Cock au vin, or chicken in wine, is another one of those dishes that I really look forward to when the weather chills down some, and even more so if we have an excess of roosters that we need to deal with*.

You can cook it in a camp oven on the way to wolf creek. It can easily be doubled or tripled if you want to cook it for a shitload of friends. It reheats well, allowing you to get ready for dinner hours or even days early. It actually benefits from being neglected for an hour or two. It can be presented to your peasant friends or haute society in the same sitting. It’s… it’s… magic.

Even if you think you don’t like coq, you will like this.

I will only use chicken marylands for this dish because I really do love the moistness, but the traditional meat to use is rooster and I can verify that if you have one you need to knock off it couldn’t go to a better cause. I have also been told by a French chef friend of mine that if you want to step it up a notch further, you should use capon, a castrated rooster and a product that is not readily available probably anywhere besides France.

Furthermore, I would also like to add that I don’t care what diet you’re on but now is not the time to be using chicken breast in place of the marylands either.

*Just as the mafia may deal with things.

COQ AU VIN
(CHICKEN IN WINE)

Serves 4

4 chicken marylands, separated into thigh and drumstick
150 g bacon or speck, sliced
250 g eshallots or pickling onions (the little baby ones), or a diced onion or two
500 g mushrooms, button or swiss brown are good, left whole if small and halved or quartered if a bit big
1 ripe tomato, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bouquet garni (sprigs of thyme, rosemary and bay leaf)
500 ml red wine
500 ml chicken stock
Salt and pepper to season
Chopped parsley and crusty bread (Or soft bread. Who am I to tell you what bread to eat), to serve

Season the chicken and brown in a heavy based pot. Remove chicken and set aside.
Now in the same pot brown the bacon, onion, garlic and mushrooms.
Return the chicken to the pot and add the tomato.
Add the wine to the pot. Grab yourself a glass too if you didn’t already.
Also add the stock and bouquet garni to the pot, cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 1.5 or so hours (bear in mind a muscly old rooster is going to take a little extra time) – just enough time to get on the way to being jolly pissed.
If it starts to get a little dry you can add half a cup of water at a time to re-moisten.
Once chicken is cooked and tender it ready to go but you’ll just want to make sure that the sauce is a kinda saucy consistency. You can bump the heat up a little and reduce for 5 minutes if it needs it.
Alright. Concentrate now. One more thing to do.
Get the coq into a bowl with something potatoey if you’re feeling it, or just by itself is fine too.
Garnish with a little parsley and some bread of your choosing to mop up the juices.
You’ve done well. You deserve this.