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Coq Au Vin

Perfect Coq Au Vin Recipe

This recipe for Coq Au Vin may seem complex, but it uses the entire chicken, a bottle of wine and several flavor-boosting tips to produce the perfect, most flavorful Coq Au Vin you'll ever have.
Course Main
Cuisine French
Prep Time 8 hours
Cook Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 10 hours 30 minutes
Servings 6
Author Johan Johansen

Ingredients

  • 1 large free-range chicken preferably organic
  • 100 grams salt pork cut into large dices
  • 100 grams bacon cut into large dices
  • 2 tablespoons rendered pork fat can substitute bacon fat
  • 1 bottle red wine Pinot Noir or Rhône Blend
  • 100 ml Cognac or brandy
  • 500 ml flavorful chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 500 grams button mushrooms cut into quarters
  • 20 pearl onions peeled (optional)
  • 1 large onion roughly diced
  • 2 large carrots roughly diced
  • 2 stalks of celery roughly diced
  • Salt to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bouquet Garni

  • 2 leek greens
  • 5 sprigs of thyme
  • 3 bay leaves

Instructions

Prep bird:

  1. Cut the wings off the chicken, then the thighs/legs, separate the thighs from the legs.
  2. Cut off the back pieces (and reserve), then split the breast section into two, then each breast into two.
  3. You should be left with eight portion sized pieces of chicken as well as some cartilage for flavor.
  4. Season chicken pieces generously with salt.

Brown aromatics and start marinade:

  1. Put a tablespoon of rendered pork fat into a large cast iron pot along with the lardons and bacon.
  2. Turn heat to medium and cook for about 5-10 minutes until your lardons and bacon are golden brown and delicious.
  3. Using a slotted spoon, remove lardons and bacon and set aside.
  4. Add pearl onions and sauté for a few minutes until slightly soft and golden, remove using slotted spoon and set aside.
  5. Add onion, carrots and celery and sauté for a few minutes until soft and translucent, remove using slotted spoon and set aside.
  6. Add mushrooms to pot and fry until they have given up their liquid and have turned golden brown.
  7. Kill the heat under the pan and deglaze with the cognac or brandy, the mushrooms should greedily suck up most of the remaining liquid.
  8. Put chicken pieces in bowl or pot along with the bouquet garni, salt pork, bacon and, onions, carrots, celery, then pour over the bottle of red wine.
  9. Make sure chicken is covered and allow to marinade in the fridge for at least 4-8 hours.

Braise chicken:

  1. Remove chicken pieces from marinade and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel.
  2. Heat a cast iron pot over high heat and add remaining tablespoon of pork fat.
  3. Add chicken pieces a couple at a time and brown on all sides, then remove and set aside
  4. When the pieces are all browned, add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the bottom of the pan and fry for about a minute.
  5. Add chicken thighs, leg pieces, back and wings back into the pot and add all of the marinade and veggies, then add the chicken stock.
  6. Cover pot tightly and put in a 150C oven for about 45 minutes.
  7. After 45 minutes, remove pot from the oven, and add the breast pieces.
  8. Return pot to the oven for another 30 minutes of cooking.

Finish sauce

  1. Turn oven down to 50C.
  2. Return pot to the stovetop, evacuate breast, thigh and leg pieces from the pot and return them to the oven to keep warm. Keep wings and back piece in the pot.
  3. Turn the heat to high under the pot and bring the sauce to a boil, keep boiling until it has reduced by about half, approximately 20-30 minutes.
  4. As the sauce comes to a boil, feel free to skim off some of the fat that rises to the top.
  5. Fish out the wings and back of the chicken and save them for leftovers, plenty of good meat on there!
  6. Remove Bouquet Garni from pot, give it at taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.
  7. Return chicken breasts, thighs and legs to the pot, heat through for a few minutes and serve piping hot.

Recipe Notes

Note that the dark meat and the white meat of the chicken are added at different times, this is done to ensure even cooking and to keep the breasts from drying out. Once the wing and back pieces have cooled sufficiently, you can spend a few minutes plucking them for meat. The meat found on these pieces is a little tough to get to and not too pretty - but make damn flavorful leftovers.