Few celebrity chefs have had as great of an impact on home cooking in America as Julia Child. Her debut book Mastering The Art of French Cooking along with her original tv show The French Chef were undeniably groundbreaking in that regard. Not only did they serve as a great introduction to French cooking for the American public. But most importantly was Julias’ ability to rework complicated dishes so that the average home cook could make them with ease. And today I want to share my take on one of her most famous recipes, coq au vin.
What is coq au vin?
Coq au vin is a classic French dish consisting of a whole chicken braised in wine along with bacon, mushrooms, and onion. It’s a simple and straightforward recipe that is both comforting and delicious. And while Julia can’t claim credit for inventing the dish, she did modernize it.
You see coq au vin translates as Cock(Rooster) in Wine. And as that name suggests it was traditionally made with an old rooster that had no longer become useful. Now, obviously very few of us today have access to an old rooster so instead, we make the dish with chicken. The problem is that an old rooster is a very tough piece of meat that requires a lengthy cooking time to become tender. And if you were to use an original recipe for coq au vin, you would assuredly overcook your chicken.
Thankfully Julia adjusted the recipe to account for the proper cooking time of a chicken while also maintaining the flavor that a long braise would have.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- Personally, I like to use a whole chicken that is broken down into quarters for this recipe. That way anyone that wants dark meat can have dark meat, and anyone that wants white meat can have white meat. However, you can just as easily swap out the whole chicken with just chicken breasts, or chicken thighs, or chicken legs. Whatever you do just make sure that it is bone-in and skin on.
- One thing that Julia excluded from her recipe for coq au vin was marinating the chicken in the wine. And while I agree that it isn’t entirely necessary, it’s not difficult to do. So if you have the time/foresight then I highly recommend that you marinate your chicken in the wine. Not only will it result in a richer dish, but will also give the chicken that distinctive marron hue that the dish traditionally has.
- Make sure that you use a dry red wine instead of a sweet red wine. Some common examples of dry red wines include cabernet, merlot, malbec, and pinot noir.
- Try out some of our other French dishes like Chicken Normandy, Ratatouille, and Trout Almondine.
Coq au Vin Recipe
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 4 to 6
Ingredients
For the optional marinade:
3½ to 4½ Lb Whole chicken, quartered
2 Cups of dry red wine
1 Bay leaf
3 Sprigs of fresh thyme, or ½ teaspoon of dried thyme leaves
For the rest of the dish:
8 oz. of bacon, cut into ½ inch sized pieces
20 to 30 Pearl onions, peeled
10 button or crimini mushrooms, cleaned & quartered
2 to 3 Large carrots, peeled & cut into 2-inch sized pieces
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons of all-purpose flour
2 Cups of either chicken stock or beef stock
1 Tablespoon of tomato paste
Salt & pepper to taste
For garnish:
Parsley leaves, minced
Instructions
- Marinate the Chicken (optional): Get out a large casserole dish and add the red wine, bay leaf, thyme, and chicken pieces to it.
Place this in your fridge to marinate for 2 hours or preferably overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celcius).
- Cook the bacon: Get out a large pot or dutch oven and place it over medium heat. Toss in the bacon and cook until the fat has rendered and the bacon pieces have become brown and crispy.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon from the pot and set them aside.
- Brown up the chicken: Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and dry them off with a paper towel. Place each piece of chicken skin side down into the same pot/dutch oven and let them brown up for 5 minutes. Flip the chicken pieces over and let them brown for another 3 to 5 minutes on the other side.
Take the browned chicken pieces out of the pot and set them aside.
- Sautee the onion mushroom and carrots: Toss in the onions, mushrooms, and carrots. Sautee these ingredients over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the onions have begun to carmelize. Then toss in the minced garlic and continue to saute for another minute.
- Make the sauce: Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of flour into the pot and stir with a wooden spoon to make a simple roux. Slowly pour in the red wine and herbs used to marinate the chicken and stir to incorporate the roux into the wine. Add in the beef stock and tomato paste, and once again stir so that the tomato paste dissolves into the liquid. Finally, toss back in the cooked bacon and stir everything together.
- Braise the chicken: Place the chicken pieces into the pot so that it is halfway covered by the sauce.
Cover the pot and place it in your heated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Finish the dish: Take the chicken pieces out of the pot and place them onto individual plates. Taste the sauce to see if it needs any salt or pepper and then pour it along with the vegetables over each piece of chicken. Sprinkle on minced parsley and enjoy immediately!
Coq au Vin Recipe
Ingredients
For the optional marinade:
- 3½ to 4½ Lb Whole chicken quartered
- 2 Cups of dry red wine
- 1 Bay leaf
- 3 Sprigs of fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon of dried thyme leaves
For the rest of the dish:
- 8 oz. of bacon cut into ½ inch sized pieces
- 20 to 30 Pearl onions peeled
- 10 button or crimini mushrooms cleaned & quartered
- 2 to 3 Large carrots peeled & cut into 2-inch sized pieces
- 2 Cloves of garlic minced
- 3 Tablespoons of all-purpose flour
- 2 Cups of either chicken stock or beef stock
- 1 Tablespoon of tomato paste
- Salt & pepper to taste
For garnish:
- Parsley leaves minced
Instructions
- Marinate the Chicken (optional): Get out a large casserole dish and add the red wine, bay leaf, thyme, and chicken pieces to it. Place this in your fridge to marinate for 2 hours or preferably overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celcius).
- Cook the bacon: Get out a large pot or dutch oven and place it over medium heat. Toss in the bacon and cook until the fat has rendered and the bacon pieces have become brown and crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon from the pot and set them aside.
- Brown up the chicken: Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and dry them off with a paper towel. Place each piece of chicken skin side down into the same pot/dutch oven and let them brown up for 5 minutes. Flip the chicken pieces over and let them brown for another 3 to 5 minutes on the other side. Take the browned chicken pieces out of the pot and set them aside.
- Sautee the onion mushroom and carrots: Toss in the onions, mushrooms, and carrots. Sautee these ingredients over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the onions have begun to carmelize. Then toss in the minced garlic and continue to saute for another minute.
- Make the sauce: Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons of flour into the pot and stir with a wooden spoon to make a simple roux. Slowly pour in the red wine and herbs used to marinate the chicken and stir to incorporate the roux into the wine. Add in the beef stock and tomato paste, and once again stir so that the tomato paste dissolves into the liquid. Finally, toss back in the cooked bacon and stir everything together.
- Braise the chicken: Place the chicken pieces into the pot so that it is halfway covered by the sauce. Cover the pot and place it in your heated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Finish the dish: Take the chicken pieces out of the pot and place them onto individual plates. Taste the sauce to see if it needs any salt or pepper and then pour it along with the vegetables over each piece of chicken. Sprinkle on minced parsley and enjoy immediately!
