Hmm, but what on earth is “Classic Coq au Vin”? Larousse Gastronomic dispatches it in one brief paragraph, Constance Spry doesn’t give it a mention and Hugh FW does it proud, of course. But I, as usual, return to my dog eared French Provincial Cooking held together with an elastic band ( I couldn’t bear a new copy…!). Elisabeth David reiterates fiercely once more that however, apparently, simple this classic is, to get the balance right is a real skill; sauce just the right consistency and chicken perfectly cooked. Maybe this is why it has fallen from grace for too long; just too many nasty stringy chickens in thick pink goo…. But, oh, how delicious it is if you can get the balance right.

Cut a chicken into four pieces. Warm some three quarters of a bottle of red wine in a saucepan together with a crushed garlic clove, a bay leaf and a pinch of dried herbs. Add a little really good chicken stock. In a heavy pan soften some peeled button onions in the fat which gently flows from some chopped streaky bacon. Add the chicken pieces, brown those gently too. Fill a ladle with brandy, set it alight and pour, flaming, over the chicken. Pour the wine and stock over the chicken as the brandy flames die down and simmer gently for about 40 minutes depending on the age of the chicken!. When you are confident the cooking is almost complete add button mushrooms and simmer a further five minutes. Carefully remove chicken, onions, mushrooms onto a large serving dish and keep warm. Thicken the sauce with buerre manie , a tablespoon of flour worked into a desert spoon of flour, then stir gently for a couple of minutes till the sauce is thick and shiny. Serve with salad and fried bread, oh so unfashionable, and oh, so wonderful!

Venison is a very lean meat much in favour again as we become ever more aware of our cholesterol level and fat intake. Now that we can buy the sort of meat that the Goodman’s produce and no longer go into the forest and shoot an animal of uncertain age we can employ modern cooking techniques more in line with our changing taste in food.

But the debate still rages: to marinade or not to marinade? We’ve been eating venison in Europe for hundreds of years. Of course most of the early recipes, by that I mean those of the Middle Ages, deal with salted meats. The old recipes required a bag of oatmeal in the cauldron to absorb the salt or a “frumenty” as an accompaniment. A thick pudding of wheat and almond milk thickened with egg yolks and coloured with saffron is probably not our first choice in the 21st century! Many of us can refrigerate our meat now. What freedom that gives us!

The purpose of the marinade is to moisturise and tenderise the meat, and to a certain extent preserve it for an extra day or two. Some modern chefs cook their venison “like spring lamb, never marinating or slow cooking. This is I believe only possible if you are very sure of the source and the age of the animal. For example it is definitely suitable when cooking Richard and Leslies’ meat.

Elisa Acton, writes in her book of Modern Cookery in1865 that it is as well to cover the meat with flour and water as well as thick paper before cooking. Later books suggest lardons of bacon or pork fat instead. Favourite additions are traditionally juniper berries, redcurrants, rowen berries, rosehips and pears.

“Venison pies look very jolly with red jelly and a sprig of gale ( myrica gale/bog myrtle/sweet gale). Venison takes no longer to cook than other meats but must not be rushed!” So says Dorothy Hartley”
Take a fillet of venison with a boned bird or brace, well floured, some mushrooms and diced bacon. Press all down in a dish and put in the oven dry to cook while a suet crust is prepared. Remove from the oven, cover the meat with stock and the lees of red wine, cover with the paste and bake. “Jolly” little pies!

I leave you to make your own decision about the marinade question. Here are two of my favourite venison recipes.

Marinated Haunch of Venison

Take a haunch of venison weighing about 1.8kg/4lbs. Make up a marinade of oil, white wine vinegar, chopped carrot and onion, a piece of celery. Add a bottle of white wine and a bouquet garni ( Small bunch of herbs which will always include parsley, thyme and bay leaf and any other herbs relevant to the recipe, usually wrapped in a little piece of muslin)

Place the meat in the marinade in the fridge for no more than two days.
Preheat the oven to 230C /450F. Strain off the marinade and set aside. Dry the meat with kitchen paper, lard with 225grams or 8oz of bacon strips, cover with a little oil and roast for one hour. Turn and baste a couple of times during cooking. Reduce the heat to 180C/350F, cook for about 30 more minutes. The time does depend on how rare or well done you like your meat.

Remove the meat from the pan. Deglaze the pan to make the sauce by putting it back on a gentle heat and stirring and scraping as you add the reserved marinade. Simmer the sauce for 8-10 minutes and serve with the sliced meat. Do let the meat rest for at least those 10 minutes while you make the sauce. This will make it much easier to carve. All roasted meat improves with resting. It also gives you time to finish vegetables and enjoy a glass of wine with friends.

Braised Venison

Make up a similar marinade as for Roast Haunch of Venison adding 6-8 crushed juniper berries and a sprig of rosemary, a clove of garlic and some crushed peppercorns. Cut up a kilo/2lbs 4oz of braising venison, place in the marinade in the fridge for no more than two days. When ready to cook strain off the marinade and brown the meat in hot oil in a heavy pan. It’s best to do this in small batches to give the oil time to reheat thus ensuring the meat seals rather than sweats. Remove the meat to a heavy casserole dish with a lid. Fry some sliced onions in the remaining oil. When they are softened and beginning to brown slightly sprinkle with a little flour to take up any remaining oil and stir in some stock and the marinade. Bring to the boil stirring all the time then pour over the meat. Place in a preheated moderate oven and cook for one and a half to two hours. Test the meat with a skewer to make sure it is tender. If the gravy is too thin for your taste thicken with a little beurre manie ( a spoonful of softened butter mixed with a spoonful of flour stirred bit by bit into the hot liquid). You can add vegetables during cooking: carrots, celery mushrooms etc. Add them according to their cooking time so they are not over done when the meat is ready.

Here is a classic Italian dish which is very popular around here!

Melt a little butter in sme oil In a large flat pan or frying pan ( the oil stops the butter burning) and saute a couple of chopped shallots or a small chopped onion, with the chopped giblets from a large free range chicken. Cook for a few minutes until the shallots are soft but not brown. Add a clove of crushed garlic and 400grms of diced potato. and a bulb of fennel, also chopped fine.Saute all together until nearly cooked giving the occasional stir. Allow to cool , add the juice of a lemon and salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste.

Use the mixture to stuff the chicken in the usual way. securing closed with a skewer .

Pour some olive oil over the bird and strew it with plenty of coarse sea salt to make the skin crispy. Place it in a roasting tin in a hot oven and cook for 40 minutes. Meanwhile break up some cloves of garlic until you have about 30 little cloves. *Yes, 30!! Run into your garden or your neighbours and pick a sprig of roemary about 15cm long. Take the bird from the oven, baste well and scatter around the garlic cloves, the rosemary leaves together with a jar of black olives. put the bird back in the oven and finish cooking. You will know when it’s cooked by sticking a scewer into the thigh and seeing the juice run clesr. If it’’s still pink cook a little longer.
When you’re happy the it’s cooked take it from the roasting tin onto a large plate, cover with a piece of foil, keep warm and *rest while you make the gravy.Tip the roasting pan and spoon out most of the fat leaving the meat juices behind. Deglaze the pan with a glass of white wineand a glass of water. Stir and scrape the tin til boiling then strain this simple sauce into a jug.

Cut the chicken into six pieces, eight if the legs are very big. Pile the stuffing , garlic cloves and olives onto the dish and pass it round with the gravy for everyont to help themselves. All you need to go with this is a beautifully dressed crisp green salad.

* Garlic changes it’s flvour according to it’s treatment. Crushed with salt it has that strong pungent smell and flvour, chopped it is milder and roasted whole the cloves are sweet and soft…really yummy!

* Always rest roated meat for at least ten minutes or more after it comes aout of the oven. This allows the juices to settle back into the meat, makes it easier to carve.

3½ lb – 1.72 kg Chicken, jointed into 8 pieces.
2 Large red peppers or 1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper.
1 Very large onion or 2 medium onions.
2 oz – 50g Sundried tomatoes in oil.
2 – 3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
2 Large cloves garlic, chopped.
5 oz – 150g Chorizo sausage, skinned and cut into ½” – 1cm slices.
Brown basmati rice, measured to the 8 fl oz – 225 ml level in a glass-measuring jug.
10 fl oz – 275 ml Chicken stock (made from the giblets).
6 fl oz – 170 ml Dry white wine.
1 Level tablespoon tomato puree.
½ Teaspoon hot paprika.
1 Teaspoon chopped fresh herbs.
2 oz – 50 g Pitted black olives, halved.
½ Large orange, peeled and cut into wedges.
Salt and freshly milled black pepper.

Season the chicken joints with salt and pepper. Next slice the red peppers in half and remove the seeds and pith, then slice each half into six strips. Peel the onion and slice. Drain the dried tomatoes and cut into ½ inch – 1 cm pieces.

Now heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in the casserole and, when it is fairly hot, add the chicken pieces – two or three at a time – and brown them to a nutty golden colour on both sides. As they brown remove them to a plate lined with kitchen paper using a draining spoon. Next add a little more oil to the casserole, with the heat slightly higher than medium. As soon as the oil is hot, add the onion and peppers and allow them to brown a little at the edges, moving them around from time to time, for about 5 minutes.

After that add the garlic, chorizo and dried tomatoes and toss these around for a minute or two until the garlic is pale golden and the chorizo has taken on some colour. Next stir in the rice and, when the grains have a good coating of oil, add the stock, wine, tomato puree and paprika. As soon as everything has reached simmering point, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer. Add a little more seasoning, then place the chicken gently on top of everything (it’s important to keep the rice down in the liquid). Finally sprinkle the herbs over the chicken pieces and scatter the olives and wedges of orange in among them.

Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook over the gentlest possible heat for about 50 minutes – 1 hour or until the rice is cooked but still retains a little bite or cook in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 4, 350ºF (180ºC) for 1 hour.

Everyone’s in a hurry these days. Good old fashioned roast chicken is for high days and holidays when there is time to share with friends and family. But mostly we need something quickly to fuel us for the next busy business…..

4 chicken pieces
streaky bacon or panacetta
new potatoes
2 garlic cloves crushed (optional)
parsley chopped
olive oil & nob of butter

Rub the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and wrap in bacon or panacetta. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy pan that has a lid. Put in the chicken sizzle, turn it over, sizzle. Put the lid on the pan and let the sizzle continue over a low heat for about 40 minutes. Check the chicken and your e-mails.
Once again cut into a piece of chicken to assure yourself it’s cooked and if satisfied remove from the pan and keep warm. Drain off most of the fat (keep for cooking potatoes another day..yum!) add garlic, wine or lemon juice. Give it a good stir, add salt and pepper . Put the chicken on a plate. Pour and scrape the sauce over it all. Add tomatoes and olives, chunks of fresh bread or new potatoes to make truly delicious quick supper!