How a Chef Makes Authentic Coq au Vin at Home

I'm a professional chef and I've made Coq au Vin more times than I can count. It’s a recipe I see it made wrong online more than almost any other French classic. Today I'm cooking it properly: an older bird broken for the home kitchen, overnight in Pinot Noir, wine reduced before the oven, and that Burgundy garnish of lardons, onions and mushrooms. Coq au Vin literally means cockerel in wine. You can't get a farmyard cockerel easily now, so we use a slightly older chicken, keep the meat on the bone, and treat it like a more delicate cousin of beef bourguignon, shorter braise, lighter wine, same discipline. Full recipe below. Chef's Notes An older bird (around 100 days) carries more flavour than a standard supermarket chicken, worth hunting down Break into 8 pieces for four people (not the classic 13-piece sauté cut) so everyone gets white and dark meat Overnight marinade in Pinot Noir pulls wine flavour into the meat before the short oven time Reduce the wine by half in the pan, this only gets about an hour in the oven, so the sauce won't concentrate on its own Flour the chicken lightly before colouring; it protects the meat and helps finish the sauce Keep the garnish (lardons, onions, mushrooms) separate until the end so everything stays distinct in the jus Stock only two-thirds up the chicken, tops should poke out, not swim Serve family-style in the middle of the table with buttery mash RECIPE For the marinade: 1 older chicken (around 1.5–2kg / ~100-day bird if you can get one), broken into 8 pieces on the bone ½ bottle good Burgundy / Pinot Noir Carrot, celery, onion/shallot and garlic Bouquet garni (thyme, bay, parsley stalks) For the garnish: ~200g smoked bacon or pancetta, cut into lardons ~200g small shallots or pearl onions, peeled ~200g mushrooms, quartered (button/chestnut) For the braise: Remaining ½ bottle Burgundy / Pinot Noir Seasoned plain flour, for dusting Brown chicken stock (use the carcass) Neutral oil Sea salt and black pepper To serve: Chopped flat-leaf parsley Buttery mash (or egg noodles / rice) Method: Marinate chicken overnight in Pinot Noir with mirepoix and bouquet garni Braise at 150°C, covered, for 1 hour I'm Matthew Ryle — Executive Chef at Maison + Café François, London, and author of French Classics. This channel is where restaurant technique meets your home kitchen. My cookbook, French Classics, is available now — link in bio. 🇫🇷 MORE FRENCH CLASSICS VIDEOSFRENCH CLASSICS Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:13 The right bird 1:11 Why 8 pieces 1:36 Breaking down chicken 4:37 Overnight wine marinade 6:19 Marinade result 7:15 Lardons and mushrooms 10:28 Flour and colour 11:35 Wine reduction 13:00 Into the oven 13:43 Strain and reduce 14:43 Nappe sauce 15:30 Plate up 16:25 Final taste