RCP: Le Montrachet's Coq au Vin (translation help needed)

At this web page:

http://www.le-montrachet.com/restaurant_recettes_1.htm

is a recipe for Coq au Vin from the restaurant at the Hotel Le Montrachet in Puligny-Montrachet, Bourgogne, France. I've stayed there several times on wine-tasting visits to Burgundy. The hotel is in a very quiet and restful setting on the town square of Puligny. The restaurant seems to have lost its one Michelin star, but I suspect that's more due to the menu being too traditional and not adventurous enough, rather than the quality of the food. On my visits, they did Burgundy classics extremely well, and I was very fond of the Coq au Vin in particular. Theirs is a more upper-crust version, with a much-reduced sauce. Very yummy, so I was glad to see the recipe published on their website.

Anyway, the recipe is in French, and I need help with an English translation. With my very limited knowledge of French, I've deciphered this so far:

COQ AU VIN DE BOURGOGNE

Yields 8 servings
Preparation time: 72 hours

Ingredients:

1 large (4 kg) cock, cut into 8 pieces

Garnish:

200 grams lardons
200 grams mushrooms (don't know what "de couches" means)
200 grams pearl onions
16 potatoes

Marinade:

1 bottle of red Burgundy wine
1 carrot
1 large onion
6 cloves garlic
thyme and laurel
1 clou de girofle (??no idea what this is??)
10 black peppercorns

For the cooking:

80 ml marc de Bourgogne (or other brandy)
20 grams salt
60 grams flour

Preparation of the marinade:

1. Slice the carrot into rounds. Slice the onion, and mix both with the wine.

2. Add the other ingredients and the cut-up chicken.

3. Leave to marinate for 48 hours (refrigerated, one assumes).

Cooking:

. . . and this is where my rudimentary knowledge of French is inadequate. I know how to cook Coq au Vin, so I can see the basic steps here, but the details are beyond me. I THINK the procedure goes like this:

1. Drain the chicken and vegetables from the marinade (reserving the liquid). Brown the chicken on all sides.

2. Add the flour and cook until the chicken is coated.

3. Simmer a few minutes, and flambe' with the marc.

4. Add the wine from the marinade and the salt. Bring to a boil.

5. Simmer for 3 hours.

6, 7 (these steps I don't understand)

8. Garnish with boiled potatoes (I think that's what "a l'anglaise" means) and sprigs of parsley.

9. Serve very hot.


So for those of you out there who know French--am I on track? What are "clou de girofle"? And what are steps 6-7? And have I missed any details in the cooking process?

I can do a tolerable version of Coq au Vin already (similar to what I've eaten in some bistros in France), but I'd love to be able to make Le Montrachet's version.

-Paul W.

Clou de girofle are cloves, I guess it means one clove.

I think I'd have less trouble with the cooking than I would in finding a 4 kg bird!


Mike

Ok this is what I think they translate to:

6. Remove the pieces of chicken and pour the sauce on them.

I am not sure what "à l'étamine" is supposed to mean in this context...I think it must be a French expression. I didn't know what l'étamine translated as so I looked it up and it means "stamen" like a flower stamen. So the exact translation of #6 is "Remove the pieces of chicken and pass the sauce, to the stamen, over the pieces." I never heard the expression so I am not sure if it means pour the sauce generously or sparingly. Maybe someone can shed some light on that.

7. Brown and cook the carrots and onions, and add them to the chicken and wine sauce.

Again, another rough translation...not sure what "à part" means...and the last part, "la mettre au dernier moment" means "put it to the last moment", I am assuming means add the carrots and onions to the sauce.

Sheesh...my French is really rusty...maybe someone can give a better translation!

Thanks for your help, Maria.

-Paul W.

Thanks Randy! That helps a lot!!

Edited to add: The translations should be:

6. Remove the pieces of chicken, and pass the sauce through a sieve or cheesecloth over the chicken.

7. Brown and cook the carrots and onions, then put them aside until the last moment.

That makes a lot more sense! LOL!

Thanks Randy! That helps a lot!!

7. Brown and cook the carrots and onions, then put them aside until the last moment.

That makes a lot more sense! LOL!

Yes, and that indeed is how they're served in the restaurant--as a garnish on the plate, to one side of the chicken and sauce. The sauce at La Montrachet was much thicker than the sauce comes out when I make Coq au Vin, so I suspect that they reduce it after straining, although that isn't mentioned in the directions.

Thank you all for your help with the translation.

-Paul W.

Most recipes I've seen or used call for a reduction after removing all the ingredients, not necessarily requiring straining.

200 grams mushrooms (don't know what "de couches" means)

Methinks these beasties be "cultivated mushrooms" as opposed to "wild mushrooms." "De couches" most likely means (grown) in layers ... in layers of what I will leave to your imagination.

[Jenise]

Paul, one of my favorite episodes of Julia Child's original program was one where she made Coq au Vin in two electric skillets. It's so unmistakeably of it's era. Anyway, I recall that she sieved the chicken livers into her sauce as both a flavor additive and thickener. Ever done that?

Paul, one of my favorite episodes of Julia Child's original program was one where she made Coq au Vin in two electric skillets. It's so unmistakeably of it's era. Anyway, I recall that she sieved the chicken livers into her sauce as both a flavor additive and thickener. Ever done that?

Not being fond of liver, no, I've never done that!

Julia Child's Coq au Vin recipe from "The Way to Cook" is the one I've been using up to now.

200 grams mushrooms (don't know what "de couches" means)

Methinks these beasties be "cultivated mushrooms" as opposed to "wild mushrooms." "De couches" most likely means (grown) in layers ... in layers of what I will leave to your imagination.

I think you are right. Le Montrachet definitely uses cultivated mushrooms. So "champignons de couches" would be as opposed to "champignons sauvages".

Now I just have to get the opportunity to try this out. I wonder about that 4 kg cock, though. Must be the dead weight of the old bird--completely untrimmed? Even then, that's one big fowl.

Thanks,

-Paul W.