Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Coq au Vin Recipe
JB’s Coq au Vin – a real French traditional from a real French chef! Chicken braised in pink wine with bacon, mushrooms and onions, like Beef Bourguignon it’s a simple recipe that simply takes just a little endurance – however the wealthy sauce and tender meat are price each minute!
Chicken stews are pleasant and criminally underrated in my ebook. Too usually they play second fiddle to the divas of the stew world like lamb shanks, braised brief ribs and curries. Perhaps it’s as a result of chicken as a meat is taken into account considerably “frequent”? In consequence, scrumptious and hardworking dishes like this On a regular basis Chicken Stew (with crispy pores and skin!) or this weeknight Quick Chicken Stew simply don’t get their share of the love they deserve.
If there’s any dish that may rise above the picture downside that the majority chicken stews undergo although, it’s received to be Coq au Vin. This French (naturally!) traditional is all about succulent bone-in chicken items braised in a shiny, alluringly darkish and wealthy pink wine sauce. The sauce’s deeply savoury flavour perfumed with herbs and bacon is advanced and appears to simply linger endlessly. If I needed to name it (and common readers know I’ll!), I reckon Coq au Vin is arms down the best and definitely probably the most luxurious chicken stew on the planet!
But there’s truly much less elements than any of the stews talked about earlier. The recipe is surprisingly simple. Making a fantastic Coq au Vin as an alternative is all about small further steps and particulars that add up little by little to weave the magic into this magnificent stew. Belief me: Take the time to make this correctly and I promise you’ll by no means have a look at chicken stew the identical method once more!
1. Chicken and pink wine marinade
Right here’s what it is advisable to marinate the chicken. The pink wine is first used for marinating the meat and later lowered on the range to make the sauce.
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Chicken items – Coq au Vin actually means “rooster in wine”. As soon as upon a time older male chickens might have been the hen of alternative for this conventional dish. I don’t learn about you, however the place I dwell roosters are arduous to come back by, so common chicken it’s!
Bone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks are the most secure for probably the most tender, juicy outcomes. Slicing up your individual entire chicken would even be an choice (and extra conventional). Preserve the chicken breast entire with the pores and skin on and bone in. Marinate and sear per recipe however solely put it within the pot for the final 20 minutes within the oven (else it’s going to overcook and dry out)
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Purple wine – The important thing flavouring on this dish used to infuse chicken with flavour, and base for the sauce. The completed dish does style mildly of pink wine if served instantly which is strictly how it’s purported to style. Nevertheless, in case you go away the completed dish in a single day within the fridge (extremely really useful), the flavour of the stew develops and the wine flavour mellows so you possibly can barely style it.
Pinot Noir is the standard wine sometimes utilized in Coq au Vin, normally from Burgundy. In France completely different wine areas showcase their native wines to create variations of chicken-in-wine dishes (typically even champagne!).
Actually although any pink selection will do so long as it’s not too heavy and full-bodied – shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec are all good.
Wine high quality – Despite the fact that wine is the first flavouring on this dish, there’s nonetheless no must splurge on costly wine. The previous adage that it’s best to “solely cook dinner with wine you’d drink” has largely been consigned to the dustbin of culinary myths due to trendy knowledge, equivalent to from authorities just like the New York Instances, who discovered from exams that “the fantastic wines and the terrible ones produced equally tasty meals, particularly if the wine was cooked for quite a lot of minutes.”
The braising time and different flavours works wonders to rework even economical wine – simply rummage via the low cost bins at your native liquor retailer. The bottle I used was a $15 one, lowered to $6 (Dan Murphy’s!).
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Pearl onions are very small onions and are irritatingly arduous to search out in Australia. The closest are pickling onions that are barely larger, so simply peel an additional layer or two off to make them the fitting measurement – round 2.5cm/1″ in diameter. Soak them for 10/15min in chilly water, which is able to soften the pores and skin and make them simpler to peel (use a small knife to help). You can even simply use 2 common brown or yellow onions, halved then reduce into 1cm / 2/5” wedges.
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Thyme and bay leaves – Traditional French stew-friendly herb aromatics.
2. For the Coq au Vin
Along with above, listed below are the opposite elements that go into the Coq au Vin:
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Beef inventory is the inventory of alternative for this dish. That may sound unusual for a chicken stew, nevertheless it’s what provides it the actually wealthy, darkish color and deeper flavour. Cooked out with all the opposite elements it doesn’t style beefy in any respect, since you get a lot flavour from the chicken juices. Chicken inventory will work high quality however the sauce color received’t be as deep, and the flavour can be just a little lighter.
Beef inventory high quality is the important thing variable right here that can set aside a very good selfmade Coq au Vin from an distinctive restaurant-quality one. Home made beef inventory trumps any retailer purchased. Good high quality store-bought from butchers and so on. are much better than mass-produced (like Campbell’s right here in Australia).
Don’t use powdered beef inventory. It’s frankly inferior to even the packet liquid inventory and has no place right here amongst all this effort, I’m afraid!
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Bacon – Get slab bacon out of your butcher in case you can, so you possibly can reduce it your self into huge, chunky lardons (batons). Biting into chunks of meaty bacon lardons versus scrappy small shreds is a part of what makes a fantastic Coq au Vin so interesting!
In the event you can’t discover slab bacon, attempt speck (which in Australia is smoked pork stomach chunks). Failing that, regular bacon slices works simply high quality too from a flavour perspective however you’ll have extra bacon “bits” within the sauce which isn’t fairly as good-looking!
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Mushrooms – Simply your on a regular basis button mushrooms. Minimize massive ones into quarters, medium ones in half.
Swiss brown /cremini are additionally high quality. White is extra conventional and appears nicer as a result of the paler color stands out extra in opposition to the darkish brown sauce.
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Garlic – For flavouring (it’s uncommon to see a savoury dish round right here with out it!).
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Tomato paste – For a contact of brightness, to assist thicken the sauce, flavour and color.
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Flour – That is what thickens the Coq au Vin sauce.
For probably the most scrumptious and genuine Coq au Vin that actually stacks as much as the very best bistro and restaurant variations in France:
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Relaxation the completed dish in a single day to permit the flavours to develop additional; and
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Use selfmade quite than store-bought beef inventory.
1. Marinate chicken and sear
Don’t skip the in a single day marination. This infuses the chicken with flavour all through to the bone.
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Marinate chicken – Utilizing a glass or ceramic bowl, marinate the chicken in a single day within the pink wine, onion and herbs. 12 hours is the minimal really useful, as much as 24 hours. Past that is nonetheless high quality however doesn’t actually add something extra, I’ve discovered.
This step infuses the chicken with flavour and is a necessary a part of what makes Coq au Vin so nice. So don’t skip it!
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Cut back wine – Pressure the pink wine right into a pot and scale back by half on the range. This intensifies the flavour, cooks out many of the alcohol and reduces the quantity of liquid right down to the correct amount so you find yourself with a beautiful thickened stew sauce by the point the chicken is cooked as an alternative of a dilute, watery soup.
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Dry chicken – Separate the onion and herbs from the chicken (as a result of we add them into the stew at completely different occasions). Place the chicken in a paper towel-lined tray, then consumer paper towels to pat the chicken dry. This ensures that the chicken browns properly. Moist chicken simply received’t get a pleasant golden crust.
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Sear chicken – Utilizing a big heavy based mostly pot 26cm / 10.5″ or bigger), warmth oil over medium excessive warmth. Sear the chicken thighs first, beginning with the pores and skin facet down, till they turn out to be a deep, darkish golden color. It is going to be darker than ordinary as a result of the chicken is stained by the pink wine. Flip and repeat on the opposite facet.
On this step, we’re simply searing the skin of the chicken for flavour. The within will nonetheless be uncooked which is ok since we are going to cook dinner it via once we braise it.
As soon as the thighs are browned, take away and add the drumsticks. Due to the form of the drumsticks, it’s more durable to brown them evenly. Simply rotate them to do the very best you possibly can – I usually sear 3 or 4 sides, about 5 minutes in complete.
2. Make the Coq au Vin stew
Whereas Coq au Vin produces magnificently deep and rounded flavours that solely slow-cooking can, it truly solely requires 45 minutes of braising as a result of chicken cooks significantly quicker than, say, beef. In distinction, Beef Bourguignon takes a very good 2 1/2 hours!
Sautéing every of the elements individually is vital for creating some good golden color thus flavour. Don’t attempt to shortcut it however throwing all of them in on the similar time – they may steam up and go watery as an alternative of changing into golden!
An enamelled forged iron pot just like that proven above (26cm / 10.5″) or a Dutch oven is the very best pot for this job. It retains tons of warmth and also you’re additionally much less prone to have issues with burnt bits caking your pot base.
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Prepare dinner bacon – Prepare dinner the bacon lardons till golden. On this step, fairly a little bit of fats can be launched by the bacon which we are going to use to sauté subsequent elements. As soon as the bacon is finished, add it to the tray with the chicken.
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Sauté mushrooms – Subsequent, cook dinner the mushrooms within the bacon fats, nonetheless on medium-high warmth. Once more, simply cook dinner them till you get blush of golden on the floor as a result of they may end cooking within the stew. When the mushrooms are executed, take away them and add to the chicken pile.
What to do in case your pot base is blackening! If at any stage the bottom of the pot begins to get a thick layer of black and burnt “stuff” on it (tends to occur in case you skimped on the fats!), take away it from the warmth and use a flat paddle picket spoon to scrape the layer off as finest you possibly can. In the event you don’t, that burnt layer will find yourself dissolving in your stew and make it bitter.
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Onions – Now, in go the onions! Simply stir frequently till you get good golden patches on them. We do onions final as a result of they maintain up finest when including within the tomato paste and flour within the subsequent steps.
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Tomato paste and flour – Subsequent, add butter and let it soften. Add garlic and cook dinner it for 1 minute till the garlic is golden and it smells ridiculously good.
Then add the tomato paste and cook dinner it for two minutes. This mellows the sourness of tomato paste in addition to bringing out and concentrating the flavour.
Now add the flour and cook dinner it for an additional 2 minutes. We wish to cook dinner out the uncooked flavour of the flour so there received’t be even the smallest trace of flouriness within the ultimate sauce. The combination can be a bit pasty or typically, if in case you have much less oil, presumably a bit crumbly. That’s okay – what’s essential right here is utilizing the 7 tablespoons of flour specified within the recipe as that is what’s required to make sure the sauce thickens to the fitting consistency by the point the chicken is cooked.
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Add liquids – Whereas stirring, slowly pour within the beef inventory. Incorporating the inventory little by little helps the flour dissolve lump-free into the liquids. However don’t fear in case you do (or assume you do!) have small lumps, they may simply dissolve through the braising time.
As soon as the meat inventory is added, hold stirring to fully dissolve the flour into the liquid. Then combine within the lowered pink wine.
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Add chicken and all the things else – Add the chicken, cooked mushrooms, bacon, and reserved bay leaf and thyme (from marinating the chicken) to the pot. Give it a very good stir, then permit it to come back to a simmer.
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Oven 45 minutes – Cowl with a lid then switch it to a 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan) oven for 45 minutes.
Why oven as an alternative of simmering on the range? It’s simply simpler and decrease upkeep. For instance there’s no must stir to make sure the bottom doesn’t catch, which is more durable to do while you’ve received huge items of chicken in a pot that’s comparatively full!
The oven temperature could appear just a little excessive to you for a slow-cooked recipe. Truly although this temperature is the equal of low warmth on a small range burner so the stew is barely effervescent contained in the pot.
Can I take advantage of a gradual cooker? This could work however you’ll want to scale back on the range on the finish to thicken the sauce. Sluggish-cook for six hours on low. Switch to pot then simmer (no lid) for 15 – 20 minutes till sauce reduces. I actually assume it’s simply simpler to make use of the oven, to be trustworthy!
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Sauce changes – As soon as the Coq au Vin comes out of the oven, the sauce ought to have lowered barely and thickened right into a thinnish gravy. If it’s nonetheless very skinny, or too skinny in your liking, simply pop it on a low range with out the lid till it thickens to your style. Issues like the warmth retention of your pot and oven power will have an effect on precisely how a lot the sauce reduces and thickens.
Professional tip: Preserve the sauce barely thinner than you wish to see it as soon as served. It’s because roux–thickened sauces like this may thicken additional as they cool barely and as soon as served.
Modify salt – Additionally, style the sauce and add extra salt if wanted. I begin with what I believe is a conservative quantity of salt as a result of the saltiness of the completed dish can be affected by the saltiness of the bacon used – one thing I can not management!
Starchy automobiles to absorb that sauce!
Whereas mashed potato is the clear and apparent starchy car of alternative right here for scooping up all that luscious sauce, the opposite fashionable facet in France is (surprisingly!) tagliatelle pasta. It is a flat noodle pasta that’s 6mm / 0.236″ extensive (to be correct! 😉). Recent is finest, however dried remains to be completely good.
And whereas maybe not conventional, I can affirm {that a} hunk of heat selfmade brioche is a dreamy method to mop your bowl clear. Emphasis on DREAMY!!!
Facet salad for Coq au Vin
Serve Coq au Vin with a pleasant crisp inexperienced salad evenly dressed with French Dressing or a traditional French Bistro Salad. Made with leafy greens, a handful of herbs, and a reasonably pink tangles of pickled eschalots this can be a refreshing, lemon vinaigrette-dressed salad served in bistros throughout France with the precise meant goal of teaming up with wealthy mains like Coq au Vin.
Listed here are a couple of extra facet salad choices that I believe will go nicely with a hearty principal like Coq au Vin:
French Desserts to complete!
Have you ever actually had a correct French dinner in case you don’t have dessert?? NO! 😂 Some strategies:
It’s all the time arduous to decide on favourites, however for Coq au Vin, these are my prime picks:
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Creme Brûlée – A traditional French bistro favorite that’s bafflingly easy to make at dwelling.
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Lemon Tart (Tarte au Citron) – My dessert of alternative for its zesty and contemporary flavour which makes for an ideal palette cleanser after a quite wealthy principal.
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Madeleines – This was dessert for we made for the final French banquet I hosted. For one thing bite-size and just a little completely different, freshly made Madeleines are a pleasant method to end off a meal. Make the batter beforehand and go away it within the fridge. It takes 90 seconds to fill the baking pan, and 10 minutes to bake. Pile on a plate and watch as they disappear in seconds!
Get pleasure from! – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs , bone-in, skin on (~220g / 7 oz each) (Note 1)
- 4 chicken drumsticks (Note 1)
- 16 pearl onions or picking onions (Note 2)
- 1 bay leaf , fresh (dry also ok)
- 3 thyme sprigs (sub 1 tsp dried thyme)
- 750 ml / 3 cups pinot noir red wine , or other dry red wine (Note 3)
- 3 – 4 tbsp vegetable oil (or canola oil)
- 3/4 tsp salt (cooking/kosher salt, or 1/2 tsp table salt)
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 400g / 14oz white mushrooms , halved (quartered if large) (Note 4)
- 150g / 5oz bacon piece , (speck) cut into 1 x 2.5cm / 0.4 x 1″ batons (Note 5)
- 60g / 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 garlic cloves , finely minced (with knife)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 7 tbsp flour , plain / all purpose
- 750 ml / 3 cups beef stock , low sodium, preferably homemade (Note 6)
- 1/4 tsp salt (cooking/kosher salt, or 1/8 tsp table salt) (Note 7)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp parsley , chopped
- Mashed potato (or tagliatelle)
Instructions
- Marinate chicken: Place the Chicken Marinade ingredients in a large glass or ceramic bowl or dish. Marinate overnight in the fridge (minimum 12 hours, maximum 24 hours).
- Strain wine into a bowl. Reserve herbs and wine. Separate the chicken and onion.
- Dry chicken: Spread chicken out on a try lined with paper towels, then pat dry with paper towels.
- Reduce wine: Pour red wine into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Simmer vigorously, skimming off any impurities that rise to the surface, until reduced by half. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan).
- Season chicken: Sprinkle chicken with 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper.
- Brown chicken: Heat 3 tbsp oil in a large, heavy-based, oven-proof pot over medium-high heat. Add chicken thighs skin side down and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until nicely browned (it will be darker than usual because of the red wine). Flip thighs and cook the other side for another minute to kiss it with a little colour. Remove to a tray. Pull at skin of drumsticks to cover flesh as best as possible, then brown (I do 3 to 4 sides, ~5 minutes in total). Remove and set aside.
- Fry bacon: Remove any loose black burnt bits. Add a bit of extra oil if needed, then cook bacon for 3 minutes until golden. Add to tray with chicken.
- Sauté mushrooms: Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, or until golden. Remove into a separate bowl.
- Sauté onion: Add a bit of extra oil if needed, then cook onions for 5 minutes or until there are nice golden patches.
- Butter and flour: Add butter into pot. Once melted, add garlic and cook for a further 1 minute. Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add wine and stock: While stirring, slowly pour in beef stock – this helps the flour dissolve lump-free into the stock. Then add the reduced wine and mix until flour mixture is dissolved and mostly lump-free. (Note 8)
- Add everything back in: Add chicken, bacon, mushroom, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper into the pot, then stir.
- Oven 45 minutes: Bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to oven for 45 minutes. Chicken will be very tender – but not "falling apart". (Note 9)
- Adjust salt: Remove from oven, taste sauce and add salt if needed.
- Leave overnight (recommended, Note 11): If time permits, leave the stew overnight before serving because as with all stews, it gets better with time! Reheat gently on a low stove in a covered pot, ensuring that chicken is fully heated through. Add water if needed to loosen sauce.
- Serve over mashed potato or tagliatelle, sprinkled with fresh parsley! For the ultimate experience, mop the plate clean with homemade brioche (surprisingly straight forward to make). See in post for side salad and dessert options.
Notes
1. Chicken pieces – Bone in, skin on pieces are best for the most tender, juicy results. Cutting up your own whole chicken would also be ideal. Keep the chicken breast whole with the skin on and bone in. Marinade and sear per recipe but only put it in the pot for the last 20 minutes in the oven (else it will overcook and dry out).
2. Pearl onions are very small onions and are irritatingly hard to find in Australia. The closest are pickling onions which are slightly bigger, so just peel an extra layer or two off to make them the right size – around 2.5cm/1″ in diameter. Soak them for 10/15min in cold water, it will soften the skin and make them easier to peel (use a small knife to assist).
You can also just use 2 brown or yellow onions, halved then cut into 1cm / 2/5” wedges.
3. Pinot Noir is the traditional wine typically used in Coq au Vin, though you’ll different wine regions showcase their local wines in this dish (sometimes even champagne!).
Wine quality – Even though wine is the primary flavouring in this dish, there’s still no need to splurge on expensive wine. This is a myth of years gone by supported by reputable food authorities including the New York Times. (“the wonderful wines and the awful ones produced equally tasty food, especially if the wine was cooked for more than a few minutes.”) The braising time and other flavours works wonders to transform even value wine – just rummage through the discount bins at your local liquor store. The bottle I used was a $15 one reduced to $6 (Dan Murphy’s!).
Cooking out alcohol – While the alcohol cooks out of the sauce due to the long cooking time, I am unsure whether (or how much) might be captured in the flesh of the chicken which is marinated in the red wine. Readers should use their judgement when deciding whether to serve this to children.
4. Mushrooms – Swiss brown /cremini are also fine. White is more traditional and looks nicer because it stands out more against the dark brown sauce.
5. Bacon – Using a block means you can cut into chunky batons which looks nicer in the finished dish. Using bacon slices is a substitute that works perfectly fine from a flavour perspective but you end up with more pieces in the sauce so it looks like there’s more “bits” in it (very clunky explanation attempt there!!).
Bacon is key for sauce seasoning, so don’t skip it!
6. Beef stock is used in this dish which gives it the rich dark brown colour and deeper flavour. Doesn’t taste beefy because you get so much flavour from the chicken juices. Chicken stock will work fine but the sauce colour won’t be as deep, and flavour a little lighter.
Beef stock quality is the key variable here that will set apart a good homemade Coq au Vin from an exceptional restaurant-quality one. Homemade beef stock trumps any store bought. Good quality store-bought from butchers etc. are far better than mass-produced (like Campbell’s here in Australia).
Do not use powdered beef stock. It’s frankly inferior to even the packet liquid stock and has no place here amongst all this effort, I’m afraid!
7. Salt – This dish gets plenty of salt from the bacon, so you don’t need to add much.
8. Flour lumps – Don’t fret if you have some lumps! They will dissolve during the slow cooking time 🙂
9. Slow cook method – Oven is best because it’s entirely hands off, no need to stir to ensure base doesn’t catch (it’s also kind of hard with big chicken pieces in pot). But it can also be done on a low stove, lid on, stirring every now and then.
Slow cooker: This can work but you’ll need to reduce on the stove at the end to thicken sauce. Slow-cook for 6 hours on low, transfer to pot then simmer (no lid) for 15 – 20 minutes until sauce reduces. I really think it’s just easier to use the oven!
10. How tender chicken should be – Takes 45 minutes to cook through fully and be tender but not “falling off the bone” which is an unusual preparation for chicken because the meat is naturally more tender than tough slow cooking cuts like chuck beef (used for Bourguignon), lamb shanks, beef ribs etc.
11. Leaving stew overnight – As with any stew, but particularly dishes like Coq au Vin and Beef Bourguignon where the sauce is made with a good amount of wine, it gets better if you leave the finished stew overnight because the flavours develop more and any residual wine flavour mellows out. Having said that, this is stellar freshly cooked as well!
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