brandy · 400 ml chicken stock · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 cloves garlic · 1 tsp salt
In batches, loosely — a deep golden crust.Cook the flour and add the brandy
Stir the flour into the fat and cook 2 minutes, then add the brandy and simmer, scraping the base, until the alcohol has almost cooked off. If you want to flambé it, take the pot off the heat, switch off the extractor hood, move anything flammable away and light it with a long match from a safe distance; never pour alcohol from the bottle over a flame. Flour cooked in fat thickens without lumps — added later to liquid it easily clumps.
Ingredients: 200 g bacon · 40 g butter · 2 tbsp plain flour · 60 ml brandy · 400 ml chicken stock · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 cloves garlic · 1 tsp salt
Add the marinade and braise ninety minutes
Strain the marinade, add it with the stock, tomato paste and chopped garlic, bring to the boil and skim, then return the chicken and bacon. Braise covered for 90 minutes over low heat. Do not stir often — the meat falls apart towards the end and stirring shreds it.
Ingredients: 200 g bacon · 40 g butter · 2 tbsp plain flour · 60 ml brandy · 400 ml chicken stock · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 cloves garlic · 1 tsp salt
Cook the onions and mushrooms separately
Towards the end of the braise, fry the peeled pearl onions in half the butter with the sugar, add 3 spoons of water and cook covered for 10 minutes, then uncover and fry another 4 minutes until glazed and golden. Fry the mushrooms in the rest of the butter over high heat for 6 minutes. About 20 minutes in all. Added to the pot at the start they would disintegrate — they should stay whole.
Ingredients: 300 g pearl onions · 400 g button mushrooms · 30 g butter · 1 tsp sugar · ½ bunch parsley
Lift out the meat and reduce the sauce
Remove the chicken and boil the sauce uncovered for 15 minutes, until it thickens and a spoon leaves a trail on the base. Return the meat, add the onions and mushrooms, heat through, taste and add salt, then scatter with parsley. Serve with potatoes or bread for the sauce.
Ingredients: 200 g bacon · 40 g butter · 2 tbsp plain flour · 60 ml brandy · 400 ml chicken stock · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 cloves garlic · 1 tsp salt
The spoon leaves a trail — the sauce is reduced.
Before you start
Wine you would drink
The sauce is reduced wine, so its faults concentrate in it. You do not need an expensive burgundy, but cooking wine from a carton gives a sour, dull dish. The rule: a bottle you would drink with dinner.
Better the next day
Coq au vin gains more overnight than most braises — the fat sets on top and can be lifted off, and the wine mellows. Add the onions and mushrooms when reheating so they stay firm.
Coq au vin blanc
The Alsatian version made with riesling and usually finished with cream. Lighter and fresher. Same technique, different character — both are worth knowing.
