MISSION COQ AU VIN: SERVING UP A DODGY OLD BOILER

So, here’s the thing.

I really, really dislike the new and growing trend towards quick and easy recipes.

I should clarify that, before I am bombarded with shrieks of anguish from people telling me that they need recipes to be quick and easy to sculpt time in their hectic schedules to prepare them. Let me rephrase my statement. I have no problems with recipes that are meant to contain few ingredients and to be prepared in a short amount of time. Pushed when you come back from work? Make an omelet. Stretched with life and kids? Sandwich away my dear friends. Let it not be said that I am anything but tolerant.

Where I have am starting to have real issues is with the current tendency of magazines and TV shows to fill their space with versions of classic recipes, debased so they can be squeezed into the schedules of the busy and the lazy. There appears to be little thought that the reason such recipes became classics in the first place is that they require effort to make. To counteract such an annoying current trend, I have begun to post a series of recipes on my Facebook page called “Mission…..”

These are recipes that are, to put it mildly, projects. They are recipes for dishes that might take a whole day, a couple of days or, in the case of the bacon I made recently, a whole week to complete. They may require trips to more than one shop to find the ingredients and, in one or two cases might even need a bit of online ordering before you are ready to begin the mission.

Despite all this, the end results are definitely worth the effort and I am thrilled to say that I have received dozens of e-mails from folks telling me that they have enjoyed not only the final product but also the process of preparing maple cured bacon, Hyderabadi biryani, mole negro and Brazilian feijoada to name just a few.

I am soon to begin filming a series of webisodes based on this series of recipes, with the rather terrific Small Screen Network based in Seattle. All of which means that you can expect to hear me pontificating on this subject for a good while to come. You have fair warning.

Next on the list of missions was one of my favourite dishes of all, the Burgundian Coq Au Vin. As the name suggests, it is a dish that was originally made with a cockerel that was too old or no longer able to do what cockerels do (I know how he feels). As the meat was tough, it was marinated for 24 hours with wine (a Burgundy, obviously) chopped carrots, celery and onion and a bouquet garni of fresh thyme and parsley. It was then cooked down and served with classic accompaniments of mushrooms, lardons of bacon and button onions.

It is, as all of these culinary missions are, a bit of a faff, but the final result is so good that it is definitely worth every second of all effort required. Of course, there are quick and easy versions of Coq Au Vin, but they are but a pale reflection of the real thing.

The truth is quite simple, like all these “Mission” recipes, the time spent preparing them is almost as important as the eating and, if you don’t have time to do it properly, it’s just God’s way of telling you that you are not meant to eat Coq Au Vin.

If you are interested in following along, I shall be posting more recipes in the following months. If you try them, let me know how you get on.

MISSION COQ AU VIN

INGREDIENTS

1 Large Cockerel (This may be hard to find. If so, buy a boiling chicken, which will stand up to the marinating and long, slow cooking)

4 Carrots

3 Stalks of Celery

1 Large White Onion

1 Bottle of Burgundy (Or any decent Pinot Noir)

2 Bunches of Fresh Parsley (One for the marinade and one to serve as a garnish)

1 Bunch of Fresh Thyme

1 Piece of Cheesecloth (In which to wrap the herbs)

1 Pint Chicken Stock (I made mine with the backbone and wingtips of the chicken, vegetables and a bouquet garni of herbs)

6 Strips of Bacon (Cut into lardons. I used my own homemade bacon, but any good unsmoked variety will do)

3 Cloves Garlic (finely minced)

20 Button Mushrooms

20 Pearl Onions

3 Ounces Plain (All Purpose Flour)

Salt & Pepper (I use white pepper during cooking and black pepper just before serving)

Olive Oil & Butter (For cooking)

METHOD

Joint the chicken into 8 pieces.

Make a mire poix (rough chop) of the carrots, onion and celery.

Place the chicken in a bowl with the Mire Poir and add the wine and the bouquet garni of herbs.

Cover the bowl with cling film and place in the fridge to marinate for 24 hours.

After 24 hours drain the marinade from the chicken, retaining the liquid and the vegetables in separate bowls.

Dry the chicken thoroughly with kitchen towel and season on all sides with salt and pepper.

Melt 2 ounces of butter in a deep sided frying pan and when it begins to foam add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.

Brown the chicken on both sides and remove from the pan.

Add the vegetables from the marinade to the pan along with the finely minced garlic and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the flour and combine well with the vegetables. Cook for a further 4 minutes on a low heat.

Return the liquid from the marinade to the pan and stir well to combine with the vegetables and flour.

Return the chicken to the pan.

Add 1 pint of chicken stock.

Simmer on a low heat for around 90 minutes, turning the chicken occasionally.

While the chicken is simmering, peel the pearl onions and stem and half the mushrooms.

In a separate pan, fry the bacon until golden and crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen towel.

Drain the bacon fat from the pan, keeping 2 tablespoons in reserve to cook the garnishes.

Fry the mushrooms in the bacon fat until they begin to colour and then remove from the pan.

Fry the onions in the bacon fat until they begin to colour and then remove from the pan.

When the chicken pieces are cooked (after around 90 minutes) remove them from the pan and drain the cooking liquid.

Discard the vegetables, which will have given their all by then, but retain the sauce.

Return the mushrooms and onions the pan along with the chicken pieces and the cooking liquid.

Simmer gently until the sauce is at the point that it will coat the back of a spoon.

Season with salt and black pepper for taste and add a handful of finely chopped parsley.

Plate the chicken coated with lots of sauce, onions and mushrooms and topped with plenty of bacon.

I served mine with buttery mashed potatoes.

Enjoy with a glass of great Burgundy and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

You have completed “Mission Coq Au Vin”

JAR: A BRAISING BIRTHDAY TREAT

Please forgive the rather crappy images that accompany this particular post. I know they are never of David Bailey standard at the best of times, but during this meal, my attempts to capture my food in all its glory, were hampered by my beloved’s insistence on altering all the settings on my camera. She denies it, of course, but it has taken me two weeks to get the bloody thing back to some semblance of normality.

I should be more understanding, I guess. Without Sybil, I would not have experienced one of my more enjoyable dining experiences in Los Angeles so far. In fact, I had never even heard of JAR until we pulled up outside and she handed over the keys of her battered jalopy to the parking valet.

That in itself is quite an interesting experience. In London, after nearly twenty years of eating out and approaching five years of hardcore blog action, there are few restaurants I haven’t heard of even if I would never set foot through the doors of many if you offered me all the money Brian Clough took in bribes. However, here in Los Angeles, every day throws up a potential new venue for supper.

But, I digress. Back to JAR.

Sybil had chosen JAR as the venue for my birthday celebration in an attempt to prove to me that not all mid-range American style dining in the city sucked a considerable amount of ass. I still remain to be convinced overall, but have to admit that, as I glimpsed at the menu and drank a hefty gulp of some smashing St Peter’s Cream Stout, I was rather pleased to see lots of dishes on there that I might actually want to order and which did not involve the word "slider"

JAR stands, apparently for “Just Another Restaurant” and styles itself as a modern chophouse. The chef, Suzanne Tracht, is partnered in the kitchen by Thai chef, Preech Narkthong and while some of their South East Asian influences are worn very much on the sleeve, there is enough about the place and the menu to remind me why I used to get terribly excited about eating in US restaurants.

Although the restaurant is well known for its steaks, my eye was drawn immediately to a section entitled “Braises and Sautés” which contained their signature pot roast and, more importantly that all too rare dish on restaurant menus, Coq Au Vin. Despite my love of dead cow, this rustic French classic just screamed out to be ordered.

Sybil, had decided on her main course before we even arrived. She would gladly hand me over to be raped and murdered if someone offered her a meaty pork chop in return. It was almost inevitable that the offer of a “Char Sui Pork Chop” would be too much for her to resist. That just left us musing on starters, which to be honest were pleasantly distracting rather than memorable.

Devilled eggs seem ever so popular in the US right now. I have seen them on quite a few menus. I imagine the ease and cheapness appeals to chefs and the nostalgia appeals to customers. They leave me slightly cold, although the crabby version offered at JAR is not a bad example of the genre. It is just not a genre I would like to see given too much house room. My own starter was not bad at all (not that you can tell from the washed out picture). An acceptable amount of lobster served with shaved fennel, avocado (welcome to California) and a drizzle of vinaigrette laced with a hit of jalapeno chilli.

Main courses arrived in rather too rapid a fashion, but definitely looked the part. Sybil’s pork chop had taken on splendid glaze from the marinade and cooking and came glistening in a pool of herby butter. It also contained a good band of fat, all too welcome in a town where chefs trim every bit of meat to within an inch of its life. It tasted good too, the little I was allowed to try, even though it was, as I may have mentioned already, my birthday.

My Coq Au Vin was not quite as impressive, but not bad at all. I suspect that Joan Rivers aside, it is hard to come across too many old boilers in Los Angeles, so the bird lacked the flavour of the best roosterfied versions. That being said, it had taken on great flavour in the slow cooking process and was well served by stunning chunks of bacon, pearl onions and Crimini mushrooms. Both dishes were also well served by excellent side dishes of duck fried rice, wild spinach and mashed potatoes made with enough butter to make Robuchon blush.

I made a big mistake when it came to pudding. I was slightly in my cups by this point and assumed that the word pudding meant, well, pudding. So, I ordered the “Butterscotch Pudding” which was not a great British pudding involving sponge, butterscotch sauce and custard. Instead, it was an American pudding, in effect nothing more than a dish of Butterscotch Angel Delight. Not bad in and of itself, but not, as I had dared to hope, something which helped build the empire. To make matters worse, they had also stuck a candle in it to remind me of my advancement to the grave. Damn them to Hell.

Sybil ordered another quintessentially American dessert of “Banana Cream Pie”. It was an ugly affair of pastry, cream, gloopy cooked bananas and caramel sauce. I rather liked it and helped Sybil polish off. She didn’t want me to, but as I may have mentioned more than once, it was my birthday.

I never saw the bill (birthday, remember?) but, Sybil tips well, so I am sure our English server was well taken care of as was the bill for three rather decent courses,that lovely beer and a few drops of passable wine by the glass. Sybil did not seem terribly upset by the damage done to her credit card, so I am guessing she considered it reasonable value for money.

Reasonable value for money for very decent food, by Los Angeles mid-range dining standards, that makes JAR far more than “Just Another Restaurant”