Made famous in the U.S. by Julia Childs both in her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and the cooking demonstrations she did on PBS, Coq au Vin is a perfect dish to try as summer comes to an end and the weather begins to cool. This classic French dish has its origins in rustic peasant cooking. Peasants could generally only afford the cheapest meats that their ‘betters’ had no desire for. This meant that instead of fresh young chicken or ‘poulet’ they were forced to buy rooster or ‘coq’, which was generally tough and stringy. Given the toughness of the rooster, the peasants needed to find a way of tenderizing the bird, the preferred method for this was braising. At its heart, Coq au Vin is a stew and often includes onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms and usually served with potatoes or pasta.

Coq au Vin

• 1 Whole Chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour for dusting
• 4 slice smoked bacon – Cut into short strips or ‘lardons’
• 6 ounces button mushroom, washed and medium diced
• 1 cup pear onions – peeled
• 1 cup diced – medium carrot
• 1 cup celery – medium diced
• 4 garlic clove – chopped
• 4 oz brandy
• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 1 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 sprig fresh thyme
• sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

Directions

• Dust the chicken with salt, pepper, and flour. Set to side.
• In a heavy cast iron pot, render the bacon until crisp, remove the bacon and set aside to use later. Slowly add the chicken and cook over medium heat until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Turn chicken and continue cooking until golden brown.
• Remove chicken from the pan and add the celery, carrot, onion, garlic and mushroom; cook until lightly caramelized.
• Deglaze the pan with the red wine and brandy and add the tomato paste, chicken, bacon and thyme. Bring to a boil than turn down to a simmer on very low heat and cover for 2 to 3 hours, until the chicken is tender and begins falling off the bone.
• Gently remove the chicken and allow the sauce to reduce by half. Once the sauce has thickened, return the chicken and serve with your favorite pasta or potatoes!