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Coq au vin

Name: Coq au vin
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 2 kg rooster (or a large free-range chicken), cut in pieces; 150 g smoked lardons; 150 g lightly salted (demi-sel) lardons; 250 g small button mushrooms, cleaned; 250 g shallots, peeled; 65 g butter (40 g for the garnish, 25 g for the bird); 2 tbsp fine champagne cognac; 750 ml red Burgundy (one bottle); 1 piece bouquet garni; 1 tbsp dried marjoram; 50 g dark chocolate; 4 tbsp dried breadcrumbs; salt (go easy: the lardons are salty) and freshly ground pepper

A rooster cut in pieces, browned in butter, flamed with cognac and braised for an hour and a half in red Burgundy with lardons, shallots and mushrooms. This version, from the Hachette wine guide, thickens the sauce with breadcrumbs and a little dark chocolate.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 6
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 1 h 30
Total: 2 h
Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Large cast-iron casserole with a lid
Slotted spoon; wooden spoon; long match for flaming

To drink & serve with

Gevrey-Chambertin
Hachette's sommelier suggests red Burgundy: Irancy, Marsannay, Savigny-lès-Beaune or Gevrey-Chambertin, whose Pinot Noir acidity suits the rich sauce.
Alsace
Or an Alsace pinot noir, also on Hachette's list.

Substitutions

Rooster → A large free-range chicken; check from 1 hour.
Breadcrumbs (gluten-free) → Leave them out and reduce the sauce at the end, or bind it with a little cornflour.
Chocolate → Leave it out; the sauce will be lighter in colour and less rounded.

Common mistakes

Salting at the start: with two kinds of lardons the reduced sauce can turn too salty.
Boiling instead of simmering: the meat dries and the wine turns harsh.

Storage & reheating

Better reheated the next day. Cool quickly, refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 2 days; reheat once, until steaming hot.

Safety

Poultry must be cooked through: no pink meat, juices clear, steaming hot. Contains gluten (breadcrumbs), milk (butter; some dark chocolate contains milk) and sulphites (wine). Take care when flaming.

Allergens

Gluten · Milk · Sulphites

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Burgundy's other red-wine braise

Coq au vin belongs to the same family as bœuf bourguignon: meat braised in red wine with lardons, small onions and mushrooms. Escoffier's Guide culinaire of 1903 has no dish called coq au vin, but it gives a poulet sauté à la Bourguignonne with that garnish of 125 g blanched bacon, eight small onions and 100 g mushrooms, finished with 2 dl red wine reduced by half and bound with beurre manié.

The recipe here is from the cooking pages of the Guide Hachette des Vins. It uses a whole rooster and a full bottle of Burgundy, and two unusual binders, breadcrumbs and dark chocolate, with dried marjoram. We have not found an authoritative single recipe for coq au vin.

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Why a rooster

An older male bird has firmer, more flavourful flesh than a roasting chicken and needs a long braise to soften, which is why the dish exists. Hachette browns the garnish first and the bird second in the same butter, flames it with cognac, and then simmers everything together, covered, for an hour and a half. The breadcrumbs swell and thicken the sauce; the chocolate adds colour and a faint bitterness.

[2]

How it connects

Wine region

origin Burgundy
pairs with Gevrey-Chambertin
pairs with Alsace

Grape variety

pairs with Pinot Noir

Recipe

similar Bœuf bourguignon