Turkey... façon coq au vin (5)

Here's a recipe. The Larousse Gastronomique food and cooking encyclopedia explains that the French term coq (rooster or cockerel) is synonymous with poulet (chicken) in culinary terminology. You can make Coq au vin with a young chicken, but the original idea behind the dish is to make it with an old rooster or roasting chicken that would be tough unless slowly cooked for a long time. I think turkey is the right kind of bird for this use. Coq au vin would be a good slow-cooker or crock pot dish. This is my adaptation of a fairly sketchy French recipe described as traditionnel that I found on the internet. There's also a good recipe in the American Joy of Cooking book.

Coq au vin

(Chicken — or turkey — braised in red wine)

1 large roasting chicken or small turkey, 6 to 8 lbs.

2 onions, sliced or diced

4 carrots, sliced

1 bottle red wine

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 sprigs thyme

3 bay leaves

salt and pepper

3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 or 3 fl. oz. cognac

2 Tbsp. flour

1¾ cups (14 fl. oz.) chicken broth

2 or 3 Tbsp. tomato paste or sauce

½ lb. (or more) smoked pork lardons (or bacon)

½ lb. button mushrooms

The day before cooking the coq au vin, cut the chicken or turkey into serving-size pieces (disjoint it) and put the pieces in a large bowl with the onions, carrots, red wine, garlic, herbs, and salt and pepper. (You could also use about 5 lbs. pre-cut chicken or turkey parts.) Let it marinate for 24 hours or longer.

Pour the marinade through a strainer, saving all the ingredients. Heat up some oil in a big pot and brown the lardons or bacon. Take the bacon out of the pot and brown the chicken or turkey pieces in the fat, in a couple of batches as necessary.

With all the pieces of poultry in the pot, pour on the cognac and (optionally) flame it or just let it boil away. Take the poultry pieces out of the pot and reserve.

Put in all the vegetables from the marinade into the pot and brown them lightly. Add the flour and stir the vegetables to completely moisten the flour. Add the herbs, the marinating liquid, and the the broth and bring it to the boil to thicken it. 

Put the chicken or turkey pieces back in the pot and set it on medium heat, or put it all into a baking dish and set in in a medium oven. Let it simmer for 2½ to 4 hours, lowering the heat as necessary.

Toward the end of the cooking time, slice the mushrooms and sauté them in a skillet. Add them to the pot with the chicken and vegetables and let them cook in the liquid for 20 to 30 minutes.

Cooking time will vary depending on the age, the size, and the type of bird you're cooking. Don't hesitate to stop the cooking, let the dish cool down, and reheat it before serving. Coq au vin can benefit from being reheated.

Here's what the Joy of Cooking says about the color of Coq au vin sauce:

"We are often asked why this recipe turns out a rich medium brown rather that the very dark brown sometimes served in restaurants. Abroad, in country places where chickens are locally butchered,the blood is often kept and added to the gravy at the last minute as a thickener... After this addition, it is not allowed to boil. Here in America, this effect is often imitated by adding caramel coloring."

I remember being served Coq au vin that had a sauce that was almost black in Paris restaurants. My home-cooked version has the more medium brown color — no blood or caramel coloring added.

Part 4