Balthazar's Coq au Vin

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (3½–4 lbs), cut into 8 pieces — or 3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 oz (225g) smoked slab bacon, cut into ½-inch lardons (thick-cut strips work if slab bacon is unavailable)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 head garlic, halved horizontally through the equator
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 bottle (750ml) red Burgundy or Pinot Noir — Côtes du Rhône works too
• 1½ cups (360ml) beef or veal stock (not chicken stock — the depth matters here)
• 1 bouquet garni: 4 sprigs fresh thyme, 2 bay leaves, 6 parsley stems, tied in cheesecloth or bundled with twine
• For the garnish
• 1 cup (150g) pearl onions, blanched 1 minute in boiling water and peeled (or frozen, thawed)
• 8 oz (225g) button mushrooms, quartered
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, to finish
• To serve: buttered egg noodles, crusty baguette, or mashed potatoes

Instructions

1. 1.Pat the chicken pieces completely dry with paper towels. Season generously on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Dry chicken browns; wet chicken steams.
2. 2.In a large Dutch oven (5–6 quart) over medium heat, cook the bacon lardons in a single layer, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and the bacon is golden-brown and crisp, about 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Leave the rendered fat in the pot.
3. 3.Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the mushrooms in a single layer and resist the urge to stir immediately — cook undisturbed for 3 minutes, then stir once and cook another 2 minutes until golden-brown. Remove and set aside. (Crowding mushrooms causes them to steam and turn grey rather than brown.)
4. 4.Add the olive oil to the pot. Working in two batches to avoid crowding, sear the chicken skin-side down for 4 minutes until deeply golden-brown, then flip and sear 2 minutes more. The skin must be genuinely golden-brown before you flip — pale chicken means pale sauce. Transfer each batch to a plate as it finishes.
5. 5.Reduce heat to medium. Add the diced onion, carrots, celery, and halved garlic head to the pot. Cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits from the bottom, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir to coat, 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir another minute until it disappears.
6. 6.Pour in the full bottle of wine and scrape the bottom of the pot vigorously — all the browned bits are concentrated flavor. Raise the heat and bring to a medium boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the wine has reduced by half, about 20–25 minutes. The liquid will turn from bright purple-red to a darker, more serious burgundy. This is the first reduction.
7. 7.Add the beef stock and bouquet garni. Return the chicken pieces (not the bacon or mushrooms yet) to the pot, skin-side up. The liquid should come about ¾ of the way up the chicken. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, reduce heat to low, and braise undisturbed for 1 hour, until the leg meat is meltingly tender when pierced with a paring knife.
8. 8.Lift the chicken pieces out and set aside. Strain the braising liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean saucepan, pressing firmly on the vegetables to extract every drop of liquid and gelatin. Discard the spent vegetables and bouquet garni.
9. 9.Bring the strained liquid to a strong simmer and cook, skimming any fat that rises to the surface, until reduced by half — about 20–25 minutes. This is the second reduction and the most important step: do not skip it. The sauce will turn from wine-red to nearly midnight-black and thicken until it coats the back of a spoon. Run your finger across the back of a sauce-covered spoon — the line should hold. Taste and adjust salt.
10. 10.While the sauce reduces, sauté the pearl onions in 1 tablespoon of butter in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until golden and lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes.
11. 11.Return the chicken pieces, reserved bacon, mushrooms, and glazed pearl onions to the midnight-black sauce. Simmer gently for 15 minutes to marry the flavors. Just before serving, remove the pot from heat and swirl in the remaining tablespoon of cold butter — this enriches the sauce and gives it a glossy sheen. Add the chopped parsley. Taste once more and serve immediately over buttered egg noodles or with crusty bread.