Coq au Vin

By corlear

This is a very old recipe for Coq au Vin, and the blood is not in this case added to the sauce as in later recipes.

Ingredients

• Optional:
• a plump tender chicken weighing about 3 lbs.
• salt
• pepper
• lemon juice
• 3 or 4 oz. butter
• small glass of brandy
• 1 bottle good red wine—Macon, Beaujolais or Châteauneuf du Pape
• 20 or so little onions
• butter
• a little sugar
• red wine
• 1/2 lb. mushrooms
• 1 oz. butter
• 3/4 oz. flour

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

You need a plump tender chicken (it doesn’t have to be a cockerel) weighing about 3 lbs., when cleaned and trussed. Season the bird inside and out with salt, pepper and lemon juice; into a deep heavy pan put 3 or 4 oz. of butter and brown the chicken all over in it; pour over a small glass of brandy and set it alight; when the flames have died down, pour in a whole bottle of good red wine—Macon, Beaujolais or Châteauneuf du Pape. Add the giblets of the bird, cover the pan and simmer slowly either on top of the stove or in a low oven for about 1 1/2 hours.

In the meantime, prepare 20 or so little onions, browned in butter and glazed with a little sugar and red wine, and 1/2 lb. of mushrooms, sautéd in butter. A few minutes before the chicken is ready, take out the giblets and add the onions and mushrooms.

Remove the chicken on to a hot dish and carve it for serving.

The sauce should by this time be sufficiently reduced to need no thickening, but if it is not, add 1 oz. of butter worked with 3/4 oz. of flour, put the pan on to a high flame and let the sauce bubble until it is thick enough. Pour it over the pieces of chicken, and arrange the mushrooms and the onions on the top.