Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

cock a male bird (as opposed to hen, a female bird), both terms being most usually applied to domestic fowl. Breeds of domestic fowl are described under hen/chicken breeds. The majority of dishes based on domestic fowl find their place under chicken dishes. There are, however, some recipes which specifically call for a cock (or cockerel, a young cock); and of these the best known are the Scottish cock-a-leekie and the French Coq au vin.

Although Coq au vin is well known and was featured in numerous menus in the third quarter of the 20th century, it does not have a long history. The flesh of a cock has always been regarded as somewhat tough and indigestible, and with few exceptions cooks of earlier centuries saw no merit in cocks except as a source of cockscombs (much in demand as a garnish) and sometimes for making a bouillon (see broth). One of the very first recipes for Coq au vin, that of Brisson published in Richardin’s L’Art du bien manger (1913), was presented as a real ‘discovery’, the author having been surprised to find the dish in Puy-de-Dôme, and surprised by how good it was. The ingredients in this case were the cock, good wine of Auvergne, bacon, onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Wine from Burgundy has since become the one commonly used, and indeed many recipes just say ‘red wine’.