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Blast From the Past – Coq au vin

By Richard Wottrich

Coq au vin ((kōk' ō văN') is a recipe that goes back at least 400 years and perhaps further. Coq means rooster naturally and vin mean wine, so this is a simple dish of a rooster cooked in wine. On French or Alsace farms a rooster was kept as long as it was useful. When it wasn’t they would kill the rooster for dinner, but its meat would be tough at that point, hence the slow cooking in wine.

In the French region of Bourgogne (Burgundy), a red wine is typically used. This is the ubiquitous version of Coq au Vin. In Alsace, a Riesling white wine is traditionally used. Alsace is on the German border and hence has strong historical Germanic connections, which is reflected in both its food and wine. Cream and morel mushrooms may be added.

I usually prefer a "capon" (a young, castrated rooster) instead of a chicken. However the meat of a capon is so tender that normally I would roast it rather than mask its flavor by cooking it in wine. A cut up fryer will do quite nicely.

The Larousse Gastronomique (1961) recipe is simplicity itself:

“Cut up a young chicken into six pieces. Heat 3 tablespoons (45 grams) of butter in an earthenware pot, 3 ounces (90 grams) of lean breast of pork (lardons or pancetta), cut into dice, and some little onions. When these have browned, put in the pieces of chicken, a garlic clove chopped fine, a bouquet garni, morels, or other mushrooms. Sauté until golden on a lively heat, with the lid on; take off the lid and skim off the fat. Pour over a little good brandy, set light to it, and then pour on a pint (demi-litre) of Auvergne wine. After cooking on a good fire for 15 to 20 minutes take out the chicken, and pour over it the sauce, thickened with the blood of the chicken mixed with the pounded liver and some brandy. Do not cook the sauce after this liaison, because the sauce will curdle. Lacking blood, the sauce may be thickened with kneaded butter.”

Serve with snowy white rice, fresh toasted bread and Auvergne or Alsace wine. This dish is heaven on earth!