Poor Man's Coq au Vin

I've always felt a bit inherently French. Everyone has funny high school phases (and frankly, I could write a book on funny high school phases) but my longest and most pervasive was my obsession with all things francophiliac. I took French every semester of highschool, joined the French Club and sang loudly along with Edith Piaf records. As a surprise my mother once decorated my hall bathroom in framed pictures of the Moulin Rouge, French-inspired counter accessories and the most beautiful miniature crystal chandelier. (That's a gem of a mother right there.)

My mild obsession has simmered down somewhat to a strong infatuation, but it's no surprise that so much of my cooking style is French inspired. Wine sauces and cream sauces are the base of what I love, what I crave, what I do, and what better armor is there against the cold weather than a steaming bowl of coq au vin?

I've written before about spendthrift culinary pursuits, and it's a necessary part of my college lifestyle. This tends to get in the way of cooking traditional French food. Complicated techniques requiring lots of equipment, uncommon ingredients. I like this kind of challenge, though, and have adapted a traditional coq au vin to be a little simpler and using MUCH less expensive ingredients by applying the same concepts with related ingredients.

Traditionally, coq au vin is made by searing whole skinless chicken pieces in rendered lardon fat, followed by a deglaze in red wine and a slow braise with pearl onions and other vegetables. Lardons can be pricey, and I don't tend to have them just lying around. I use a spoonful of bacon grease saved in the refrigerator to impart the same flavor as the lardons. Of course, if you have yet to embrace the awesomeness of saving leftover bacon grease to add deliciousness to later dishes, you could always just fry three or four strips of bacon in the bottom of whatever pot or dutch oven you'll be using to sear the chicken, then have the bacon as an appetizer!

Secondly: JUST USE REGULAR ONIONS. Pearl onions have never once crossed my mind while grocery shopping. Literally never. Roughly chop a medium onion as a substitute. It will taste just as good. And finally, while whole chickens are not terribly expensive, I don't care to butcher one myself and so I buy a pack of chicken thighs instead. They are incredibly affordable and dark meat offers so much flavor and tenderness that just doesn't come with breast meat.

There is the old adage that you should never cook with wine that you wouldn't drink on its own. This is particularly true in this recipe- because you only need about 3/4 of a cup of wine, and you'll want to drink the rest with dinner.