Coq Au Vin is a traditional French dish originating from the Burgundy region. Coq Au Vin, loosely translated, it means Cock (Chicken) With Wine. The traditional dish consists of chicken marinated in red wine and herbs, seared in lardon fat, and finally braised in wine with mushrooms and sometimes garlic.
Some says the origin of this dish came from Julius Caesar’s cook, when he used an old turkey gifted by the Gauls to whip up this amazing dish to serve back to the Gauls. There was another version that in the past, as French people often reared hens and roosters in their household, when the roosters grew old and could not perform their duties anymore, the roosters would be slaughtered and not wanting to waste their tough meat, the French came up with an ingenious idea to braise the rooster meat in wine to soften the meat.
Delia’s recipe deviated from the traditional recipe quite a bit as there was no marination involved, and lardon has been substituted with bacon. However, without the marination, making this dish is a lot faster as it can be completed in about 1 1/2 hours (I spent some time taking the step-by-step photos so I took about 2 hours).
The overall dish is a very hearty and comforting dish, perfect for cold nights, so it’s a little odd when X and I were eating it for lunch, not to mention we were drinking the leftover red wine in a hot summer-ish afternoon… Nevertheless, the dish is very interesting – it has an intense red wine taste that I’m not sure everyone will be fond of. I’m okay with the taste but X felt that there was a slight bitter after-taste, not sure if it’s how the dish is supposed to taste like… any ideas? Otherwise I’ve got to order this in a restaurant and try it out.
For those who are interested in trying this French classic, here’s how!
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| 1) Pan-fry a couple slices of bacon to render its fat. | 2) Drain the crispy bacon slices on paper towels. |
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| 3) Sear the chicken on all sides until golden-brown in colour. | 4) Remove the chicken onto a plate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. |
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| 5) Slice some onion and crush some garlic. | 6) Stir-fry the onion and garlic until fragrant. |
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| 7) Add in red wine. | 8) Add in chicken, bay leaves and bacon and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. |
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| 9) Slice some button mushrooms while the chicken is simmering. | 10) Add in the mushrooms and simmer until the mushrooms have softened and are cooked. |
Serve garnished with parsley!
I’m submitting this to Cook Like A Star hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Do click on the froggie below to see all other recipe attempts by other foodies!
I’m also submitting this to Bizzy Bakes, hosted by Chaya! Do click here to see the wide variety of recipes that bloggers from all over the world have submitted!
- 4 strips of streaky bacon
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 huge chicken drumsticks
- 1 onion, peeled and sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 375 ml red wine (1½ cups)
- 1 large bay leaf (I used 2 small ones)
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 250 grams mushrooms, brushed/washed and halved/quartered
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- Freshly snipped parsley, to garnish
- In a large pot over medium heat, pan-fry the bacon until their fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and crumble the bacon when they are cool enough to handle. Do not discard the bacon fat.
- Add the butter and olive oil into the pot with the bacon fat. When the butter has melted and the oil is hot, sear the chicken drumsticks over medium-high heat until all sides are golden-brown in colour, about 8 to 10 minutes. Do this in batches if the pot is too small, adding more oil if necessary. Remove the chicken onto a plate and set aside.
- Reduce the heat to low. Add in the onion slices and crushed garlic and let them sweat till the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in the red wine, bay leaf, thyme, bacon bits and chicken drumsticks. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, turning the chicken drumsticks several times during cooking.
- Add the mushrooms into the pot, cover and simmer for another 15 minutes. Check that the chicken drumsticks are cooked through. Remove the chicken drumsticks and place them on serving plates and keep warm. Discard the bay leaf and thyme. Bring the sauce to a fast boil and reduce it by ⅓.
- Mash the butter and plain flour together and add it into the sauce, stirring constantly until the sauce has thickened. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
P.S. I served mine with some delicious Twice-Baked Potatoes, here’s a sneak peek!
Stay tuned for the recipe! Happy cooking!
Wish I can bring some to you! 🙂
Hi Johnny, thanks for the tip! I don’t drink wine much so I don’t know all these. Will definitely try it again once I find a better wine!
Hi Jasline,
I agree with Johnny and Karen. It is the wine that you used can give you some bitter aftertaste. What red wine did you used? Is it a dry one? I like to use cabernet sauvignon because I like drinking this and great with chicken dishes too… It’s all personal preference.
Zoe
Hi Jasline, Your photos are absolutely wonderful…the coq au vin looks delicious. I tend to agree with Johnny…I think it was probably the wine, not the way you prepared it.
Hi Baby Sumo, nope I didn’t, I just used chicken drumsticks that I bought from the supermarket!
Hi Jasline, Your coq au vin is looking delish! Have seen lots of recipes for this and am always wondering how it tastes like, obviously delicious, from the looks of yours! And your potatoes looks really good!
Hi Jasline, did u use cock to make this dish? I was going to make this when I first saw the recipe, but was a bit wary of using cock since I heard the meat is a bit “tougher” and was worried my kids wont like it. But your chicken looks so good, I think I’ll try making this next month.
Such a great dish, Jasline, and a personal favorite. It’s really a simple recipe but the flavors are so good, especially when the thighs & drumsticks are used, just as you did here. You shared a winning recipe today. Thank you.
Hi Jasline, your chicken had me drooling from here… so succulent and tender.
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Any recipe that starts with pan fried bacon would be a winner for my teenage boys as they think bacon is one of the major food groups. Beautiful photos and would love a plate of this for dinner. I have moved to my own self hosted site. I hope you will come for a visit. I kept my old worpress site out there as backup after hearing about your dilemma. Http:// bamskitchen.com/ . Have a super weekend.BAM
I haven’t made coq au vin in a very long time and you reminded me how much I love it and it needs to go back on rotation, I love this recipe, it’s so simple and your step by step instructions are excellent, Thank you for the inspiration!
Second post I’ve seen for coq au vin! I want some NOW! Yum!
It’s years since I’ve made coq au vin, and the only time that I did make it I used white wine instead. I don’t remember having to marinade the chicken, either. With red wine you would have to be careful with the amount of tannin the wine has as that could be causing the bitter aftertaste. Personally I like red wine but not those with a high tannin content – can’t drink the stuff!