Roo help?

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
I know nothing of coq au vin other than the recipe posted in the 2nd comment here, which calls for 6 oz. of pork fat.
To me, that's drowning a chicken in fat

 

[DuckLady]

Quote:
If you read the directions of what to do with the 6 oz of pork fat, you will see it is not what you think.

It says
"6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed "

then it says
Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

No where does it say to drown the chicken in pork fat.

 

[bigmike&nan]

Quote:
If you read the directions of what to do with the 6 oz of pork fat, you will see it is not what you think.

It says
"6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed "

then it says
Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

No where does it say to drown the chicken in pork fat.

Thanks You Terrielacy

Rooster by nature is a tough muscular bird, not the female of the species which is more delicate and can be served in the many recipes we are all familiar with. Coq au Vin is a classic French dish and has been handed down for at least a century. Nothing unsavory or drowning in fat would have that kind of popularity. Done right female chicken prepared in the style of Coq au Vin is flat delicious. Rooster prepared in the style of Coq au Vin makes the bird tender, mostly from being marinated overnight in the red wine.

 

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
If you read the directions of what to do with the 6 oz of pork fat, you will see it is not what you think.

It says
"6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed "

then it says
Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

No where does it say to drown the chicken in pork fat.

Are you referring to these directions? lol
"In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown..."
The pork fat is also added to the dish at the end, so yes, to me it is 'drowning it in fat'

I don't know about you but I eat chicken because it's a lean meat. I'd never consider adding fat. I even remove the skin prior to cooking. I don't know, something about high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries, etc., does not appeal to me...

 

[bigmike&nan]

Quote:
If you read the directions of what to do with the 6 oz of pork fat, you will see it is not what you think.

It says
"6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed "

then it says
Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

No where does it say to drown the chicken in pork fat.

Are you referring to these directions? lol
"In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown..."
The pork fat is also added to the dish at the end, so yes, to me it is 'drowning it in fat'

I don't know about you but I eat chicken because it's a lean meat. I'd never consider adding fat. I even remove the skin prior to cooking. I don't know, something about high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries, etc., does not appeal to me...

Well the issue here SEEMS to be a misinterpretation of the process by you: once the little cubes of pork fat have been rendered of their fat the remaining meat is like cooked bacon - it is set aside, so you are adding back to the dish, at the end, little cubes of fried bacon. Not pouring more liquid fat back into the dish. I did a little research online and cooking chicken in this method dates back to Julius Caesar's time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coq_au_vin

If you come up with a heart healthy and tasty method for cooking rooster do post it here. The reason pork fat is rendered before browning the rooster meat portions is the rooster really doesn't have any fat of it's own and if just browned in a little oil would make it tougher than it already is.

By the way, I see you are from the San Francisco Bay Area. I am most recently from Pacifica - as a kid I spent a lot of years in El Sobrante and lastly Concord. As an adult I also lived in Mountain View and San Francisco while attending chef school at the California Culinary Academy.

 

[Naughty]

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I'm thinking this is the problem perhaps. The meat wasn't tough - it just had a horrible flavor to it. It was not the "chicken" flavor either - have eaten enough chicken - that is not a problem.

Hopefully will be a while before I butcher another roo - but I will have to try this recipe in the meantime - it sounds great. Chicken is still pretty cheap at wal-mart until my next baby starts crowing... lol

 

[seminolewind]

I have read that some people do not like the taste of their own processed chickens. And some people do. I personally like the bland chicken that comes from the supermarket.

 

[bigmike&nan]

I love to eat and there's lots of things I never tried until I went to chef school, some of those things I liked - while others left me cold (still). We have 22 hens and one rooster and they are al our "children", we raised them all by hand, some of those I incubated and I was the first thing they saw - we bonded: so killing one of our birds isn't in the equation. So me serving Dimples (a mottled bantam cochin) or Brownie (a bantam frizzle cochin) Coq au Vin is impossible for me to consider. I'd suggest a whole roaster cut up into 8 pieces or 4 legs and 4 thighs instead.

I did find this great Alton Brown video on Coq au Vin on YouTube, it's a happy show - he's nutty and yet teaches you THE WHY of things food. To me any good tv chef better educate me on THE WHY or I'm not watching them.

Part 1

Part 2

And the visual preparation gives you an idea of what Coq au Vin is gonna look like. In the 70s when I first had this dish we used a really expensive and delicious cabernet sauvignon (BV Georges de la Tour Reserve) and garnished the dish with fresh peeled artichoke hearts. Served with roasted red potatoes w3e had our neighbors in Sausalito crooning over the yummy smells.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

now, myself, I am waitng to see the roaster with 4 legs and four thighs . . .

 

[bigmike&nan]

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You never watched a John Madden hosted Thanksgiving Game on tv ?? His turkey's had like 8 drumsticks.