National Coq au Vin Day

There are many reasons to celebrate and did you know our calendar observes a National Coq au Vin Day? Roosters cooked in wine are the main course on May 29th but you can enjoy this great recipe on any day of the year. Replace rooster for hen if you like.


Today I wanted to talk about Coq au Vin in honor of National Coq au Vin Day. They say this is a French recipe that ends up like a stew. I don't know if it's considered a stew or not, I just know I love the recipe. 

It's made with chicken, carrots, mushrooms and onions. You know the staple foods in stews. Now that I think about it... there's no potatoes in this recipe which is also a staple for stews. This recipe is made with the whole pieces of chicken instead of chunks of chicken like a normal stew is made. Hummmm so is it a stew or not? What do you think?

Anyway I love to make this recipe in the winter when it's cold. Mainly because I slowlyyyy stew it for a long time and it just gets the house to hot in the summer time. I know the recipe says to cook it for 90 minutes but like most of us cooks we adjust the recipe to suit. Now one of the reasons I love this recipe is because you have to fry the chicken first. I know what your thinking. That means the dish is going to take a bit of time to make but it's worth the wait I promise. I have the recipe on my website if you would like to go check out the ingredients. Recipe Here

The spice Asafoetida is used in this recipe but I never add it. I had to go to my herb dictionary and wiki to find out some spice facts about it and ended up just using leeks. 
It says "(also known as devil's dung, stinking gum, asant, food of the gods, giant fennel, Jowani badian, hing and ting) is the dried latex (gum oleoresin) exuded from the living underground rhizome or tap root of several species of Ferula, which is a perennial herb (1 to 1.5 m high). The species is native to the mountains of Afghanistan, and is mainly cultivated in nearbyIndia. Asafoetida has a pungent, unpleasant smell when raw, but in cooked dishes, it delivers a smooth flavor, reminiscent of leeks.