cw (08/06/82)
Coq Au Vin -- Chicken in Red Wine Sauce Ingredients 2 cut up small chickens 2 1 inch thick strips of lean pork 3 carrots 3 onions 2 Tbl flour 1/4 cup cognac 1/2 bottle red wine -- use what you are serving for dinner veal stock bouquet garni salt and pepper Method Parboil the pork strips for two minutes. Dry on a paper towel and then fry them in a large skillet with some additional good quality cooking oil. When the pork has browned, take it out and use it for any thing else you care to. Peel the carrots and cut them in quarters lengthwise. Peel and chop the onions. Cook them both in the skillet with the fat. Take about 25 minutes and make sure they don't get too brown; remember that both carrots and onions have considerable sugar and will burn easily. Remove and hold the vegetables. Salt and pepper the chicken and brown it in the skillet. When the chicken is lightly browned, sprinkle the flour in the pan and continue browning. Put the vegetables back in the pan when the flour has cooked for a time. Now add the cognac; also add the wine and an equal amount of veal stock. Increase the heat and stir the chicken around until the liquid comes to a boil. Transfer chicken and sauce to a baking dish. Add the bouquet garni and make sure all the vegetables and pan scrapings are moved too. There should be enough liquid to barely cover the chicken. If there is not, add equal amounts of wine and stock until there is. Cover the dish and bake in the oven at a temperature that just barely simmers the sauce. A young fryer will take about 40 minutes and a very old rooster might take 21/2 hours. Cook until the meat is very tender but not falling off the bones completely. Remove the bouquet garni and serve chicken and carrots with the sauce poured over the top. Notes This is a recipe where exact quantities are not too important. Use the best quality ingredients throughout; the better the materials, the richer the end product. An electric frypan can serve both as skillet and baking dish very nicely. Make sure that the red wine is of good quality. The veal stock might be any light beef stock -- don't, however, use a strongly spiced stock. Method To make a fancier sauce, remove the cooked chicken and carrots and hold them aside. Skim the fat from the sauce and strain it. Boil the strained sauce and then simmer very slowly. Remove with great care the scum that forms. When the scum has been cleared, put the sauce back over the chicken and carrots in the baking dish and heat for about 10 minutes until hot again throughout.