Dear 28,
I don't know how to say "Coq Au Vin" out loud. I bet you are trying to right now. Qu'il est difficile de dire. And even though Tom has repeated it about 16 times to me, I still sound ridiculous.  Co uh wha? Coke oh van? Really? 4 years of high school French class paid off big time. I can sing a song about strawberries (J'aime les fraises) and understand a little bit of French movies without reading the subtitles. Thank you Miss Sorden.

Photo credit goes to Fawn + Sara.

Tom tells me French food takes time, the finest ingredients, and patience. Ina Garten tells me it's just like Beef something or another, but with chicken. Local foodie, and cookbook author, and friend of Tom's, Miss Moranville writes a whole book about French cooking and gave us her blessing on the shortened Coq recipe. But  Sarah tells me I'm cheating by both using le poulet (instead of coq) and cooking up the impossible-to-pronounce-naturally recipe in one night rather than the French Master Julia's way-- over two frickin days, deux jours. I decided to use the Barefoot Contessa's recipe for several reasons. 1. This recipe is doable in one night. 2. Barefoot Contessa's book has really pretty pictures. 3. Tom said it was a good idea.
CoqAuVinture night was a lot of work (and there was beaucoup de vin). Les carottes, les oignons, beaucoup de vin, lard de fantaisie. That's basically coq au vin in French. There's a lot of browning of chicken (like a lot of it). And the bacon-- don't be all skimpy on that. Tom says to go for REALLY fancy bacon. And the wonderful Abbe picked out a special bottle of vin for the recipe. (While you're looking at the Gateway site, click on the "meat/seafood" tab. You'll recognize a meat buyer.) You don't really want to skimp on that either. She picked out one that had a stamp on it-- HOW APPROPRIATE!
After the bacon cooking, the chicken browning (go for the golden+tan-ish color), and being super patient (obviously this was the hardest part of the whole recipe for me), you add the veggies and wine and herbs and chicken stock and probably other ingredients I forgot about. Then there's the time you get to light the pot of delicious food on fire. That was fun.

oh. that smells delicious. especially after adding booze and lighting it on fire. Overall the dish turned out to be flavorful, oh-so French and far simpler than I thought, but it does take a while. The final meal earned a highfive. (as pictured below)  Someday I'll try it Sarah's way (only if she does the first day of cooking. read that Sarah. And let's make that happen. coq au vin- off can still occur) And I would definitely make the Contessa's recipe again. Thanks Tom and Sara and Fawn for sharing the French feast with me (and putting it all together). Vous êtes la plus grande compagnie. Also. This post taught me how to type accents. SO much learning in French cooking! What a CoqAuVinture. xo-LP