Coq Au Vin - Can we improve on Alton Brown's recipe - I think not.

Alton Brown, wow. What a guy. For me, he is the pinnacle of culinary excellence. He is all that I aspire to be...lol. Watching his episode, Crazy for Coq Au Vin, on Good Eats, I knew I had to make this dish. That was a couple of years ago. Since then I have made this dish several times, and made a few small changes here and there. Have I improved it? I don't think I could do that. But what I have done is made it my own. I have tried variation of this dish, from fairly classic to quite modern takes on this dish. And I keep coming back to Alton's. His take on Coq Au Vin is fairly classic, but he keeps it very easy. I encourage you to make it your own too. This classic dish calls for Burgundy wine, which is a French wine made from the Pinot Noir grape, and is region specific to France. You can save quite a bit of money and buy a local, or Californian bottle of Pinot Noir. If I don't get a local Missouri wine, I like the Kendall Jackson Pinot Noir. The differences in wine make a huge impact on this dish, because you are going to basically marinate the chicken overnight in a ton of wine, so get a wine with flavors you like. Don't cook with it if you wouldn't drink it is the rule of thumb. I also like to add Cognac near the end for a little added richness.

The Ingredients:

Pearl onions, like 30 of them little suckers.
4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 large stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces. I have also used a mix of thighs and breasts, but be careful that the breasts do not get dried out.
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
8 ounces salt pork, cubed - like bacon but even more fatty and tasty good!
12 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 and a half bottles good quality red wine, preferably pinot noir. Good quality doesn't mean expensive. I wouldn't pay more than $12 bucks a bottle.
1 Small bottle of Cognac, preferably good quality VSOP - also around $12 bucks here.
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 medium onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, quartered
2 medium carrots, quartered
6 cloves garlic, crushed
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme - I use lemon thyme, because thats what growing in my herb garden.
2 bay leafs
2 cups chicken stock or broth.

The Cooking:

Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a couple ,at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag and place on a metal rack.

Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, let them to cool, and then peel. The onions should just pop right out of their skin. Set aside.

Add a couple of tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, about 10 minutes. Remove the pork from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the onions, season, and then saute until lightly brown, approximately 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches, don't crowd the pan. Then put the chicken into a large cast iron dutch oven, or a large roasting pan.

Add the mushrooms to the same saute pan, adding the 2 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.

When the chicken is done, remove it, put it in a heatproof container, cover it, and place it in the oven, turned off or set on 125 to keep your bird warm. Strain the sauce with a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the liquid to the pot, add about half of the bottle of cognac, drink the rest, and then place over medium heat. You could flambe here if you wanted to, I however don't. Why waste good alcohol? Now you want this to reduce by about a 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take a half hour up to 45 minutes. We want a nice thick sauce.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Reduce the head, add the Chicken, let simmer for 3-5 minutes and then serve. Alton suggests serving over egg noodles; I like garlic mashed potatoes, or potatoes browned in duck fat. Maybe add some bacon wrapped asparagus. Whatever you like!

Note: If the sauce is not thick enough, you can add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour. Take 1 tablespoon of each and knead it together. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes.

Have fun with this recipe. It takes a little time, but oh my, is it ever worth it! Serve with Pinot Noir. Now I have had people ask for a merlot when I serve this, refuse them at all cost! Ha.
Make it your own and have fun with it. People ask me to make this all the time! You will love it! Thanks AB for introducing such great classic recipes to the masses!