Masterclass

“Marinate” overnight

Marinating is one of cooking’s most misunderstood processes. We often toss a few aromatics in with a big lump of meat, convincing ourselves it’s working wonders. In truth, most marinades penetrate barely a millimetre or two into large pieces of meat. So, whether you add them just before cooking or let them sit for 24 hours, the results will be similar.

Marinades are much more effective in tenderising and flavouring thinly sliced meats (think bulgogi, or Chinese stir-fries).

For large cuts of meat, the most effective “marinades” are actually light brines. Brines work by osmotic pressure, making the meat more juicy, and seasoning it from within. An added benefit is that the salt in the brine weakens the meat’s proteins, preventing them from contracting excessively during cooking. This helps keep the meat tender and ensures it retains its moisture.

While brines for chicken typically start around a 3.5 per cent salt solution (which would be far too salty when reduced to a sauce, equating to about 1½ tablespoons per 750ml of water), we’re using wine. This is important because osmotic pressure is what’s called a “colligative property”. That means it cares about the total number of dissolved bits in the liquid, not what those bits are. So, a good dash of salt in the wine will team up with the wine’s electrolytes, sugars and proteins to get that brining job done right.

To cut a long story short, marinate/brine your chicken overnight for a better coq au vin.

Marylands v whole chicken

Instead of using a whole chicken, I use marylands (the whole leg, including drumstick and thigh, with the skin on and bone in). Their dark meat is better for braising than lean breasts, so choose those for another dish. Using marylands eliminates the tricky process of jointing a whole chicken. Separating the drumsticks from the thighs is much simpler: just locate the natural joint and a knife should run easily between them. To get the perfect angle, I hold the drumstick upright with one hand and gently push the knife through the joint with the other.

Vegetable oil and butter

Let’s debunk a persistent myth: adding olive oil to butter does not stop the butter from burning. The milk solids in butter have a relatively low smoke point, typically browning and then burning at about 150C, a reaction that occurs whether olive oil is present or not. Of course, if you use less butter by replacing some with oil, you’ll naturally get less butter flavour, burnt or otherwise.

Olive oil and butter are both strongly flavoured, so I only combine them when it’s a flavour combination I particularly want in a dish. More often, I fry the chicken in neutrally flavoured vegetable oil to ensure good browning without the risk of burning the butter, then add the butter to fry the mirepoix, which occurs at a lower temperature than frying the chicken because the vegetables release liquid as they cook.

Mirepoix

A mirepoix is a mixture of vegetables (in this case onion, celery and carrot) that form the flavour base for many stews. Most people don’t cook them out enough. Fixing this basic step will be a huge improvement for all your stews.

I like to cook my mirepoix until it’s “double-glazed”. Let me explain. After frying the chicken pieces, there will be a brown “fond” on the bottom of the pan. As your mirepoix vegetables fry, they will release a little liquid, which will loosen the fond, deglazing and cleaning the pan.

Then, as you continue frying, the vegetables will intensify in flavour and their sugars will start to caramelise on the base of the pan again, creating a second fond that can be once again deglazed with the brandy and reserved marinade. This creates an excellent intensity in the stew.

Adding later

I add the mushrooms and speck at the end of cooking. While cured meats are typically added earlier for their umami, I find braising speck lardons turns them into unpleasant little rubber bullets.

To get the best of both worlds – maximum flavour enrichment and preserved texture – I fry the speck first to render its fat and microwave the mushrooms to extract their juices, then set both aside (frying the mushrooms later). This way, their contributions are fully integrated into the sauce, but their texture remains perfect when they’re stirred in before serving.

Beurre manie

Thickening sauces is a vital part of achieving a tasty dish. You can put in all the work of sourcing good ingredients, cooking them well and seasoning perfectly, but if the sauce is thin, your dish will be insipid. On the other hand, if your sauce is too thick, it will be claggy and cloying.

Chemically speaking, sauces are thickened in two main ways – by evaporating the liquid, or by binding the liquid in other chemical structures (such as being absorbed by starch or bound by gelatine). These methods are both effective, particularly when used together.

In this recipe, we use beurre manie (kneaded butter), a French technique that simultaneously thickens and enriches the sauce. Get this silky, glossy texture right, and you’ll be in coq au vin heaven.