The River Cottage Coq au Vin: New Years Dinner

Rich and brimming with flavour, Coq au Vin is a classic French stew in which chicken is braised slowly in red wine and a little brandy to yield a luxuriously rich, velvety sauce filled with tender meat, crisp bits of bacon, mushrooms and burnished pearl onions. Traditionally, Coq au Vin is made with a rooster or "coq" after he'd spent a few years impregnating the flocks and, after a good run, "had begun to lack in the trouser department", as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall lovingly puts it in an episode of River Cottage. This recipe from his River Cottage Meat cookbook, becomes meltingly tender after almost 2 hours of slow coking and with lots of red wine, that it becomes black as oxtail stew and almost as rich. Served with a huge pile of buttered noodles, mashed potatoes, or a good crusty bread — basically anything to soak up the full-flavoured sauce — it’s the perfect dish to tackle on a chilly winter weekend.

Coq au Vin
Serves 4

Recipe courtesy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

1 chicken with neck, heat, liver and gizzard, if available 

50g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

250g salt pork, pancetta or bacon, cut into chunky pieces

250g small onions, benched then peeled 

Up to 50g plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

1/2 wine glass of brandy

500ml red wine

500ml chicken stock or water

Bouquet garni of parsley stalks, bay and thyme

4 celery sticks, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths

4 garlic cloves

4 tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and finely chopped

Beurre manié, if necessary*

250g button mushrooms, sweated in a little butter

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Joint the chicken into 4 pieces. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy pan and fry the bacon pieces until browned. Transfer the bacon to a flameproof casserole. Then lightly brown the onions all over in the same pan and add these to the casserole. Dust the chicken pieces lightly with the seasoned flour, discarding any excess, and brown them next, turning them several times until coloured and crisp. Pour over the brandy and, standing well back, set light to it by tipping the pan towards the gas flame, if you are cooking on gas, or with a match if you are not. When the flames have subsided, transfer the chicken and all the juices in the pan to the casserole.

Return the pan to the heat and pour in the red wine, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan while the wine bubbles. Pour the boiling water over the chicken and then repeat the process with the stock or water (the job of deglazing is sure to be done by now, but it is good to add hot, not cold, liquid to the casserole to start the cooking). Now add the herbs, celery, garlic and tomatoes to the casserole and bring to a gentle simmer.

Cover and cook over a very low heat, or in a very low oven at 250°F for about 1 1/2 hours until the meat is completely tender.

Strain the stock into a clean pan, leaving the meat and vegetables, in the casserole, and boil the stock fast to reduce it a little to make a rich, intense gravy.

Return the chicken pieces to the finished sauce, along with the bacon pieces and vegetables, and bring to a very gentle simmer again. Allow to bubble gently for just a few minutes before serving. Serve with plain boiled potatoes or mash.

* Beurre manié is a dough, consisting of equal parts by volume of soft butter and flour, used to thicken soups and sauces