Coq au vin (Chicken in red wine)

For nearly 40 years, I have been the proud owner of Practical Cookery. 

It was the primary reference to my first formal introduction to professional cooking in college and one of few hard copy recipe books I still keep after all this time and reference regularly.

You will need:

Reproduced with permission from Hachette Learning, from Practical Cookery, 14^th Edition by David Foskett, Patricia Paskins, Neil Rippington and Steve Thorpe. 

1½ kg           1 x 3 lb         roasting chicken

50 g              2 oz              lardons

                                          4 small chipolatas

50 g              2 oz              button mushrooms

                                         4 tablespoons sunflower oil

50 g              2 oz              butter or margarine

                                         12 small button onions

125 ml          ¼ pt              red wine

375 ml          ¾ pt              brown stock (or replace with more red wine)

25 g              1 oz              butter or margarine

25 g              1 oz              flour

  4 heart-shaped croûtons   

                                         chopped parsley

1 Cut the chicken as for sauté.

2 Blanch the lardons.

3 If the chipolatas are large divide into two.

4 Wash and cut the mushrooms in quarters.

5 Sauté the lardons, mushrooms and chipolatas in a mixture of butter/ margarine and oil.  Remove when cooked.

6 Season the pieces of chicken and place in the pan in the correct order with button onions.  Sauté until almost cooked.  Drain off the fat.   

7 Just cover with red wine and brown stock, cover with a lid and finish cooking.

8 Remove chicken and onions, place into a clean pan.

9 Lightly thicken the liquor with a beurre manié from the 25 g (1 oz) butter/ margarine and 25 g (1 oz) flour.

10 Pass sauce over the chicken and onions, add mushrooms, chipolatas and lardons.  Correct seasoning and re-heat.

11 Serve garnished with heart-shaped croutons with the points dipped in chopped parsley.