French · Free recipe
Coq au Vin
Chicken legs marinate overnight in red wine, then braise slowly with smoky lardons, pearl onions, and mushrooms until the meat pulls from the bone. The sauce reduces to a deep burgundy gloss, thickened at the end with a little butter and flour worked into a paste.
- Prep
- 8 hr 40 min
- Cook
- 2 hr
- Total
- 10 hr 40 min
- Serves
- 6
- Level
- Hard
Method
-
Combine the chicken, wine, carrots, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves in a bowl and refrigerate overnight, then lift out the chicken and pat it very dry, reserving the wine and aromatics.
-
Cook the bacon in a Dutch oven over medium heat for 8 minutes, until crisp, and remove it with a slotted spoon.
-
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown it in the bacon fat in batches, 5 minutes per side, until deeply golden, then set aside.
-
Stir the tomato paste into the pot for 1 minute, add the reserved wine and aromatics, and simmer for 5 minutes, scraping the bottom.
-
Return the chicken and half the bacon, add the stock, cover, and braise in a 325F oven for 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is very tender.
-
Meanwhile, brown the pearl onions and mushrooms in 1 tbsp butter in a skillet over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, until caramelized.
-
Move the chicken to a platter, discard the herbs, and mash the remaining butter with the flour, then whisk it into the simmering sauce bit by bit until it thickens and turns glossy.
-
Add the onions, mushrooms, remaining bacon, and chicken back to the sauce, simmer 5 minutes, and serve with mashed potatoes or crusty bread.
Zest note from the test kitchen
Coq au vin tastes better on the second day; chill it overnight, lift off the solid fat, and reheat gently.
