New feature! The CookingBites Cookalong: Coq au Vin

And you see, straight away I’ve already learned something. Clearly, the way @epicuric did it (which I get is more likely, shall we say ‘faithful to the original spririt’ rather than ‘authentic’) is as a slow cook dish spending some hours cooking. The way you would have to do it if the meat you were cooking wasn’t tender and young – the kind of chicken you would be cooking if it had been wandering around your farmyard – or even village streets – for several months. Whereas James Martin’s recipe is using supermarket chicken that doesn’t need cooking for several hours and I suppose the only thing you are really trying to achieve is some depth of flavour to the sauce. It might have been interesting to have used a chicken that would otherwise have been a bit too tough to see if you could make it more tender by the slow cook method. Anyway, I think I will go for the full chicken portioned (by my wife) before cooking rather than buying a tray of thighs or whatever. But it might have to be nearer to the James Martin methodology for me.


Liked your picture of the raw ingredients before you cooked it, incidentally @epicuric. Very cook bookish.
 
I'll be cooking mine on Monday. I might or might not marinate the chicken in the red wine overnight. I'm torn between two approaches to this recipe. Perhaps I should do both!
 
epicuric said:
Mission complete - coq au vin cooked and eaten! Some things I found out whilst researching this recipe:
1. It is equally acceptable to use white wine instead of red. So I did.
2. As a slow cooked dish it was a way of using up old, tough birds, or latterly a capon.
3. Some recipes call for everything to be browned first, others (inc. James Martin's "French Adventure" version) put everything raw into the cooking liquor, just adding fried lardons and mushrooms at the end.
4.The Larousse recipe thickens the sauce with the blood of the chicken. Michel Roux allegedly uses white pudding for thickening!
Click to expand...

A couple of questions/comments:
  1. Whilst not being a fan of German wine I do like Alsace wines and I love Gewürztraminer which has a herbal spicy taste - did this come out in the taste of the final dish?
  2. Is this recipe your own? I am asking because it includes leeks and I wondered why since you have shallots. I don't think leeks are traditional.
  3. You mentioned adding cream (although you didn't). I'd say that as soon as you add cream its no longer a coq au Vin - I mean you wouldn't put cream in the red wine version. But not just that, I think the point of the dish is to have quite a liquid but full-bodied sauce.
Anyway - your finished dish looks fantastic. And due to the use of white wine, you did not have the problem of the strangely reddish purple chicken skin which I have encountered in the red wine version!
 
I've cooked Coq au Vin but it was a long time ago. I might have to join in on this and dig out the recipe.
 
morning glory said:
A couple of questions/comments:
  1. Whilst not being a fan of German wine I do like Alsace wines and I love Gewürztraminer which has a herbal spicy taste - did this come out in the taste of the final dish?
  2. Is this recipe your own? I am asking because it includes leeks and I wondered why since you have shallots. I don't think leeks are traditional.
  3. You mentioned adding cream (although you didn't). I'd say that as soon as you add cream its no longer a coq au Vin - I mean you wouldn't put cream in the red wine version. But not just that, I think the point of the dish is to have quite a liquid but full-bodied sauce.
Anyway - your finished dish looks fantastic. And due to the use of white wine, you did not have the problem of the strangely reddish purple chicken skin which I have encountered in the red wine version!
Click to expand...
I used Gewurztraminer because it is much fruitier than the conventional Riesling - more like a Muscat - and yes the flavours did come through in the sauce. Well I did use a whole bottle! And Alsace is French these days :)
morning glory said:
A couple of questions/comments:
  1. Whilst not being a fan of German wine I do like Alsace wines and I love Gewürztraminer which has a herbal spicy taste - did this come out in the taste of the final dish?
  2. Is this recipe your own? I am asking because it includes leeks and I wondered why since you have shallots. I don't think leeks are traditional.
  3. You mentioned adding cream (although you didn't). I'd say that as soon as you add cream its no longer a coq au Vin - I mean you wouldn't put cream in the red wine version. But not just that, I think the point of the dish is to have quite a liquid but full-bodied sauce.
Anyway - your finished dish looks fantastic. And due to the use of white wine, you did not have the problem of the strangely reddish purple chicken skin which I have encountered in the red wine version!
Click to expand...

I chose Gewürztraminer because it is fruitier than the traditional Riesling, more of a Muscat taste which did come through in the sauce. BTW Alsace has been French for some time now :)
The recipe was based on many others I looked at - I just stole the bits I thought would work for me! Some did use leeks.
Some of the recipes did use cream (Diana Henry's was one). Traditionally the blood of the chicken would have been used to thicken the sauce (in the red wine version), Michel Roux used black pudding instead. I failed in my attempt to find any white pudding locally so used cream instead. It worked for me!
 
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