Coq au Vin is a traditional French dish, but Julia Child put her own memorable mark on it on a 1960s cooking show. french chef. Child and her famous foray into television were most recently portrayed in her HBO Max series. Juliawhich just completed its second season run on HBO.
Child makes coq au vin in one of the Season 1 episodes, so just in time to celebrate as the cold blankets the nation, Child’s timeless and comforting (and slightly adapted) recipe will be reprinted. Master the art of French cooking, her masterpiece written in 1961 with Simone Beck and Luisette Bertolet. As Child notes in the original headnotes, the dish “can be made with either white or red wine, but red wine has more character.” Traditionally, it is served with parsley potatoes. But here it’s served with potatoes and peas, the latter adding a pop of color to the dish’s slightly earthy palette. The child recommended “a young, full-bodied Burgundy, Beaujolais, or Côtes du Rhone red wine” to pair with the dish.
Julia Child’s coq au vin recipe
(Chicken braised in red wine, onions, mushrooms, bacon recipe)
Serves 4-6 people
material:
3 to 4 ounce chunks of lean bacon
2 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 to 3 pounds of cut-up fried chicken
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup cognac
3 cups of young full-bodied red wine, such as Burgundy, Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone, or Chianti
1-2 cups brown chicken stock, brown stock, canned beef bouillon
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves of mashed garlic
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
12-24 pearl onions
1/2 pound mushrooms
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons softened butter
Instructions:
step 1: Remove the bacon skin and cut the bacon into lardons (rectangles 1/4 inch wide and 1 inch long). Boil in two-quarters of water for 10 minutes. Rinse with cold water. dry.
Step 2: Slowly fry bacon in hot butter until lightly browned. Remove as a side dish.
Step 3: Dry the chicken thoroughly. Brown in the hot fat of the casserole.
Step 4: Season the chicken. Return the bacon to the casserole with the chicken. Cover and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, turning the chicken once.
Step 5: Open the lid and pour in the cognac. Turn your head away and light the cognac with a lit match. Shake the casserole back and forth for a few seconds until the flames go out.
Step 6: Pour the wine into the casserole. Add enough stock or broth to cover the chicken. Add tomato paste, garlic, and herbs and mix. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes or until chicken is tender and juices are clear yellow when pierced with a fork. Remove the chicken to a side dish.
Step 7: While the chicken is cooking, boil the pearl onions until soft and sauté the mushrooms.
Step 8: Simmer chicken cooking liquid in casserole for 1 to 2 minutes to remove fat. Then increase the heat to a rapid boil and reduce the liquid to about 2⁄4 cup. Correct seasoning. Remove from heat and discard bay leaves.
Step 9: Mix the butter and flour into a smooth paste (beurre manié). Stir the paste into the hot liquid with a wire whip. Bring to a boil, stirring, and simmer for 1-2 minutes. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon.
Step 10: Arrange the chicken in the casserole, surround with the mushrooms and onions, and season with the sauce. If you are not serving the dish right away, brush the top of the sauce with stock or dot with small pieces of butter. Set aside uncovered. You can now wait indefinitely.
Step 11: Just before serving, add the sauce to the chicken and simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 4 to 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Step 12: Remove from the casserole or serve on a hot plate. Garnish with parsley sprigs.
Dina Avila I’m a photographer based in Portland, Oregon.
Recipe created by Ivy Manning.