Coq au Vin Recipe - Classical French Cookery

Cut the chicken into 13 pieces for sautéing, separating legs, wings, and breasts from the carcass.

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl. Add diced carrot, onion, and leek.

Add peppercorns, a split head of garlic, and thyme to the bowl.

Pour half a bottle of Burgundian red wine over the chicken and vegetables to marinate.

Cover the bowl and let the chicken marinate in the fridge overnight.

Drain the chicken and vegetables from the marinade, reserving the wine and vegetables separately.

In a hot pan with olive oil, render the diced bacon (lardons) and cook the pearl onions until colored.

While the bacon and onions cook, prepare heart-shaped croutons from a white loaf by trimming the crusts and slicing.

Fry the croutons in the rendered bacon fat until golden brown on both sides, then set aside.

Add the button mushrooms to the bacon and onions, turn up the heat, and cook until colored. Add fresh thyme.

Remove the cooked bacon, onion, and mushroom garnish from the pan and set aside.

Season plain flour with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge the drained chicken pieces in the flour.

Add more oil to the hot pan and sear the floured chicken pieces until golden brown on all sides.

Remove the browned chicken from the pan. Add the reserved marinating vegetables and cook until softened.

Pour the reserved marinade wine into the pan with the vegetables and reduce until it forms a dry glaze.

Return the chicken pieces to the pan, add a bundle of thyme, and pour in chicken stock to come just under halfway up the chicken.

Cover the pan with a cartouche (parchment paper lid) and cook in a 160°C oven for 1 hour.

Remove the Coq au Vin from the oven and let it rest for 1 hour.

Lift the chicken pieces out of the pan. Strain the braising liquid through a sieve, discarding the vegetables.

Return the strained sauce to the pan, bring to a boil, and reduce by two-thirds until it becomes a rich, glossy glaze.

Add the cooked bacon, onion, and mushroom garnish back into the reduced sauce.

Stir in chopped parsley.

Return the chicken pieces to the sauce to warm through and get glazed.

Peel and wash the potatoes. Cover with cold, seasoned water and simmer for 15-20 minutes until tender.

While potatoes cook, reduce the double cream and butter in a separate pot by two-thirds.

Pass the cooked potatoes through a tamis (fine sieve) twice. Heat the potato puree and gradually work in the reduced cream and butter mixture until smooth.

Place a quenelle of creamed potatoes on a plate.

Arrange a few pieces of the Coq au Vin alongside the potatoes.

Spoon over the garnish of bacon, onions, and mushrooms, along with the rich sauce.

Garnish with a heart-shaped crouton dipped in parsley.