Coq au vin

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 g chicken, cut up, or 4 legs and 2 breasts
• 125 g bacon, streaky
• 250 g mushrooms, preferably small, larger ones halved or quartered
• 25 small onions
• 1 jar of cognac
• 1 bottle of red wine (Burgundy)
• Clarified butter
• 1 clove(s) garlic, finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp thyme
• 1 pinch(s) rosemary, powder
• Salt
• Pepper, freshly ground
• nutmeg
• lemon juice

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 45 minutes

First, fry the mushrooms in clarified butter in a large pan over high heat. Allow the liquid to evaporate. Season with salt, pepper, and a few drops of lemon juice, and set aside. Cut the bacon into thin, approximately 2-cm-long strips, fry in hot clarified butter, add the onions, and brown on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the onions to a large casserole dish. Place the bacon on kitchen paper to drain, then add it to the onions. Fry the skinned (important) chicken pieces in the frying fat until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper during frying, and finally add the garlic. Flambé with the cognac. Once the alcohol has burned off, add the chicken pieces to the onions and bacon. Add the thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, and mushrooms, and season with a little nutmeg. Discard all the fat in the pan, leaving only a thin film. Deglaze with a little wine and bring to a boil, scraping up any cooking residue from the bottom. Pour over the meat. Heat the remaining wine with 1 lump of sugar and then pour over the chicken pieces. Simmer gently until tender. Remove the chicken pieces and keep warm. Reduce the sauce. Since you’ll have about 750 ml of liquid, pour it into one or, better yet, two large pans so the large amount cooks down more quickly. Once the sauce has been reduced to the required amount, remove from the heat and add cold butter piece by piece. Given the amount of meat, 125 g of butter is not too much. Whisk until well combined. Since this method produces a very rich sauce, we recommend serving it with boiled potatoes, lightly browned in butter and sprinkled with parsley. Serve with the same red wine used to cook the chicken.