Coq au Vin
Chicken braised in red wine with bacon, mushrooms, and pearl onions until the sauce is dark enough to coat a spoon.
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 45 min
- Written
Method
-
Render the bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, then lift it out and set aside.
-
Pat the chicken thighs dry, season with salt, and brown them skin-side down in the bacon fat until the skin is deep golden, about 8 minutes, then flip and brown the other side.
-
Remove the chicken and add the pearl onions and mushrooms to the pot, cooking until the mushrooms release their liquid and it evaporates away.
-
Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook until the paste darkens a shade, about 1 minute.
-
Sprinkle in the flour and stir constantly for a minute to cook off the raw taste.
-
Pour in the wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot, then add the stock, bay leaves, and thyme.
-
Return the chicken and bacon to the pot, bring to a simmer, cover, and braise in a 325°F oven until the chicken is fork-tender and pulling from the bone, about 1½ hours.
-
Lift out the chicken, discard the bay leaves and thyme stems, and swirl the butter into the sauce over medium heat until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
-
Return the chicken to the sauce, scatter with parsley, and serve.
Notes
The dish lives or dies on the wine — use something you’d actually pour a glass of, since two cups of a thin or overly tannic bottle reduces into a sauce you can taste the flaw in. A cru Beaujolais or a basic Burgundy both work; save the truly special bottle for the table instead.
This is better the next day, once the sauce has had time to firm back up in the fridge and the flavors have settled into each other. Reheat it gently, covered, so the chicken doesn’t dry out, and serve over egg noodles or with crusty bread to catch the sauce.