Coq au Vin

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Felicity’s been playing again.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/f ... coq-au-vin

[Sakkarin Profile]

Pretty much OK by me, although what's she doing chopping the baby mushrooms into little pieces? And I wouldn't flour the chicken.

Anyway, there's a gazillion recipes out there already. I suspect I could dig out at least 10 (maybe even 20) from my cookbook collection.

EDIT: A couple of thoughts

Can a non-French person really claim that theirs is the definitive recipe? If so, don't Elizabeth David, Julia Childs or Delia come before her in the queue for that accolade? And I vaguely recall that when it comes to authenticity, "coq" specifically means "cock", not generic "chicken".

Who cares, I call mine "Coq au Vin".

[Amyw Profile]

I always thought coq au vin was “authentically” cockere. It’s like with a lot of these classic dishes , how authentic can you get and also how completely away from the original dish too

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I remember someone on one of the boards ranting that just because you can’t get a cockerel that’s no excuse for using a chicken

So I expect roast dodo if any of you cook me dinner

I just searched for French recipes for coq au vin, all say use a coq, but several say Use a good free range chicken if not available

I think FC’s use of dark meat only is probably enough of a nod in that direction, otherwise her version is fairly standard, though it seems to me quite a lot of bacon, perhaps that makes up for the more delicate flavour of the meat?

[Sakkarin Profile]

Well I am making some coq au vin tonight, but as it will be cheap and cheerful and cockless, I will pretend that the cock in it is as in "me old cock sparrer".

Using some £3.49 Lidl Australian Cabernet Sauvignon. All the way from Australia for £3.49. When you take off freight, production costs, profit, packaging and tax, I reckon that means it's actually 27p's worth of wine, so I'm not allowing my hopes to be raised too high for it's quality.

[Sakkarin Profile]

I used Simon Hopkinson's Prawn Cocktail Years recipe (or is it Lindsey Bareham's?). He flours his chicken too...

The £3.49 wine is very fruity but has not much depth of flavour. OK for cooking on a budget. I added the last of my previous, more expensive wine too, I suspect most of the flavour came from that.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Looks pretty tasty sakkarin!

My go to wine for cooking such dishes is the own brand supermarket pinot noir which is usually Romanian and, from her chat on Twitter I suspect FC used something similar

I need to get a bottle, not for coq au vin but because I have some casserole venison in the freezer which I will do “bourguignonne”

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

That looks excellent.

We "save" coq au vin for special occasions.
Indeed, I cooked it this year for our Christmas dinner. And I'll always buy a Provence bottle of red wine which typically costs about £7.

[Renee Profile]

It looks so tasty Sakkarin! I agree about the £3.49 wine lacking any depth of flavour.

I quite enjoyed the dish made with white wine too.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I quite enjoyed the dish made with white wine too.

Felicity had a go at that too, I might try her recipe for coq au riesling Sometime

I noticed that the title of some of the French recipes was explicitly coq au vin rouge - or bourguign which implies the use of red burgundy

https://www.thewinesociety.com/inspiration-felicity-cloake-coq-au-riesling

[Renee Profile]

Coq au Riesling ... that was it! Thanks for the recipe.

[Sakkarin Profile]

I dub my version Chook au Plonk...

[Pommes Profile]

So I went to Felicity's recipe for Coq au vin, & am already mystified as to why the picture should feature a whole chicken 1/4, when the recipe states 4 chicken thighs + 2 chicken legs, (drumsticks?) It is supposed to serve 4, so who decides who gets what?

[Sakkarin Profile]

I was initially confused by that, but for some reason she means 2 complete legs (thigh and drumstick) and four thighs, presumably because two of her diners don't like drumsticks. Or maybe she couldn't decide whether to go for 4 legs or 8 thighs so split the difference.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I don’t find it confusing if I read all the text as well as looking at the photos

I don’t know why 2 legs and 4 thighs but it would be easy to separate the drumstick and thigh when serving, if it suited. If you ask either of my local butchers for a leg, you get what is shown in the picture, thigh and drumstick together.

I would use frozen baby onions so would add them with the mushrooms