Chicken Merlot

Chicken Merlot over home made roasted wheat pasta

One of the nice things about cooking with aged chickens (spent hens or, really, any chicken that is over a year of age) is that they can stand up to long slow cooking. Just as tough cuts of beef, such as brisket, need to be cooked long and slow, so too do aged birds, especially the wings and drumsticks, which are the toughest part of a tough bird. Because they need this kind of long slow moist cooking, the flavors that develop when cooking a bird like this are simply not possible to obtain with a young bird. The young bird would be mush by the time the flavors have developed properly.

This is a recipe I developed for older chickens and is similar to Coq au Vin.

Ingredients -
Drumsticks and wings from 3 aged hens*
3 large onions
3 large carrots
1 C chopped celery
1 C seasoned flour**
1/4 C butter
Cooking oil (corn, canola, safflower, etc.)
3 C Merlot wine
2 3" sprigs of Rosemary

Method -

• Peel and quarter the onions, then cut into 1/2" slices.
• In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the butter and add the onions. Cook on medium until caramelized, stirring often.
• Peel and quarter the carrots, and layer them and the celery over the onions, once the onions are a deep golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
• In a skillet, heat 1/4 cup of oil on medium high, dredge the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour and frown in batches, layering the browned chicken on the carrots and onions as they come out of the skillet.
• Between batches, skim off as much of the oil as possible and deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of the wine, adding it to the pot too.
• When the last of the chicken comes out of the skillet, skim off all the oil and deglaze the skillet for a final time, adding the liquid to the pot.
• Add the rest of the wine and the rosemary to the pot, cover, and bake at 300° F for 5 hours.

* This recipe is best made with the drumsticks and wings from aged hens (dual purpose hens who have gone through their second laying cycle). Aged roosters can be used, although the skin will be considerably tougher than that of an aged hen. The thighs and drumsticks are the darkest meat on the birds and along with the wings, are also the toughest. And, for this type of recipe tough is a good thing, as the birds need to cook for a long time in order for the flavors to develop properly. It's for this same reason that I don't recommend using the breast meat (neither the major breast meat nor the tenders) as even on an aged hen, those muscles will be too tender to withstand 5 hours in a 300° F oven.

However, if you do use either store bought chicken or home grown meat chickens such as Cornish Cross, Red Rangers, or even young cockerels of dual purpose breeds, reduce the cooking time accordingly. It'll still be good, but it won't be as rich as it would with the longer cooking time.

** Seasoned flour - 1 C white all purpose flour, 1 t salt, plus 1 T each garlic granules, onion granules,  Italian Seasoning, and fresh ground black pepper.

All content of this article including pictures © Joanne Rigutto