It has been a while since I offered a “Sunday Supper” post. I am committed to urging you all to think about good, slow, and sometimes important meals, with people, on Sundays. Alas, today I was not with people for Sunday Supper, but I have a post anyway.
Today I set a challenge for myself. I wanted to make Julia Child’s Coq au vin.
“But Father! But Father!” you might be saying, “That’s no challenge! You’ve made that before. You know how to do it already.”
Ah, yes… but today I made it with a difference. I used hot plates (sent by a reader from my wish list – thanks KA!).
Since life has changed, not ended, I am cooking in a new way. I wanted to see if I could make a relatively complicated entree. I have an induction hotplate and a standard coil hotplate.
So, we begin. Never mind the superfluous onion. It looks nice.
The tools.
I determined also to make the Oignons glacés à brun… braised pearl onions and also the Champignons sautés au beurre… mushrooms braised in butter. I had to get my head around the stages, timing of the production, with two non-gas, less-hot, heat sources.
I started with the oignons.
They are doing well.
In the meantime, I did the lardons. And then browned the chicken. I used thighs, which were on sale. I made a half recipe, by the way.
So, browned and reassembled and ready for the next stage.
In goes the cognac and in goes the fire.
When the flames subsided, in go the garlic, the bundle of herbs wrapped up with dental floss (I didn’t have an cheese cloth), tomato paste, garlic,…
Here is the wine. Fairly cheap, but surprisingly good at $10, this is 100% pinot noir, steel-barrel, from Languedoc, did the trick. The rest was chicken stock.
Adding the bay leaf.
It needed then to simmer for about 20 minutes, during which time I did the mushrooms.
At the end of the process, I extracted the chicken and lardon and put them into the warm mushroom pan (after taking them out). Then I simmered the cooking liquid and added my beurre manié using a wire whip to thicken the concoction.
Reassembled.
Plated.
A few comments.
First, in one of my apartments in Rome I cooked on a hotplate and got pretty good with it. It can be done. You have to think it all through carefully, but it can be done. This wasn’t new.
Second, this was the best Coq au vin I have ever made. The chicken was fork-tender. The flavors were well-blended and deep. It was not the full recipe. I cut it down to about half. However, if I had had a dessert course, salad, potatoes or noodles or rice, it would have served four without left-overs.
Third, the next time, I will have to tackle the Boeuf Bourguignon. That is a more complicated recipe and it requires a high temp baking step that I am still contemplating. I think I have a way to do it, but… we shall see.
McBrien, who still writes – quousque tandem? – for the National 
