Coq au Vin — Chicken Braised in Red Wine with Mushrooms and Bacon

Have ready a wide, heavy-bottomed pot with a lid, about 28 cm across and 5–6 l in capacity, plus a frying pan about 28 cm across with a lid, tongs, a slotted spoon, a scale, and a kitchen thermometer. Divide each of the 4 whole legs through the joint to make 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks. Do not wash raw chicken; pat the skin thoroughly dry with paper towels. Rub the chicken with 4 g salt and 0.5 g pepper and refrigerate until ready to sear. Cut the bacon into strips about 1 cm thick. Dice the onion, slice the carrot into half-moons about 5 mm thick, finely chop the garlic, quarter the mushrooms, and leave the peeled pearl onions whole. Chop the parsley and set aside for serving. Wash your hands and utensils after contact with raw poultry.

Put the bacon in the cold pot and add 10 g oil. Cook over medium heat for about 6–8 minutes, stirring, until some of the fat has rendered and the bacon has browned edges. Do not dry it out into hard cracklings. Transfer to a small dish with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pot. Refrigerate the bacon while you prepare and braise the chicken, as it will only return to the dish near the end.

Heat the fat over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken in 2 batches of 4 pieces, without crowding the pot. Start skin-side down: cook for about 5–6 minutes without moving the pieces, until the skin is well browned and releases easily from the bottom. Turn and cook on the other side for another 3–4 minutes. Reduce the heat if the browned bits on the bottom start turning black. Transfer both batches to a plate; the chicken is not yet cooked through. Pour the liquid fat into a heatproof container and measure 20 g back into the pot. The remaining fat is not part of the dish. Keep the browned bits on the bottom for the sauce.

Add the chopped onion and carrot to the reserved 20 g fat. Cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring, until the onion softens and turns lightly golden. Add the garlic and stir for about 1 minute. Sprinkle in all 20 g flour, coat the vegetables evenly, and cook for another 1 minute without letting it burn. The flour will combine with the fat and lightly thicken the sauce later.

First pour in about 150 ml of the prepared 600 ml wine and thoroughly scrape the browned bits from the bottom with a wooden spatula, stirring the flour smooth without lumps. Add the remaining wine, bring to a boil, and cook without a lid over moderately high heat for about 7 minutes. Pour in 250 ml stock and add the thyme and both bay leaves. Return the chicken with the juices from the plate, arranging it in a single layer as far as possible. The liquid should reach roughly halfway or two-thirds up the pieces, without completely submerging the chicken. Bring to a gentle simmer.

Cover the pot and lower the heat so the sauce just simmers gently, without bubbling vigorously. Braise for about 55–70 minutes. After about 30 minutes, carefully turn the pieces and swap their positions, checking that the sauce is not sticking. Start checking the chicken after 55 minutes: a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh without touching bone must read at least 74°C. The meat should also yield easily to a fork and pull away from the bone under gentle pressure while still holding its shape. Temperature alone does not replace checking tenderness; if needed, continue braising in 5–10 minute intervals. While the chicken braises, prepare the pearl onions and mushrooms in the following steps.

Melt 10 g butter in the frying pan over medium heat. Add the whole pearl onions and cook for about 5 minutes, turning, until golden in places. Add 100 ml water, cover, and braise over low heat for about 15–20 minutes, until tender when tested with the tip of a knife. Remove the lid and let the remaining water evaporate for about 3–5 minutes; the onions should stay whole, lightly browned, and glossy with butter. Transfer them to a bowl along with the small amount of butter left in the pan.

In the same pan, heat 10 g of the remaining 20 g butter and add 200 g mushrooms. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5–7 minutes: do not stir for the first 2–3 minutes, then turn until the mushrooms are browned and there is no pool of juice on the bottom. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with the last 10 g butter and the remaining 200 g mushrooms. At the end, combine both batches in the pan, add the reserved 1 g salt, and stir briefly. Transfer the mushrooms and butter to the pearl onions; they will return to the pot after the sauce has reduced.

Carefully transfer the cooked chicken to a clean, warm platter and cover loosely. Remove both bay leaves from the pot; leave the onion, carrot, and thyme in the sauce. Cook the sauce without a lid over medium heat for about 10–15 minutes, stirring along the bottom, until noticeably thickened. It should be burgundy-brown and coat the back of a spoon in a thin, continuous, glossy layer while still flowing freely off it. Stop reducing earlier if it reaches this consistency; do not cook it down to a thick paste.

Return the chicken to the sauce and add the juices from the platter, all the bacon, and the pearl onions and mushrooms with their butter. Add the remaining 1 g salt and 0.5 g pepper. Gently move the pot and spoon sauce over the chicken instead of stirring vigorously. Heat without a lid over low heat for about 5–8 minutes, until all the additions are hot. After braising, the skin will be soft and coated in sauce. Divide into 4 servings, each with one thigh, one drumstick, and an equal share of the vegetables, bacon, and sauce. Sprinkle with a total of 6 g chopped parsley. The bones remain in the pieces for serving and are removed while eating; they are not part of the edible portion.