COQ AU RIESLING (Rooster in white wine sauce)
In case that you like the tast of chicken, you should try to get
a full grown rooster. Expect 5-10 times more taste than from those
whimpy, blown-up, watery supermarket chickens! The difficulty is not
cooking a rooster, but finding a supplier (except in France).
We finally managed to get such an animal here in Montreal, which had
a lable stuck to it saying : old (!) rooster. We took it anyway, and
it turned out to be excellent. This one was relatively small
(3.5 kg), many of them go beyond 5 kg.
- cut the rooster in handy pieces, salt them and fry in about 1/2 l
of very hot olive oil, until both sides are deep brown. Discard the
oil completely.
- add 1 1/2 to two bottles of good (!), relatively acid, not too sweet
white wine. The best alsacian Riesling is appropriate, the cook will
appreciate it too !
- add 4-7 fresh bay leaves, 6-12 garlic toes, a small bit of best
quality smoked meat (careful, the smoked taste should never dominate,
not even be recognized without knowing the recipe).
Top up with water so that the meat is almost covered, add
more salt if needed and let it cook for about 1-2 hours
(depending on how old the animal was)
- the breast pieces tend to be relatively dry, even after this long
cooking. Therefore, I recommend to remove all bones and slice the meat
in about 1/2 cm thick slices, and continue cooking them in the sauce.
- before adding the sliced meat, add about 1/4 l of cream to the sauce,
adjust salt concentration to taste. If you prefer a smaller amount
of sauce with more concentrated taste, reduce by boiling at high
setting.
This meal goes very well with rice, and a good white wine (like a
Riesling). Serves between 8-12 people.
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