Découpez le poulet

The first step in making a poulet braisé au vin rouge (coq au vin style) is to cut up the chicken. It dawns on me that you could buy chicken parts — you need two boneless breasts, two drumsticks, two thighs (boneless or on the bone), and two wings. You can use skinless chicken parts or leave the skin on. If you'd rather cut up a whole chicken to get these parts, you can make broth out of the carcass and trimmings.

Above left are the raw chicken pieces listed above. Above right are the same pieces after I poured on most of a bottle of red wine to start the marinating. The other ingredients in the marinade are carrot (diced or sliced into disks), parsley sprigs, chopped onion and garlic, thyme, black peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, and (optionally) a few allspice berries.

Above are the same chicken pieces after they spent nearly 24 hours in the marinade (vegetables and red wine) and in the refrigerator.