Quote:
Originally Posted by bubbamom  The classic vin for coq au vin is Chambertin, but any good dry red wine will do. |
Actually, the classic wines used are more often determined by region rather than using a particular wine. There are versions that use white wine, where the regional wines are mostly white. Some have argued that a white wine is a better choice for chicken as it does not mask the flavor of the chicken as much as red wine does.
The thing about Coq au Vin is that it's been an evolving recipe for hundreds of years (some say from the time of Caeser (the emperor guy, not the salad guy <LOL>) and that each region, and practically every household in the region, had their own take on the recipe. It was peasant food, and the farmers would make do with what they had on hand. Today Coq au Vin has been lifted from it's peasant roots and made into something more than it was originally, which is not to sat that's a bad thing, just that what it is now is not what it was, for better or worse. Perhaps a really FANTASTIC Coq au Vin might be closer to what it was 125 years ago, and that could be done with the proper fowl and less concern for expediency in the preparation.
Shel