# Coq au Vin RECIPE?



## scribble (Dec 21, 2012)

I have never had Coq au Vin before but decided to try and make this dish for dinner last night, it was definetly a time consuming one but I got it all completed within an hour. 

My question is what should it taste like???  I know that is a very hard question to answer but the one I made tasted like I was drinking a bottle of wine more than any flavor that was noted.  I am not a wine consumer nor is my wife as I don't like the taste of any wine I have ever tried. 

I just couldn't stomach my self to eat it and just not sure if it was my cooking or that is just what is is supposed to taste like.

Thanks,


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Its supposed to be delicious, a blend of many flavours, not just wine.
When u say tasted like a bottle of wine, do you mean 
alcoholic? How long did the wine cook and what kinda wine did u use? Maybe u just don't
like that wine?


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

Tell us how you made it...........

Should have deep roasted chicken flavor, wine, bacon, thyme, onion, mushroom.......


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## scribble (Dec 21, 2012)

Here is the recipe I was using. Like I states earlier I am not a wine drinking, really not much of a drinker in general unless it is a mixed drink and even then not very often. I really don't enjoy the actual alcohol taste of any drinks and would prefer drinks to taste smooth, of course I would probably be an alcoholic if they made wine taste exactly like a grape juice or a rum and coke to taste exactly like coke.

1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1/4 pound pancetta, chopped
1 pound cipollini onions, peeled and sliced in 1/2  ( couldn't find these onions so I just used a medium yelllow diced).
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces ( used about half breast and half thigh as that is what I had on hand)
1 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced  ( couldn't find these either so I used plain old white)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bottle medium-bodied Italian red wine (the wine I used was Primo Sangiovese-merlot)
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound linguine
Fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Directions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until brown and crispy about 8 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with a paper towel.

To the same skillet add the onions and cook until they just start to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside on a baking sheet. While the onions cook, add the flour to a glass baking dish and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and toss to coat.

To the same skillet add 3 tablespoons olive oil, add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute the mushrooms until browned, about 8 minutes and remove to the baking sheet with the onions.

Shake off any excess flour from the chicken and put on a plate. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet and add the chicken. Cook the chicken until browned, about 6 minutes and transfer to the baking sheet.

Turn the heat to medium and add the garlic and tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes and deglaze the pan with 3/4 of the bottle of wine, making sure to scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. While the wine comes to a simmer, add the thyme, chicken, mushrooms and onions and let simmer for 3 minutes. If sauce is too thick add remaining red wine. Add butter, taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente about 8 to 10 minutes.

Drain the pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and top with the chicken and wine sauce. Garnish with the parsley, pancetta and a drizzle of the remaining olive oil.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I'm not an expert, but I would first of all use chicken with bones and I normally let the wine cook for much much longer than this recipe indicates.
Basically brown the chicken pieces, onions and pancetta, add wine, mushrooms etc and let simmer for a good 45 minutes or more.
Quite often, I use some water as well, up to 50/50 water and wine
Good luck, a good coq au vin is delicious


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

This may be a good dish ,but Coq Au Vin it is not.

     First whole baby onions are normally used and chicken is on the bone, there is no Italian red wine, if leaves are removed from fresh thyme, you are adding stems, the leaf is what you want. Sometime served with parisein potatoes. Chicken is slightly browned first skin on. This recipe may be good but again Coq Au Vin it is not.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

You don't tell us how long you ended up simmering all the ingredients together but my guess is not very long considering you used chicken breast which cooks in a flash, and the fact that you by the time the linguini was ready you served the dish. 

There are several things you could have done to make this dish better.  First of all, using bone-in chicken will have increased your cooking time, making the flavors really meld together.  The original recipes for coq-au-vin use an old rooster that has very tough meat and needs a long slow braise to soften.  Those are hard to find, but sometimes you can find an old hen at the grocery store and even a young chicken will work as long as you keep it on the bone. 

Secondly, being a non-wine drinker maybe you didn't know that you have to use a good wine in food.  It doesn't have to be a $100 bottle of cabernet but it does have to be drinkable, you can't use grocery store wine.  What wine did you use by the way?  Also, considering how much wine is necessary in this dish it does need to cook for quite a long time to marry with the other ingredients and become Le Sauce!

You followed some good steps on searing.  However, after you remove the bacon I would have seared the chicken minus the flour.  I don't like searing with flour because too often I've burned the flour.  I sear the chicken, bone-in skin on, so that all the pieces get nice and brown and there is some nice fond on the bottom.  Then I do the mushrooms and remove, then the onions-garlic-tomato.  I add the onions back in and add flour then, making a bit of an oniony roux   I cook that for at least 3 minutes, I don't like the smell of raw flour. 

Deglaze with a little chicken stock and about a half bottle of red wine (my preferences), add some thyme and a couple of bay leaves, and bring that to a simmer for about 5 minutes, let all the alcohol evaporate.  Then put the chicken/bacon back in but only the dark meat which takes longest to cook. Cover and let it braise for about 45-60min then put in the breasts for another 20min or so. 

I think I know what I'm making for dinner tonight, now I have a hankering.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Don't forget the origins of the dish; a method to cook old, tough chicken, not young, tender birds as found in the market today.


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## scribble (Dec 21, 2012)

So the consensus is that I didn't cook the dish long enough to get all the alcohol out and probably shouldn't have done the flour coated chicken. 

Sent from my Samsung galaxy S2


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

scribble said:


> So the consensus is that I didn't cook the dish long enough to get all the alcohol out and probably shouldn't have done the flour coated chicken.
> 
> Sent from my Samsung galaxy S2


Yes, it's not supposed to be a quick dish. If you're looking for a good sauce you need to give it time. I won't say don't do the flour coated chicken because plenty of cooks sear flour-coated chicken. I do not, because the flour burns every time I do it.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

PeteMcCracken said:


> Don't forget the origins of the dish; a method to cook old, tough chicken, not young, tender birds as found in the market today.


Bingo, and if you are not interested in wine, coq au vin may not be the dish for you.Learning to properly fabricate and cook a chicken should be the first step.


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## scribble (Dec 21, 2012)

cape chef said:


> Bingo, and if you are not interested in wine, coq au vin may not be the dish for you.Learning to properly fabricate and cook a chicken should be the first step.


 Could you elberate on the properly fabricate a chicken?


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Take a look at: http://www.saveur.com/gallery/Jacques-Pepin-on-How-to-Cut-Up-a-Chicken


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

The dish is supposed to be cooked a long time because you are starting with an old fowl. also finish dish in the oven in the original sauce pan or pot you had on top of stove.


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## scribble (Dec 21, 2012)

OK I do know how to break down a chicken just not something I do very often unless I have a specific need for one v

Sent from my Samsung galaxy S2


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Everything's adaptable to your needs, nothing wrong with a dish that is "based on"

coq au vin. But you do need to use a robust wine with some true flavour. And if

you want to use more tender chicken then the recipe was originally diesigned

for then after your initial chicken saute, let your sauce ingreds simmer down and

mingle a while, then add the chicken in the last 15 minutes or so, till tender.

The whole key is time--such a  sauce has to undergo a significant reduction in order

to properly combine and bring out the flavours. Otherwise itll just taste like a bunch of

stuff with wine and chicken dumped in.

And BTW, a properly proportioned and reduced wine sauce doesnt taste anything like

the original wine. It's in a world of it's own--heavenly.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Ed is right. No matter what it calls itself, that recipe will not make anything resembling actual _coq au vin_. H/t Ed.

Setting aside the fact that you can make a pretty good and recognizable _coq au vin_ using something smaller, more tender, and younger than a fully mature rooster (aka "coq"), the recipe fails as _coq au vin_ on several levels. H/t Ed again. By way of only one glaring example, _coq au vin_ is French, not Italian. It is NEVER served over pasta (_*ne*_ served over pasta_ *jamais*_*)*.

Call it what you will, the recipe itself is horrible for several reasons, the most glaring of which is that cooking the raw off of wine is one of the most fundamental and basic techniques of cooking. H/t Meez. Throwaway the book, unsubscribe from the magazine, send a sternly worded e-mail or whatever will best express your displeasure.

If you don't like red wine you probably shouldn't make food that's designed to highlight it because the chances are excellent you won't like that either. On account of the red wine, you see. Next time shoot for chicken Marsala and be happy.

BDL


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## scribble (Dec 21, 2012)

BDL. I do enjoy chicken Marsala, it actually one of my favorite dishes to eat and make. I was thinking coq au van would resemble this that is why I decided to try this dish. 


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Had you cooked this any longer then an hour it would have been potted or real overcooked. It sounds ok just give it a name like "CHICKEN A LA SCRIBBLES"


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