Coq Au Vin (Rooster in red wine sauce)
Ingredients
1 4 lb rooster
(a capon will work if you can’t find a regular rooster)
150 grams of mushrooms
150 grams of smoked bacon bits
(see photo)
4-6 regular white onions, depending on size
2 heaping Tbsp of flour
1 bottle of red burgundy wine
(pinot noir suits well but really you can use any wine you have around, remember this is a no no Julia recipe!)
2 cups of chicken broth
2 big garlic cloves
parley, thyme, 2 bay leaves
50 grams of butter and a bit of whatever cooking oil
(I often add a bit of oil to butter when frying as the oil prevents the butter from burning)
Instructions
- Cut rooster into parts: legs, wings, breast, back, neck and the giblets, leaving skin on and keep the carcass.
- Cut lardons into small strips, onions in 6-8 parts and mushrooms into 4ths.
- In a big pot, fry onions in butter and when slightly golden, add lardons and keep frying until browned. Then take out of pot and put aside. Fry mushrooms in same pot until slightly browned and add to onions and lardons on the side.
- In the same pot, brown all the rooster parts (add more butter if needed) on each side, add carcass then powder with flour, mixing gently and let brown a little more.
- After about 5 minutes, add crushed garlic, mix, let cook another minute then add the wine.
- Bring to a boil while gently turning. Add parsley, thyme, bay leaves, onions, lardons, and mushrooms and then cover with the broth until everything is just barely* covered. Add water if needed.
- *It’s important not to add too much liquid to not end up with a too watery consistence. Better to not quite cover with liquid and add more later if needed.
- Let simmer for 3-4 hours until the liquid has considerably reduced to a more “sauce-like” consistence.
- Salt if needed and serve with mashed potatoes, rice, pasta or couscous.
Notes
Mushooms, onions, lardons, broth, are very estimative.
