Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin

Speed - 99%

Simplicity - 97%

Tastiness - 99%

98%

Excellent!

This classic French dish is hard to say but easy to make. Take your time and slow cook the delicious juices to make your red wine reduction. The reduction of the wine in the sauce gives the perfect balance of sweet and tangy and goes well with a wide variety of sides.

User Rating: 5 ( 1 votes)

Slow Cooker Coq Au Vin

Serve something elegant for your next dinner. This traditional dish of chicken stewed in wine is a perfect sampling of French cuisine.

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Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 3

Total Time: 6 15

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: French

Servings: people

Ingredients

1 Whole Chicken cut into quarters
1 Piece Carrot cut into quarters
2 Stalks Celery chopped into large segments
1 Cups Cocktail Onions
1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
1 Cup Button Mushrooms
2 Cups Red Wine
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Stick Butter

Instructions

Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.
Sear chicken in a pan then set aside.
Sautee carrots and celery. Add in tomato paste and continue roasting.
Deglaze the pan with red wine.
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook for 3 hours on low.
Refine sauce by whisking in butter.
Season as needed.

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Who said French cooking needs to be all that complicated? Let this traditional French dish prove otherwise.

Literally translating to Cock in Wine, Coq Au Vin is a dish of rooster braised in red wine together with a choice of vegetables and aromatics. Though most modern preparations would call for any commercially grown variety of chicken, this dish would be ideally done with poultry that is basically tougher with more connective tissue. This choice would be perfect for the intended cooking method of braising and would also yield a deeper flavor.

For this attempt, I used commercially available chicken as well due to lack of availability for my first option. By all means, you may do the same, but I would suggest that you go for big free-range varieties at the least.

Let's get cooking. Start off by cutting a whole chicken into pieces, ideally into quarters. This relatively bigger cuts will stand the heat and length of braising better than smaller ones. Season both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Go a bit heavier on the seasoning at this stage. The chicken will later be cooking with less salty accompanying ingredients. Notice that I did not choose to dredge the chicken pieces in flour, since it will be going in with red wine which is more than enough to give them a deep red color.

Next would be to sear them in a lightly oiled pan to lock in all those juices and flavors of the chicken. Here are a few tips when searing any piece of fish, meat, or poultry :

Make sure the pan is hot.
Maintain high temperature in the pan by not overcrowding it. If you have to, work in batches.
Leave your meat to sear on its own without moving it around. Don't worry about them sticking to the pan. They'll come of much easier for flipping after they've seared properly.

Set the chicken aside and get your vegetables roasting. A minute or two in high heat should do it.

Next would be to add in the tomato paste and continue roasting for another minute. We're adding tomato paste to intensify the dish's red color, and roasting it would cut down its acidity. We won't be needing much of its sour profile due to the acidic flavor of red wine.

Deglaze with a bit of red wine. No need to pour in all two cups required in this recipe. This little amount would just serve to loosen off all those drippings stuck at the bottom of the pan. Scrape them off with a spatula.

Next would be to get them all braising in the slow cooker for about 3 hours on low. Add an additional hour or two if you happen to use roosters or game. It's large enough that I can make some extra meals for the week, but it doesn't have that overpowering presence like some other large slow cookers do. It's beautifully designed – much more so than the standard cheap ones you can buy anywhere.

The sauce should end up a bit thick due to the reduction of sugars in the wine. If it comes out too thin, set it over medium heat in a small saucepan.

Also, refine your sauce by whisking in cold nuggets of butter – cubes about an inch big. This will thicken the sauce lightly while adding sheen, and of course a more refined flavor.