Coq au vin à la bourguinonne

Cut the chicken in 8 pieces in the French way. Place the pieces on a plate with the organs (except the liver) and season with salt and freshly grinded pepper.

Cut the bacon into small strips. Place in a cooking pan with as much cold water until each piece is covered. Cook for 5 min. Drain and dry.

Melt the butter in an oven plate or earthenware pan and bake bacon and onions in it. When brown, drain and place aside on another a plate. Clean the champignons by washing quickly (if they are very large, cut into 4 pieces). Place these in the oven plate and bake. When done, place on the plate together with the bacon. In the same melted butter and pan, stew the pieces of chicken, sprinkle with flour and mix. Bake in the oven without lid until light-brown. After 5 minutes, add pressed out garlic. Mix for 1 minute and then add Bourgogne wine. Allow to boil while stirring. Then, add the herb-bouquet, onions, bacon and champignons. Add as much stock or water until everything is covered. Place the lid on the earthenware pan and bake and simmer for 45 minutes in an oven which is not too hot.

Take the earthenware pan out of the oven and place the chicken and garnish in a bowl. Sieve the sauce over. If the sauce is not boiled sufficiently during simmering, it should be done quickly before pouring it over the chicken. When the sauce is sieved over the chicken, place the sauce and chicken in a clean earthenware pan. Bring to the boil, and season with salt and pepper.

Binding. Divide the liver in large cubes, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and bake quickly in a pan with a bit of butter. Push it all through a fine sieve with a pestle or wooden spoon. Mix this liver puree with the chicken blood (if you do not have chicken blood, use chicken stock with a thickener such as potato starch) and add cognac. Remove the pan with chicken from the heat so that it doesn't boil anymore. Pour a dash of the hot sauce in the bowl with blood and whisk immediately. Then, pour everything into the earthenware pan with chicken and stir so that the sauce binds together without actually heating it. The blood and liver come close to the boiling point due to the concentrated heat in the pan.

If necessary, add some salt and pepper. Scoop everything in a deep saucer and serve the chicken in the earthenware pan (this is very important so that the chicken remains warm). The binding sauce must be smooth. The chicken can be served with pieces of bread, which are baked in butter arranged around the chicken. Or, you can choose to roast the pieces of bread, with one side covered with cut parsley.