#Coq au vin recipe slow cooker skin

Really though any red variety will do as long as it’s not too heavy and full-bodied – shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec are all good. In France different wine regions showcase their local wines to create variations of chicken-in-wine dishes (sometimes even champagne!). Pinot Noir is the traditional wine typically used in Coq au Vin, usually from Burgundy. However, if you leave the finished dish overnight in the fridge (highly recommended), the flavour of the stew develops and the wine flavour mellows so you can barely taste it. The finished dish does taste mildly of red wine if served immediately which is exactly how it is supposed to taste. Red wine – The key flavouring in this dish used to infuse chicken with flavour, and base for the sauce. Marinate and sear per recipe but only put it in the pot for the last 20 minutes in the oven (else it will overcook and dry out)

#Coq au vin recipe slow cooker skin

Keep the chicken breast whole with the skin on and bone in. Cutting up your own whole chicken would also be an option (and more traditional). I don’t know about you, but where I live roosters are hard to come by, so regular chicken it is!īone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks are the safest for the most tender, juicy results. Once upon a time older male chickens may have been the bird of choice for this traditional dish. The red wine is first used for marinating the meat and later reduced on the stove to make the sauce.Ĭhicken pieces – Coq au Vin literally means “rooster in wine”. Here’s what you need to marinate the chicken. Trust me: Take the time to make this properly and I promise you’ll never look at chicken stew the same way again! Making a great Coq au Vin instead is all about small additional steps and details that add up little by little to weave the magic into this magnificent stew. The recipe is surprisingly straightforward. Yet there’s actually less ingredients than any of the stews mentioned earlier. If I had to call it (and regular readers know I will!), I reckon Coq au Vin is hands down the greatest and certainly the most luxurious chicken stew in the world! The sauce’s deeply savoury flavour perfumed with herbs and bacon is complex and seems to just linger forever. This French (naturally!) classic is all about succulent bone-in chicken pieces braised in a glossy, alluringly dark and rich red wine sauce. If there’s any dish that can rise above the image problem that most chicken stews suffer though, it’s got to be Coq au Vin.

Maybe it’s because chicken as a meat is considered somewhat “common”? As a result, delicious and hardworking dishes like this Everyday Chicken Stew (with crispy skin!) or this weeknight Fast Chicken Stew just don’t get their share of the love they deserve. Too often they play second fiddle to the divas of the stew world like lamb shanks, braised short ribs and curries.

There are remarkably few ingredients and it’s a simple process, but the results are fit for a king – or queen! Coq au Vin – French chicken stewĬhicken stews are delightful and criminally underrated in my book.

Like Beef Bourguignon, the beauty of this dish lies in its simplicity. Coq au Vin is the well-known French chicken stew where pieces of meat are braised in a luscious, glossy red wine sauce with bacon, mushroom and onions.