Coconutty Coq au Vin per Eric Ripert

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

Finally - cool weather arrived in NYC so I felt like simmering something. Sunday was drizzly all day so it was a perfect day for cooking and having friends over for dinner. I decided to lean on their friendship and have them be guinea pigs to a recipe I’ve been wanting to try for a while. Eric Ripert published a recipe in Food & Wine for a Coq au Vin finished with coconut milk. Julia's Favorite Roast Chicken Recipe by Julia Child

While it was a good dish, I probably prefer traditional Coq au Vin. However, the beauty of the coconut milk in the recipe was that it made the dish friendly to more wines. While it went beautifully with a '91 Musar and '98 Ducru, it also paired well with some rich whites we had earlier in the meal: '01 Raveneau Montee de Tonnerre, '96 Francois Cazin Cour-Cheverny Cuvee Rennaissance, and '05 Chidaine Les Truffeaux.

Can’t wait to taste leftovers for lunch and see how the flavors have developed.

2

I’ve never been a big fan of traditional coq au vin but I do like coq au riesling quite a bit. I find it richer and not as heavy and pairs well with a lot of wines.

3

If done well, I do love it. That long-ago trip out west, Christine, I had one at Mirepoix in Windsor that I don’t think will ever be equalled. My mouth is still watering thinking about it.

I do agree that coconut milk does make food wine-friendly…those look like nice wines too!

sante,

4

For a proper coq au vin, one really should buy an “old” hen, or stewing chicken which can be found at some supermarkets and easily found at Chinese supermarkets.

When using a “normal” chicken, one can cheat a bit and add some powdered gelatin to the liquid during cooking.

The coconut version looks tasty. I’ll have to give it a try.

5

I like both, but prefer coq au riesling too.