Classical Syrah Coq Au Vin

Classical Syrah coq au vin. You can’t get more French than this. So why call it classic? Because it uses red wine. Traditional coq au vin tends to use a red Burgundy made from Pinot Noir grapes. When I looked at what top French chefs cook now, many prefer a fuller wine. A North Rhone Syrah, or Shiraz, is perfect here, and it was fantastic. Look at this hearty, rustic chicken casserole in red wine.

According to Wikipedia, a red Burgundy is the usual choice, and many regions of France make their own versions with local wines. Julia Child helped make the dish famous in the United States, and she cooked it twice on the PBS show The French Chef.

You do not have to use red wine. Red is the traditional ingredient, but other regions of France use different wines. In Alsace they may use Riesling. In Champagne they may use, yes, you guessed it, champagne. It is really up to you. Whichever you choose, the cooking method is the same.

Ingredients for classical Syrah coq au vin

Apart from a large free-range chicken and a litre of red wine, you need 3 carrots, 20 small shallots or baby onions, 2 sticks of celery, a bouquet garni, olive oil, flour and seasoning. For the finish you also need smoked lardons and button mushrooms. The recipe card below has every amount. Easy.

A few easy swaps if the cupboard is short:

• Wine: Pinot Noir gives the classic Burgundy style, and any dry full-bodied red works well.
• Lardons: diced smoked streaky bacon does the same job.
• Shallots: small pickling onions can stand in, and a few quartered onions work too.
• Chicken: bone-in thighs and drumsticks alone make a cheaper, equally rich pot.

1. Prepare the vegetables

a) The vegetables

This is a really simple prep. Peel the carrots and slice them into 1 cm thick diagonal slices. Do the same with the celery. Peel the shallots, top and tail them, and leave them whole.

b) The bouquet garni

You can use a bought bouquet garni, but it is easy to make your own, and homemade adds more flavour. I wrote a separate tutorial on how to make your own bouquet garni. You can also click the photograph below.

2. Prepare the chicken

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

If your butcher has done this for you, move on to section 3.

a) Remove the chicken legs

First, put your free-range chicken on a large chopping board.

Pull one leg away from the body and you will see a thin piece of skin. Cut through it. Then press the leg upwards until the ball joint breaks and the ball is exposed.

Now cut directly through the ball joint to free the whole leg.

b) Detach the thigh and drumstick

To separate the thigh from the drumstick, look for the seam of fat at the joint. The knife point in this photograph shows where it is.

Cut straight through that joint to part the thigh from the drumstick. Do the same with the other leg. This leaves you with 4 leg portions: 2 drumsticks and 2 thighs.

c) Remove the wings

To remove the wings, pull them away and press upwards, as you did with the legs, to expose the joint. Cut through the joint to release each wing.

d) Remove the breasts

The last part of the prep is to remove the breasts and halve them. Turn the bird over and cut down next to the ribcage.

Then cut through to separate the breast from the ribcage.

Now turn the breast skin side down and cut through the bone in the middle to make two breasts.

The breasts are large, so I cut each one in half. That gives 10 chicken portions in total, plenty for a family of four.

That is it. The chicken is ready to marinate. If you want to see the whole job done by someone else, search online for a video on jointing a whole chicken into 10 pieces.

3. Marinate the ingredients

To make this coq au vin you marinate the chicken and vegetables for 24 hours. The marinade is simply reduced red wine. Bring 1 litre of Syrah to a simmer on the hob and reduce it by a third. Then leave it to cool completely.

Put the prepared vegetables and chicken portions into a large bowl. Once the wine is cold, pour it over everything. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, tip everything into a large colander set over a bowl to catch the wine. Drain for at least an hour. Then separate the chicken from the vegetables, put each on kitchen paper and pat dry. Keep the wine, because you need it for the sauce.

4. Cook the coq au vin

Heat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan. Put 1 heaped tbsp of flour on a baking tray and place it in the oven. Take it out after about 15 minutes, when it has started to brown. Then turn the oven down to 180C / 160C Fan.

While the flour browns, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large casserole dish over a medium heat. Season the chicken and brown it for about 7 minutes.

Once browned, lift the chicken out onto a plate. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pot, add the vegetables and cook them for 3 to 4 minutes.

By now the flour should be brown. Take it out of the oven and add it to the pot.

Stir so the flour coats all of the vegetables. Then add the wine marinade slowly, in batches, and stir well to make a rich sauce.

While you do this, start to pan-fry the lardons in a separate frying pan.

Once the lardons start to colour, add the mushrooms.

Keep an eye on the lardons and mushrooms so they do not burn. Meanwhile, return the chicken to the casserole, along with any juices from the plate.

When the lardons and mushrooms are cooked, tip them into the pot and stir everything together.

Put the lid on the casserole and place it in the oven for 1 hour.

5. Finish the classical Syrah coq au vin

After an hour, take the casserole out of the oven and put it on the hob with the heat off. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. It should be slightly thick. If it is still watery, reduce it on the hob, and be careful not to catch the chicken or vegetables.

Check the chicken is properly cooked before you serve. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service gives 165F (74C) as the safe internal temperature for poultry, and a thermometer in the thickest piece is the easy way to check.

And that is it, my French food followers. Classical Syrah coq au vin from your own kitchen. I highly recommend it. It is tasty and wholesome, and great on a cold winter evening.

Storing and serving

Coq au vin is often better the next day, once the flavours have settled. Let it cool, then keep it covered in the fridge. The Food Standards Agency advises eating leftovers within two days, or freezing them. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.

Serve it with buttery mashed potato, crusty bread or plain boiled rice to soak up the sauce.

Recipe card

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, sign up for my newsletter at the top of this page.

Many thanks for reading and until next time… Steve.

Steve Deacon

Founder & Writer

Hi, I'm Steve, founder of The Yum Yum Club. After years in the corporate rat race traveling the world, my wife Jen and I settled back in the UK to follow our true passion: great food and wine. Having worked in restaurant kitchens in my youth, I share honest home-cooked recipes, kitchen timing tips, and culinary discoveries.

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