Name: Coq au Vin
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 12 small shallots, peeled; 150 g thick-cut bacon, cubed; 1 clove of garlic, crushed, peeled and chopped; 200 g button mushrooms; 3 tbsp flour; 1 chicken, weighing about 1kg, jointed into 12 pieces (ask your butcher to do this); 500 ml red wine; 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 bay leaves; 300 ml chicken stock; 2 sprigs of thyme; freshly ground black pepper; sea salt; a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 30

Appears in

The French Kitchen

By Joanne Harris and Fran Warde

Published 2002

About

This is another very old dish, invented – or so the story goes – by Julius Caesar. A group of Gauls had been cornered Asterix-fashion by one of Caesar’s garrisons. To prove that they had plenty to eat, the Gauls sent out an old cockerel to the enemy, with a message around its neck saying ‘Bon appétit!’ Caesar promptly invited the leaders of the Gaulish tribes to a dinner, in the course of which he served the cockerel (cooked to perfection in wine and rare herbs), promising the Gauls that if