Coq au vin is the most honest argument for cooking with wine there is: take the bottle, the chicken and a little time, and you get one of the great Sunday dinners. There’s nothing clever in it — just browning, patience and a good red.
Traditionally it’s made with Burgundy, but any light-to-medium red you’d happily drink will do. Serve it with mash or bread, and something to mop up every drop.
- Reach for
- a dry red — Burgundy (Pinot Noir) is traditional, but any light-to-medium red works.
- How much
- 350ml (most of a bottle).
- What it’s doing
- here the wine is the dish — it poaches the chicken and reduces into a glossy, savoury sauce with real depth.
- No open bottle?
- there’s no true swap for coq au vin — the wine is the point. In a pinch, 300ml stock + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar gets you a paler cousin.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (or 4 legs)
- Salt and black pepper
- 150g (5 oz) smoked bacon lardons
- 200g (7 oz) button mushrooms, halved
- 12 small shallots or pearl onions, peeled
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tbsp tomato purée (paste)
- 350ml (1½ cups) dry red wine — the heart of the dish
- 300ml (1¼ cups) chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves, 3 sprigs thyme
- 2 tbsp butter; chopped parsley, to finish
Method
-
Season the chicken. In a heavy casserole, cook the lardons until golden and set aside. Brown the chicken skin-side down in the fat until deeply coloured, then set aside.
Brown in batches — crowding steams the skin and you lose the crust.
-
Brown the shallots and mushrooms in the same pan until golden; set aside with the lardons.
-
Lower the heat. Stir in the garlic, tomato purée and flour and cook for 1 minute.
-
Pour in the wine, scraping the base, and let it bubble for a few minutes.
Scrape up every brown bit — that fond is pure flavour going back into the sauce.
-
Add the stock, bay and thyme and return the chicken and lardons. Simmer gently, lid on, for 45 minutes.
-
Add the shallots and mushrooms and cook for a final 15 minutes, until the chicken is tender and the sauce has thickened.
Keep it at a bare simmer so the chicken stays meltingly soft.
-
Fish out the herbs, swirl in the butter for shine, and scatter with parsley. Serve with mash or crusty bread.
Use the rest
Not much should be left — but a final splash, simmered down, makes a quick sauce for steak. Or freeze it.
Pour alongside: the same red. Make ahead: rest it overnight and the flavour deepens beautifully.