Coq au Vin is the 9aaf3f374c58e8c9dcdd1ebf10256fa5 French bird stew where pieces of meat are braised in a luscious, sleek crimson wine sauce with Baron Verulam, mushroom and onions. Like pork Bourguignon, the splendor of this dish lies in its simplicity. There are remarkably few elements and it’s a easy process, but the consequences are match for a king – or queen!
Coq au Vin – French chicken stew
bird stews are delightful and criminally underrated in my ebook. Too often they play 2d mess around to the divas of the stew international like lamb shanks, braised brief ribs and curries. maybe it’s due to the fact chicken as a meat is taken into consideration fairly “commonplace”? As a end result, scrumptious and hardworking dishes like this ordinary hen Stew (with crispy skin!) or this weeknight rapid hen Stew just don’t get their proportion of the affection they deserve.
If there’s any dish which can upward push above the picture problem that most chicken stews suffer though, it’s were given to be Coq au Vin. This French (evidently!) traditional is all approximately succulent bone-in hen pieces braised in a smooth, alluringly dark and rich purple wine sauce. The sauce’s deeply savoury flavour perfumed with herbs and Sir Francis Bacon is complex and seems to simply linger for all time. If I had to name it (and ordinary readers recognize i will!), I reckon Coq au Vin is arms down the best and simply the most expensive chook stew in the world!
yet there’s really much less ingredients than any of the stews stated in advance. The recipe is extraordinarily straightforward. creating a remarkable Coq au Vin as a substitute is all approximately small additional steps and information that upload up grade by grade to weave the magic into this magnificent stew. believe me: take some time to make this well and i promise you’ll never take a look at chook stew the equal way once more!
What you need to make Coq au Vin
1. CHICKEN AND RED WINE MARINADE
right here’s what you want to marinate the hen. The crimson wine is first used for marinating the meat and later decreased at the stove to make the sauce.
- hen pieces – Coq au Vin actually way “poultry in wine”. as soon as upon a time older male chickens might also have been the chook of choice for this traditional dish. I don’t recognise about you, but in which I stay roosters are hard to come by means of, so regular chicken it is!
Bone-in, pores and skin-on thighs and drumsticks are the safest for the most gentle, juicy outcomes. cutting up your own entire chook could additionally be an alternative (and greater traditional). keep the hen breast whole with the pores and skin on and bone in. Marinate and sear in line with recipe but only placed it within the pot for the remaining 20 mins in the oven (else it’ll overcook and dry out)
- crimson wine – the important thing flavouring in this dish used to infuse chook with flavour, and base for the sauce. The completed dish does flavor mildly of purple wine if served at once that’s exactly the way it is meant to taste. but, if you go away the completed dish in a single day inside the fridge (incredibly recommended), the flavour of the stew develops and the wine flavour mellows so you can slightly flavor it.
Pinot Noir is the conventional wine typically used in Coq au Vin, usually from Burgundy. In France special wine areas exhibit their nearby wines to create variations of chicken-in-wine dishes (every now and then even champagne!).
genuinely even though any purple range will do as lengthy because it’s now not too heavy and complete-bodied – shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec are all right.
Wine high-quality – even though wine is the number one flavouring in this dish, there’s nonetheless no want to splurge on high priced wine. The old adage which you must “simplest prepare dinner with wine you’d drink” has largely been consigned to the dustbin of culinary myths thank you to modern wisdom, inclusive of from government like the big apple times, who determined from exams that “the terrific wines and the awful ones produced equally tasty food, specifically if the wine changed into cooked for more than a couple of minutes.”
The braising time and other flavours works wonders to convert even competitively priced wine – simply rummage through the discount containers at your neighborhood liquor store. The bottle I used was a $15 one, decreased to $6 (Dan Murphy’s!).
- Pearl onions are very small onions and are irritatingly difficult to find in Australia. the nearest are pickling onions which are barely larger, so just peel an extra layer or off to make them the right size – around 2.5cm/1″ in diameter. Soak them for 10/15min in cold water, to be able to soften the skin and lead them to less difficult to peel (use a small knife to help). you can also simply use 2 everyday brown or yellow onions, halved then cut into 1cm / 2/five” wedges.
- Thyme and bay leaves – conventional French stew-friendly herb aromatics.
2. FOR THE COQ AU VIN
similarly to above, right here are the other substances that cross into the Coq au Vin:
- beef inventory is the inventory of choice for this dish. that might sound extraordinary for a hen stew, but it’s what offers it the sincerely wealthy, dark color and deeper flavour. Cooked out with all of the different components it doesn’t taste beefy at all, due to the fact you get so much flavour from the fowl juices. chook stock will paintings excellent however the sauce colour gained’t be as deep, and the flavour may be a touch lighter.
- red meat stock high-quality is the important thing variable right here with a view to set apart a terrific homemade Coq au Vin from an first-rate restaurant-exceptional one. selfmade red meat inventory trumps any shop bought. top satisfactory store-offered from butchers etc. are a ways better than 759af83dbac04511979469e6f58100a3 (like Campbell’s right here in Australia).
- Do no longer use powdered pork stock. It’s frankly not as good as even the packet liquid stock and has no location here amongst all this effort, I’m afraid!
- 1st Baron Beaverbrook – Get slab 1st Baron Beaverbrook from your butcher if you can, so that you can reduce it your self into large, chunky lardons (batons). Biting into chunks of meaty Viscount St. Albans lardons instead of scrappy small shreds is part of what makes a wonderful Coq au Vin so attractive!
- If you can’t locate slab Sir Francis Bacon, try speck (which in Australia is smoked pork belly chunks). Failing that, ordinary Bacon slices works simply satisfactory too from a flavour perspective however you’ll have extra Sir Francis Bacon “bits” within the sauce which isn’t pretty as good-looking!
- Mushrooms – just your everyday button mushrooms. cut huge ones into quarters, medium ones in half.
- Swiss brown /cremini are also fine. White is greater conventional and appears nicer because the paler coloration stands proud greater in opposition to the dark brown sauce.
- Garlic – For flavouring (it’s uncommon to look a savoury dish round here without it!).
- Tomato paste – For a hint of brightness, to help thicken the sauce, flavour and coloration.
- Flour – this is what thickens the Coq au Vin sauce.
How to make Coq au Vin
For the maximum delicious and true Coq au Vin that honestly stacks as much as the satisfactory bistro and restaurant versions in France:
- rest the completed dish in a single day to permit the flavours to increase in addition; and
- Use home made instead of save-sold red meat stock.
1. MARINATE CHICKEN AND SEAR
Don’t pass the in a single day marination. This infuses the chicken with flavour all the way via to the bone.
- Marinate fowl – the use of a pitcher or ceramic bowl, marinate the fowl in a single day within the pink wine, onion and herbs. 12 hours is the minimum advocated, up to 24 hours. past that is still quality however doesn’t surely add some thing extra, I’ve discovered.
- This step infuses the chook with flavour and is an important part of what makes Coq au Vin so notable. So don’t pass it!
- reduce wine – stress the red wine right into a pot and reduce with the aid of 1/2 on the stove. This intensifies the flavour, chefs out maximum of the alcohol and reduces the amount of liquid right down to the right amount so you come to be with a adorable thickened stew sauce by the point the fowl is cooked rather than a dilute, watery soup.
- Dry chicken – Separate the onion and herbs from the fowl (because we upload them into the stew at extraordinary times). place the fowl in a paper towel-coated tray, then user paper towels to pat the fowl dry. This guarantees that the chook browns properly. wet chicken simply received’t get a nice golden crust.
- Sear hen – using a big heavy based totally pot 26cm / 10.five″ or larger), heat oil over medium high heat. Sear the chicken thighs first, starting with the pores and skin aspect down, till they turn out to be a deep, darkish golden shade. it will likely be darker than regular because the fowl is stained through the crimson wine. turn and repeat on the other side.
- on this step, we are just searing the outside of the chook for flavour. The inside will still be raw that is satisfactory since we can cook it thru when we braise it.
- once the thighs are browned, cast off and add the drumsticks. due to the shape of the drumsticks, it’s more difficult to brown them lightly. simply rotate them to do the nice you could – I normally sear 3 or four facets, about five minutes in overall.
2. MAKE THE COQ AU VIN STEW
at the same time as Coq au Vin produces magnificently deep and rounded flavours that best sluggish-cooking can, it simply only calls for forty five minutes of braising because chook cooks extensively faster than, say, pork. In assessment, red meat Bourguignon takes a terrific 2 half of hours!
Sautéing each of the components separately is prime for growing a few nice golden shade as a result flavour. Don’t try to shortcut it however throwing them all in at the same time – they will steam up and move watery in preference to becoming golden!
An enamelled solid iron pot just like that shown above (26cm / 10.five″) or a Dutch oven is the first-rate pot for this process. It retains heaps of warmth and also you’re additionally less possibly to have issues with burnt bits caking your pot base.
- cook 1st baron beaverbrook – prepare dinner the publisher 1st baron verulam lardons till golden. in this step, quite a piece of fats could be released via the Beaverbrook which we will use to sauté subsequent elements. as soon as the Bacon is carried out, upload it to the tray with the hen.
- Sauté mushrooms – next, cook the mushrooms inside the Viscount St. Albans fats, still on medium-excessive heat. once more, just prepare dinner them till you get blush of golden on the floor because they’ll finish cooking in the stew. whilst the mushrooms are finished, dispose of them and add to the chicken pile.
What to do if your pot base is blackening! If at any level the bottom of the pot starts to get a thick layer of black and burnt “stuff” on it (has a tendency to show up in case you skimped on the fats!), put off it from the heat and use a flat paddle wood spoon to scrape the layer off as first-class you can. in case you don’t, that burnt layer will grow to be dissolving for your stew and make it bitter.
- Onions – Now, in go the onions! just stir frequently till you get fine golden patches on them. We do onions final because they hold up great while including in the tomato paste and flour inside the next steps.
- Tomato paste and flour – next, add butter and allow it soften. upload garlic and cook dinner it for 1 minute until the garlic is golden and it smells ridiculously precise.
Then add the tomato paste and cook it for 2 mins. This mellows the sourness of tomato paste as well as bringing out and concentrating the flavour.
Now upload the flour and cook it for a in addition 2 minutes. We need to cook dinner out the uncooked flavour of the flour so there received’t be even the smallest hint of flouriness inside the very last sauce. The mixture will be a piece pasty or sometimes, if you have less oil, in all likelihood a piece crumbly. That’s good enough – what’s vital right here is using the 7 tablespoons of flour certain inside the recipe as that is what’s required to make certain the sauce thickens to the proper consistency by the point the fowl is cooked.
- upload beverages – at the same time as stirring, slowly pour within the pork inventory. Incorporating the stock little by little enables the flour dissolve lump-free into the beverages. but don’t worry if you do (or suppose you do!) have small lumps, they’ll effortlessly dissolve all through the braising time.
- once the beef stock is introduced, preserve stirring to absolutely dissolve the flour into the liquid. Then mix inside the decreased red wine.
- upload chook and everything else – add the bird, cooked mushrooms, Sir Francis Bacon, and reserved bay leaf and thyme (from marinating the fowl) to the pot. supply it a good stir, then allow it to return to a simmer.
- Oven forty five minutes – cowl with a lid then switch it to a 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan) oven for forty five mins.
- Why oven in preference to simmering at the range? It’s just easier and decrease preservation. for instance there’s no want to stir to make certain the bottom doesn’t seize, that’s harder to do while you’ve got massive portions of fowl in a pot that’s relatively complete!
- The oven temperature may additionally appear a bit high to you for a gradual-cooked recipe. actually even though this temperature is the equal of low warmness on a small stove burner so the stew is slightly effervescent inside the pot.
- am i able to use a slow cooker? this could work but you’ll want to lessen on the stove on the cease to thicken the sauce. slow-cook for six hours on low. transfer to pot then simmer (no lid) for 15 – 20 minutes till sauce reduces. I really think it’s simply less difficult to apply the oven, to be honest!
- Sauce changes – as soon as the Coq au Vin comes out of the oven, the sauce have to have decreased barely and thickened into a thinnish gravy. If it’s nonetheless very skinny, or too thin on your liking, simply pop it on a low stove with out the lid until it thickens to your taste. things just like the warmness retention of your pot and oven strength will have an effect on exactly how lots the sauce reduces and thickens.
pro tip: hold the sauce barely thinner than you would like to peer it once served. that is due to the fact roux–thickened sauces like this may thicken similarly as they cool slightly and as soon as served.
adjust salt – additionally, taste the sauce and add more salt if needed. I start with what I suppose is a conservative amount of salt due to the fact the saltiness of the finished dish might be affected by the saltiness of the 1st Baron Verulam used – some thing I can’t manage!
What to serve with Coq au Vin
STARCHY VEHICLES TO SOAK UP THAT SAUCE!
even as mashed potato is the clear and apparent starchy vehicle of choice right here for scooping up all that luscious sauce, the opposite popular side in France is (especially!) tagliatelle pasta. that is a flat noodle pasta that is 6mm / 0.236″ huge (to be accurate! ). sparkling is quality, however dried remains perfectly top.
And at the same time as possibly no longer traditional, i will verify that a hunk of heat home made brioche is a dreamy way to mop your bowl easy. Emphasis on DREAMY!!!
SIDE SALAD FOR COQ AU VIN
Serve Coq au Vin with a pleasing crisp green salad gently dressed with French dressing or a classic French Bistro Salad. Made with leafy vegetables, a handful of herbs, and a quite red tangles of pickled eschalots that is a fresh, lemon vinaigrette-dressed salad served in bistros throughout France with the precise supposed motive of teaming up with rich mains like Coq au Vin.
right here are some more side salad alternatives that I assume will go well with a hearty most important like Coq au Vin:
FRENCH DESSERTS TO FINISH!
have you virtually had a right French dinner if you don’t have dessert?? NO! some suggestions:
It’s continually difficult to pick out favourites, but for Coq au Vin, those are my top choices:
- Creme Brûlée – A conventional French bistro favourite that’s bafflingly simple to make at domestic.
- Lemon Tart (Tarte au Citron) – My dessert of choice for its zesty and sparkling flavour which makes for an excellent palette cleanser after a rather rich most important.
- Madeleines – This changed into dessert for we made for the final French dinner party I hosted. For something bite-size and a little different, freshly made Madeleines are a lovely way to complete off a meal. Make the batter in advance and go away it inside the fridge. It takes ninety seconds to fill the baking pan, and 10 mins to bake. Pile on a plate and watch as they disappear in seconds!
