Easy Coq au Vin [Chicken Cooked in Wine] with Instant Pot option - Cook Fearless from Kathleen Flinn (2024)

FAQs

Does wine cook off in an instant pot? ›

The tannins will become more concentrated in the heat and pressure and the final dish could end up tasting unpleasantly astringent. A fruitier red wine, such as a Merlot or Zinfandel, will work best. And if you are concerned that the alcohol will not “cook off” or evaporate in the Instant Pot, you are correct.

The traditional recipe involves preparing this dish with red wine (even though variants using white wine and yellow wine exist). So aim for a lively red wine with silky tannins and spicy hints, such as a full-bodied Beaujolais or a southern wine from Provence or Languedoc.

For example, when making a roast or beef stew I find that it works great to brown the meat, then remove it and add onions, garlic, and herbs and sauté them for a few minutes, then add the wine and use it to deglaze the pan before adding the broth and other ingredients and pressure cooking it.

Alcohol-Free Coq au Vin: Create a tasty and satisfying dish similar to Coq au Vin without using wine. Substitute with grape juice or cranberry juice and add a splash of balsamic vinegar for acidity. Chicken or beef broth are also effective liquid alternatives.

Sorry to spoil the party, but here's the real deal: Simply heating alcohol, or any other cooking liquid, does not make it evaporate as quickly as a child's allowance in a candy store. The longer you cook, the more alcohol cooks out, but you have to cook food for about 3 hours to fully erase all traces of alcohol.

“The researchers found that having a lid on the pot for broths actually increased the evaporation. You'll have less residual ethanol in your dish when you cook with an alcoholic beverage in a pot with a lid, as opposed to the same pot without a lid.

While you should still take basic precautions when pressure cooking with wine and beer (which I detail in this post) there is no historical precedent of pressure cooking liquor – and there is credible first-person evidence that it is not safe. Don't do it.

Wine should be used in the early stages of cooking so it has time to evaporate. Don't make the mistake of adding it too late in the recipe, as can taste unpleasantly overpowering. If you forget to put it in, the best thing to do is reduce it in a separate pan, then add the reduction to your dish.

Avoid the stuff labeled "cooking wine"

Abide by this rule of thumb: Cook only with wine that you'd drink.

If your Coq au Vin tastes bitter, it could be due to over-reducing the wine or burning the garlic. Ensure you're using good quality wine and adjust the cooking time and temperature accordingly to prevent bitterness.

What is coq au vin called in English? ›

Chicken and red wine marinade

Chicken pieces – Coq au Vin literally means “rooster in wine”. Once upon a time older male chickens may have been the bird of choice for this traditional dish.

Use 1 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp butter to start and whisk it in bit by bit, then make more if you need to. Make sure you boil the liquid for a couple of minutes to cook out any raw flour. Use this method in our coq au vin recipe.

In general, you can keep opened wine for cooking for about two months. But you have to store the opened bottles of wine in the fridge, to make them last that long.

Raw alcohol will evaporate at 78 C, importantly even with conventional cooking techniques, not all the alcohol will burn off. When using a slow cooker the internal temperature may only just get to this important temperature, and because of the lid any alcohol that does evaporate will return back into the cooker.

It usually takes around 2 to 3 hours for the alcohol to evaporate completely when added to a dish that is cooking on a low heat. When cooking at high heat, e.g. frying or sautéing, it can take as little as 30 seconds for the alcohol to evaporate.

A stew containing wine, simmered at 185 degrees for 10 minutes: As much as 60 percent of the initial alcohol remained. A stew containing wine, simmered at 185 degrees for 2½ hours: About 6 percent of the initial alcohol remained.