Rooster in Red Wine Sauce

1. The difference between long and short braising
2. How to improvise own braised chicken dishes
3. What is a Fricassee and how does it differ from a sauté?
4. How to make and use vegetable purées to finish sauces
5. How to cook a squab

Coq au vin, once a standby dish in French restaurants in the United States, is making a comeback after years of neglect by chefs busy with nouvelle cuisine, california cuisine, fusion this and mediterranean that. In truth, rarely are these dishes authentic coq au vin, made with a rooster, but are instead plates of chicken in red wine sauce, the more modest poulet au vin rouge. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, but for a cook it’s useful to understand the difference, because not only are these dishes made with different sorts of birds, they are made using different techniques.