Classical Syrah Coq Au Vin

Classical syrah coq au vin. You can’t get more French than this. But why “classic”. Because we use red wine. Traditionally classic coq au vin tends to use a red burgundy wine made from Pino Noir grapes. A wine used in a lot of game cooking. However, when researching the top French chefs there is a clear current preference for a more full-bodied wine, and a North Rhone Syrah, or Shiraz is perfect for this recipe. And, believe me, it was fantastic. Look at this hearty rustic chicken in red wine casserole.

Just a quick note on the wine. You don’t have to use red wine. Although red wine is the traditional ingredient other regions of France use different wines. For example, in Alsace, they may use Riesling. In the Champagne region, they may use, yes, you’ve guessed it, champagne. It’s really up to you. Whichever you choose, however, the cooking method is the same…

1. Gather the ingredients together

Apart from a large free range chicken and the red wine, all you need to make classical syrah coq au vin is 2 large carrots, 20 shallots, or small onions, 2 sticks of celery, a bouquet garni, some olive oil, flour and seasoning. Easy…

2. Prepare the vegetables

a) The vegetables

Again, a really simple preparation. Just peel the carrots and slice into 1 cm thick diagonal slices. The same for the celery. With shallots, just peel and top and tail. Then leave whole.

b) The bouquet garni

You can obviously use a bought bouquet garni but it’s easy to make your own. Homemade also adds so much more flavour. I’ve prepared a separate tutorial on how to make your own bouquet garni so just click here or on the photograph below to view this.

3. Prepare the chicken

You’ll need a large free-range chicken for this classic coq au vin. I suggest a minimum of 1.5 kg. Buy it whole and either ask your butcher to portion it for you or have a go yourself. It’s not too difficult. You just need a very sharp kitchen knife.

If you’ve got your butcher to do this just move on to section 4.

a) Remove the chicken legs

First, get you free-range chicken and place it on a large chopping board.

Now, pull one of the legs away from the body and you will see a thin piece of skin. Cut through this and then press the leg upwards until you break the ball joint and expose the ball.

Now, cut directly through the ball joint until you have a whole leg.

b) Detach the chicken thigh and lower leg

To remove the thigh from the drumstick just look for the seem of fat where the thigh joint is. I’ve illustrated this where the knife point is in this photograph.

Just cut straight through this joint to part the thigh from the drumstick.

Do the same with the lower leg. Just cut straight through the joint. This will leave you with 4 portions. 2 drumsticks and 3 thighs.

c) Remove the chicken wings

To remove the wings, simply pull them away and press upwards like the legs to expose the joint. Cut through the joint to release the wings.

d) Remove the chicken breasts

The final part of the chicken preparation is to remove and halve the breasts. To do this, turn the breast upside down and cut down next to the ribcage. Then break the chicken so all you have is the breast and skeleton attached by flesh and skin.

Now cut through to separate the breast from the ribcage.

Now, turn the breast upside down and just cut through the bone in the middle to separate the breasts into two.

Because the breasts are large I then cut them in half and end up with 10 separate chicken portions. Plenty for a family of 4.

And that’s it. The chicken is ready to marinade. If you are still a little unsure on how to prepare the whole chicken below is a good video I found running through the steps above.

4. Marinade the ingredients

To make this classical syrah coq au vin you will need to marinade all of the ingredients for 24 hours. The marinade is nothing more than reduced red wine. Simply take you 1 litre of syrah red wine and bring to a simmer on your stove. Reduce this by 1/3 then leave to cool.

Now place your prepared vegetables and portioned chicken into a large bowl and, once the wine has cooled, pour this all over the ingredients. Now clingfilm the top and leave in the fridge for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, place all ingredients in a large colander and drain the wine marinade into a bowl. Drain for at least an hour and then separate the chicken and vegetables and place on kitchen paper and pat dry.

 

5. Prepare the coq au vin

To prepare the coq au vin first heat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan and place 1 heaped tbsp of flour onto a baking tray. With the oven hot, place the flour in the oven. Remove after around 15 minutes when the flour has started to brown. Turn the oven down to 180C / 160C Fan.

While the flour is cooking, take a large casserole dish and add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Heat over medium heat, then season and brown the chicken portions off for around 7 minutes or so.

Once the chicken is browned off remove them from the pot and set aside on a plate.

Now, add 1 tbsp of olive oil in the casserole pot and add the vegetables and cook through for 3-4 minutes.

By now the flour should have browned so remove from the oven and add to the pot. Remember to turn the heat down in the oven.

Stir the flour in so it coats all of the vegetables and then start to slowly add the wine marinade. Add this in batches and stir well to create a rich sauce.

While doing this, and in a separate frying pan, start to pan-dry the lardons.

Once the lardons start to colour add the mushrooms.

Keep an eye on the lardons and mushrooms to ensure they don’t burn and also add the chicken back to the post. Make sure any juices from the chicken are added back too.

Finally, with the lardons and mushrooms cooked add these to the pot and stir everything together.

Now, put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven for 1 hour.

6. Finish cooking the classical syrah coq au vin

After an hour remove the coq au vin from the oven and set on your stove, heat off. Taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust as required. The sauce should be slightly thick but if still watery you can reduce on the stove. Just be careful not to burn the chicken or vegetables.

And that’s it my French food followers. Classical Syrah Coq Au Vin served from your very own kitchen. I highly recommend you try this recipe. It is so tasty and wholesome. Great on a cold winter’s evening.

I hope you enjoyed this post and recipe. If you want to be kept up to date on all of The Yum Yum Club’s recipes just sign up for my newsletter at the top of this page.

Many thanks for reading and until next time… Steve.

View more great recipes from The Yum Yum Club…

7. Nutritional values

 

8. Printable recipe