Re: Coq au Vin (long!)

"DWACON" wrote ......

> I know this is cooked with red wine, but should you also serve > red with it... or can you serve white? > > I am leaning towards a Zinfandel... but of course my tastebuds > aren't always in line with what is proper. >

Are you truly interested in what is right and proper when writing / contemplating Coq au Vin?

If you just want to make an interesting chicken stew, then, frankly, it doesn't matter.

But, if you are trying to replicate something in its purest form, in the (hopefully temporary) absence or Ian Hoare, may I offer this.

Does the dish you are planning have *integrity*, do the ingredients belong together?

Does the recipe ring true, or is it, like so much modern cooking, a mess of ingredients that are out of sync and have no affinity with one another.

To make a true Coq au Vin, the cook must remain true to the dish and to its provenance and its history. There is a story about Coq au Vin, the chicken, the garlic, the bottle of wine, the long, slow cooking time.

Such a recipe wreaks of its history and its place in the life of those who invented it. You can see how the whole thing worked for them, how the dish slotted into the farmer's life, its place in the landscape.

Coq au Vin is a name nowadays bandied about as a fancy name for a chicken stew, but made with a gamey, strong-boned bird, some aromatic bacon, juicy little mushrooms and a bottle of half-decent wine.

There is a branch of cookery that says you can mess around with a classic recipe and it won't matter. You know, make a patently French recipe with Australian wine or swap a herb or a vegetable to suit what you have available.

Now, I am inventive as the next self-taught, improvise-at-all-costs cook, but I also believe that a classic recipe should be just that, a classic.

Ian (and jacquie) prepared a true Coq au Vin when we visited them in orges - cooked with sincerity and respect: and it took days - yes *days* to prepare.

The bird was an old entire male chicken: the old story is the older the bird, the richer the sauce.

While many aeas in France have laid claim to Coq au Vin, I think that this dish calls for Burgundy - will another wine do, yes, of course, any full-bodied red wine will be fine, but......

Most classic recipes call for onions and carrots and small (button) mushrooms - but I understand celery can be included

A little bunch of fresh thyme and a few bay leaves are all the herbs neccessary, otherwise the dish will become complicated.

And don't settle for thin strips of bacon. What you need is a solid lump that you can cut into thick strips.

Sorry to rave on (it is Ian Hoare's fault) - I would serve the same wine (or type) with which you cook, and it would not be white!!!

Reply to
st.helier
Loading thread data ...

I thought this article looked familiar; Nigel Slater of the Observer seems to feel exactly the same:

formatting link

Perhaps an attribution was deleted by accident? :-)

Dana

Reply to
Dana H. Myers

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.