Coq au vin for a filthy night in

Name: Coq au vin for a filthy night in
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 3 lb chicken legs and thighs; 2 tsp kosher salt (more as needed); ½ tsp black pepper (more to taste); 3 cups hearty red wine, preferably Burgundy; 1 bay leaf; 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped; 4 oz lardons or pancetta, diced small; 3 tbsp olive oil (more as needed); 1 large onion, diced; 1 large carrot, peeled and diced; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tsp tomato paste; 1 tbsp red miso; 1 tbsp all-purpose flour; 2 tbsp brandy; 3 tbsp unsalted butter, divided; 8 oz peeled pearl onions (about 12 to 15); sugar, a pinch; 2 slices white bread, crusts off, cut into triangles; ¼ cup parsley, chopped (more for serving)

Chicken, a bottle of Burgundy and an afternoon. This is what Sundays are for.

At a Glance

Time

3 hrs, plus marinating

Serves

Story

Coq au vin means, plainly, rooster in wine, and the dish exists because a tough old bird needed hours of low heat and a bottle of something red to become tender. We do not cook roosters now, so reach for legs and thighs rather than breast. Dark meat wants the long braise the way the old bird did, going silky where a breast would only seize and dry.

Ingredients

3 lb chicken legs and thighs
2 tsp kosher saltmore as needed
½ tsp black peppermore to taste
3 cups hearty red winepreferably Burgundy
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh thymechopped
4 oz lardons or pancettadiced small
3 tbsp olive oilmore as needed
1 large oniondiced
1 large carrotpeeled and diced
2 cloves garlicminced
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tbsp red miso
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp brandy
3 tbsp unsalted butterdivided
8 oz peeled pearl onionsabout 12 to 15
sugara pinch
2 slices white breadcrusts off, cut into triangles
¼ cup parsleychopped (more for serving)

Method

A proper coq au vin is not a weeknight and does not pretend to be. Give it a Sunday, a bottle you would actually drink and a little patience. You will notice there are no mushrooms. There never will be, not in my pot. They weep into the sauce and turn to slippery little commas, and I have standards. In their place a spoonful of miso, which brings the same dark savoury weight and none of the sog.

The night before, or at least two hours ahead, season the chicken all over with the salt and pepper and settle it into the wine with the bay leaf and thyme. Cover and refrigerate. This is the marinade doing your work while you do nothing, which is the correct division of labour.
In a heavy Dutch oven, cook the lardons over medium-low until the fat renders and they turn golden and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and leave every drop of that fat behind.
Fish the chicken out of the wine and reserve the marinade. Pat the pieces properly dry, or they will steam instead of brown. Sear them in the lardon fat over medium, in batches, until deeply coloured on both sides, adding a little oil if the pot looks thirsty. Set aside.
Into the same fat go the onion and carrot, softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes, scraping up all the caramel stuck to the bottom. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste for a minute, then the flour for one more.
Pour in the brandy and either set a match to it and let it flame out, or just bubble it down for a minute if you would rather keep your eyebrows. Add the reserved marinade, bring to a boil and reduce it by half, about 12 minutes. That reduction is where the whole dish is decided, so do not rush it, a watery braise concentrates into nothing.
Return the chicken and its juices with half the lardons, and whisk the miso into the sauce until it melts in. Miso is here doing precisely what the mushrooms would have, both are loaded with the savoury glutamates the tongue reads as depth, so nothing is missed. Cover and braise on low for 1 hour, turning once, then uncover for a final 15 minutes to thicken. Taste and correct, going gently on the salt now, the miso has strong opinions about it.
Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with a little oil in a skillet. Add the pearl onions with a pinch each of sugar and salt, cover and cook low and slow, 15 minutes, shaking often, until glossy and tender.
In the same pan, the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium, and fry the bread triangles golden on all sides. The buttered crouton is the traditional edge here, and no one has ever complained about a fried carbohydrate arriving in sauce.
To serve, fold the pearl onions and remaining lardons into the pot. Dip the croutons in the sauce, dredge their tips in parsley and stand them up around the chicken. Shower with more parsley and carry it to the table while it steams.