Coq au Vin

I took some time off work and headed over to Boston to spend time with my sister’s  family. It’s winter now in mid-February, and we spent some time doing some winter sports like skiing and ice-skating (more on that in a later post!)

Boeuf Bourguignon à la Julia Child

Because of the cold, I’m packing on a lot more layers. The wintry air is also perfect for cooking and eating loads of stew. I started off planning to write about Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon, the classic recipe that just about everybody references. But as I realised one afternoon as I was making my through the recipe, it’s not a recipe for a weekday meal. There are three separate components to the recipe. There’s the main beef component, to be seared and then braised in the oven for four hours. There’s the onion component, to be simmered over the stove for forty minutes concurrently. And lastly, the mushrooms portion, to be pan-fried. Each component required multiple pans and bowls. The meal is no doubt a grand affair, but perhaps not as grand as the clean-up will be.

The instructions are very finicky (in one part of the recipe, you set the simmering beef pot from the stove into the oven for 4 minutes, take it out to stir, return it to the oven for 4 more minutes, then take it back to the stove to continue adding more ingredients and cooking). I tried my best to stay true to the instructions, even though I like stews with a lot more aromatics (like carrots!). There’s a lot of emotional attachments with Julia Child’s recipes, and people take umbrage if you veer too far off the original version. 

Coq au Vin

At the risk of being controversial, I didn’t like the final results either. Most other (modern) recipes which are a riff off this are less beholden to tradition and incorporate modern techniques to give better results. Perhaps the old way isn't always the best way, especially for a frazzled home cook on his holiday. And so I scrapped my original plans for a Beef Bourguignon post, and when I tried this fantastic Coq au Vin from RecipeTinEats, I decided this was far better to write about. I may revisit Beef Bourguignon at a later date, but for now, I’m luxuriating in this stew. 

Coq au Vin

Adapted from RecipeTin Eats

INGREDIENTS

8 pieces of chicken, bone-in and skin-on (or 1 whole chicken, divided)

750 ml / 3 cups red wine 

3/4 tsp salt (cooking/kosher salt, or 1/2 tsp table salt)

1/2 tsp black pepper

4 tbsp olive oil 

400g / 14oz white mushrooms , halved (quartered if large) 

150g / 5oz bacon slices, cut into 1-inch 

16 pearl onions or picking onions 

3 garlic cloves , finely minced

7 tbsp all-purpose flour 

2 tbsp tomato paste

750 ml / 3 cups beef stock

3 thyme sprigs (or 1 tsp dried thyme)

STEPS

1. Place chicken and red wine in a ziplock bag. Marinate overnight in the fridge for a minimum of 12 hours (to a maximum of 24 hours).

2. When ready to cook, empty the red wine into a small pot. Place chicken pieces on a baking tray lined with paper towels and pat dry. Season chicken with 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper.

3. Bring the pot with the wine to a boil over medium-high heat, until reduced by half. Using a fine sieve, skim off impurities that you see in the red wine. Remove from heat when wine is reduced by half, and then set aside.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan).

5. Heat olive oil in a large, oven-safe pot over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken thighs and sear until golden brown on both sides. (The red wine will stain the chicken in a darker shade than usual.) Remove chicken from the pot. I return the chicken to the tray that I dried the chicken on (sans paper towels), since the partially-cooked chicken is meant to be cooked further. 

6. In the same pot, add bacon and sauté until golden, about 3 minutes. Then remove from the pot. (I store the bacon on the same tray holding the chicken.)

7. Add mushrooms and sauté until browned, for 5 minutes. Remove from pot, and place the mushroom in a separate bowl away from the chicken/bacon.

8. In the same pot, sauté onions for about 5 minutes, until browned. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add more olive oil if needed to prevent sticking. Remove aromatics from the pan (I add them to the bowl with the mushrooms.)

9. At this point, the pot should still have a layer of oil. Add flour all at once, stir and cook for a couple of minutes to make a blonde roux. Then add tomato paste and combine, cooking for 2 minutes (This makes what is commonly called a brick roux.)

10. In a slow drizzle, pour in the stock and the reduced wine while stirring to combine the glaze with the roux. This also deglazes the fond on the pan. When the liquid has been incorporated, then return the chicken, bacon, mushroom, onion and garlic to the pot. Add thyme. 

11. Return the pot to a simmer, then cover and transfer to oven and braise for about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, taste the stew and season with more salt if needed. The stew can be served immediately. 

Serving: The stew can be eaten with any carbohydrates such as bread, rice, potato or pasta. We serve ours with boiled potatoes, sour cream and bacon. (We cut the rest of the bacon  from the package into 1 cm strips and put it under the broiler for 5 minutes, until crisp and well-browned. Each potato is topped with sour cream and bacon strips.) The stew, when mixed with sour cream, turned into something absolutely pristine. 

Tips: This stew is fantastic off the bat. But generally, stews taste better the next day. When reheating, because each chicken thigh is large, keep simmering for about 5-10 minutes to ensure the chicken is fully reheated. Add more water if needed.