This is the stew you make with a bottle of red Burgundy and an afternoon. You brown a chicken in lardon fat, flame it with cognac, and let it go until the sauce is the colour of tiles. Lardons, mushrooms and pearl onions are not garnish; they are the rest of the dish.
Burgundy farmhouse cooking that the restaurants never improved. The old coq needed the acidity and the time; a young chicken will do now, but the grammar is the same.
Brown the bird well and do not rush the simmer. Skim the sauce, and serve with buttered noodles or bread. The same Pinot belongs in the glass as in the pot.
Method
- 01
Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Render the lardons in a heavy casserole until they have given up their fat and taken a little color, then brown the chicken in that fat, in batches, until the skin is a true gold. Don't crowd the pan or they will steam. Return everything to the pot, pour in the cognac, and flame it — stand back, and let the alcohol burn off with a whoosh.
- 02
Sprinkle the flour over the chicken and stir it about for a minute so it cooks and will thicken the sauce. Add the crushed garlic, then the wine, the stock and the bouquet garni. Bring it to a simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken is tender, about 1 hour. The sauce will turn the color of tiles; don't rush it, or you will have wine-stained poultry, not a stew.
- 03
Meanwhile, brown the pearl onions and the mushrooms in butter in a separate pan, until they are glazed and have taken on a little color. They should smell sweet and earthy, not raw. Keep them aside; they go in at the end so they stay themselves. If you add them now they will vanish into the sauce.
- 04
Skim the fat from the sauce and reduce it if it seems thin — it should coat a spoon and taste of wine reduced to its bones. Fold in the onions and mushrooms and simmer 10 minutes more, so they take on the sauce without going soft. Serve with buttered noodles or a loaf of bread. The same Pinot belongs in the glass as in the pot.
