Chicken in Red Wine

By corlear

Coq au Vin

The coq au vin usually found, whether in cookbooks, in restaurants, or in the home, is a red-wine stew made from young fryer-type chickens. It is not a bad dish when properly done; but it is only logical that a bird no more than 2 months old, though perfect for a sauté (in which flavor, through a fairly rapid cooking process, is concentrated in the seared flesh) should be less satisfactory in a dish whose qualities depend on the flavor and gelatinous material which, over an extended cooking period, may be drawn from the meat into a reduced and concentrated sauce. A coq au vin prepared in a Burgundy peasant (which does not mean poor) kitchen is made from a year—old cock, neither too tough nor too tender, that has lived in liberty and been liberally fed on grain. (This beast, incidentally, is no easier to find in a Paris market than in New York.) Its sauce is a concentration of essences that, at the ultimate point of refinement, no more than coats the pieces of chicken, and that depends uniquely on its natural gelatin and the body of the aromatic elements for the thickening—no flour.

The recipe that I give you is a compromise. If you are a farmer or have farmer friends, you may have no trouble finding the perfect bird. If you are obliged to use young, commercially raised chickens, there are several points to bear in mind:

1. Replace the large bird by a smaller ones—or buy parts and use only leg and thigh sections, which lend themselves better to this type of preparation than do breasts.

2. Replace half the red wine by a rich gelatinous Veal Stock or veal-and-chicken stock.

3. Do not overcook the chicken—30 or 40 minutes is enough, but reduce the sauce radically after having passed it through a sieve.

A coq au vin is at least as good reheated, which is obviously an advantage. You have only to add the garnish, gently reheat it and leave it to barely simmer for 15 or 20 minutes before serving it.

Ingredients

• For the Garnish:
• 2 strips lean side pork, salted or smoked, approximately 2/3 inch thick
• 3 medium-sized carrots
• 3 medium-sized onions
• 1 bird, preferably a cock weighing around 6 pounds, 10-12 months old, cut into serving pieces
• salt
• pepper
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay 1eaf, parsley)
• 1/4 cup cognac
• 1 bottle good red wine (the same as served as accompaniment for instance)
• 1/1 pound mushrooms
• butter (5 or 6 ounces in all)
• salt
• pepper
• 25 —30 small white onions
• 6 slices firm-textured white bread for croutons
• 1 clove garlic
• chopped parsley

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

Cut off the rind from the side pork and cut each strip in 2/3 inch sections. Parboil them for 2 minutes, drain, and sponge them dry in towel. Put them to fry, over a low flame, in a large sauterne or skillet with a bit of oil (butter is nearly always called for, but it makes absolutely no difference—none of its flavor remains, and it is actually skimmed off and discarded at a later stage). When the strips are golden brown on all sides, remove them and put them aside.

In the same cooking fat place the carrots, peeled and cut into 1 or 2 inch sections, and the onions, peeled and cut into pieces or coarsely or chopped. Keep the flame medium to low and allow them to cook, stirring regularly to avoid overbrowning, for 20—30 minutes.

Remove the vegetables, put them aside and replace them by the chicken pieces, previously salted and peppered. Cook them over a somewhat higher flame until gently browned on all sides, sprinkle with flour and continue to cook, turning the pieces as necessary. Return the sautéed onions and carrots to the pan.

When the flour has cooked for a few minutes, pour in the cognac, then the wine and raise the heat. Stir the chicken pieces and move them around until the liquid comes to a boil.

At this point, unless you are working with a very large, heavy pan, in which all the chicken may remain and continue cooking over a tiny flame, everything may suddenly seem complicated and messy. Don’t worry about it. If the skillet is already overfull of the chicken, or if perhaps you have had to use 2 skillets that both seem too full to permit adding the vegetables, keep the carrots and onions aside and add them later when the chicken goes into the oven dish.

Transfer the chicken pieces and vegetables to an oven dish of some sort (earthenware, copper, enameled cast-iron casserole, etc.) with a lid, add the bouquet garni (or simply sprinkle with thyme leaves and add the bay leaf and parsley branches untied). Stir and scrape the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen and dissolve the frying adherents. Pour the liquid over the chicken pieces. If they are not entirely covered, add enough wine, water or good stock (water is better than indifferent stock) to barely, but completely, cover them. Put to cook, covered, in the oven, regulating the heat so that the sauce hardly simmers. The length of cooking time depends altogether on the bird’s age and “past”—from 30 minutes for a fryer that has never exercized to 1 1/2 hours for a 10-month-old rooster, and still an hour longer for one that may be too old to have a fine flesh but will produce a marvelous sauce.

Meanwhile, wash the mushrooms rapidly and sponge them dry. If they are small, leave them whole, otherwise cut each in 2 or 4 pieces. Toss them in butter over a high flame, seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper, for 2 or 3 minutes.

Peel the little onions, leaving them whole, and cook them, seasoned, in butter over a very low flame, shaking the pan from time to time, for 20—30 minutes. Keep them covered and av~id browning them—if the saucepan is not heavy enough, you may have to use an asbestos pad over the flame.

Transfer the chicken pieces and the carrots to a platter, discard the discernible remains of the bouquet garni and skim as much fat from the surface as possible. Pass the cooking liquid through a very fine sieve, using a wooden pestle to work it, pour it into a saucepan, bring it to a boil, then place the saucepan over the flame so as to permit its contents to simmer only on one side. A skin will begin to appear on the surface containing fat plus other impurities. Carefully pull it to one side with a spoon, remove it and discard it. Repeat this process regularly for approximately 1/2 hour. This skimming process, in French called dé-pouillement, is too often avoided because it is time-consuming and boring. It is, however, essential to the purity and digestibility of the sauce. If, at this point, the sauce is still not consistent enough, turn the fire up to create a rapid boil and reduce it rapidly to the right consistency, stirring constantly.

Replace the chicken pieces in the oven dish, distribute the garnish (sautéed mushrooms, glazed little onions, and fried side pork sections) on top and pour the sauce over. Cover and return to the oven to simmer gently for 15—30 minutes.

Trim the crusts from the bread slices, cut slices in half diagonally and brown them in butter over a low flame until golden and crisp. They will absorb an astonishing quantity of butter. They may be prepared ahead of time and rewarmed in the oven.

To serve, dispose the chicken pieces more or less symmetrically on a large, heated platter. Rub the crouton triangles with the clove of garlic, dip one corner of each in the sauce, then in chopped parsley, and arrange them around the edge of the platter, parslied tips pointing out, pour sauce and garnish over the chicken and sprinkle with a bit of chopped parsley.

Serve the steamed potatoes separately.