A properly made Coq au Vin is a noble dish indeed. Forget all those bastardised chicken stews you've had in dubious French themed bistros, Coq au Vin (literally "rooster in red wine") is the speciality of the Burgundian region, and needs to be cooked with care, attention, and a bit of love for good measure, too. I've turned to Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking for guidance. If my hovel ever caught fire, and I was allowed to rescue only one book, that would be the one- I've no doubt.
Anyway, back to the Coq au Vin. Cut up some good bacon into lardons (small strips). In a casserole dish, sauté the bacon in hot butter until they are lightly browned, and then set aside. Next, fry a jointed, or cut-up chicken in the butter, until brown, and then season with sea salt and pepper. Return the cooked bacon to the dish, and cook slowly for a further ten minutes with the casserole lid on.
Now it's time to flambé the chicken and bacon in cognac. Pour in a decent glass of cognac, and light it with a match. The fat will mix with the alchohol and ignite.
When the flames have died down, pour in a whole bottle of red wine, ideally a Burgundy like Chambertin, a Beaujolais, or a Cotes du Rhone. Add some brown chicken stock, so that the chicken pieces are well covered, a tablespoon or so of tomato purée, two cloves of crushed garlic, a bayleaf, and some fresh thyme.
Bring to just under the boil, and then simmer gently for a further twenty minutes. Next, add some brown-braised onions, and some sautéed mushrooms. The "brown-braised" onions are just onion slices that you have previously cooked in oil and butter, until they have taken on a slightly caramelised brown colour. The mushrooms, likewise, you have previously sautéed in hot butter, and in small batches- so that they fry, rather than steam.
When the cooking time's up, skim the cooking juices off the fat, and reduce the sauce on a high heat. This will thicken up the sauce. Finally drop in a beurre manie, which is just a roux, or paste, made with butter and flour. Whisk this into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
Take the chicken, bacon, mushrooms, and onion out of the casserole, and arrange them in a dish. Chuck away the bayleaf and the thyme. Push the sauce through a sieve, and then pour it over the chicken. This way, you should end up with a smooth, almost velvety sauce. Finally, garnish the finished dish with chopped parsley.