Coq au Vin

This New Year’s Eve, Dan and I decided to forego eating out and try our hand at making Coq au Vin and chocolate truffles. Much to our surprise, it turned out perfectly and we actually had a lot of fun making it together! About halfway through Ina’s Coq au Vin recipe, and after a couple glasses of champagne, it was time to burn off the alcohol from the cognac—this was by far our favorite part. Neither of us had every set fire to our food on purpose before (even though we have a kitchen torch that is almost out of gas because Dan likes to turn it on for fun). I wish we had captured our own faces while the pot was on fire-I’m sure our expressions were priceless. Overall, the recipe was simple and the result was better than we expected; I’m sure we will make it again just to smell the bacon-garlic-cognac-wine combination; it’s heavenly! I would recommend letting the Coq au Vin simmer as long as possible over med-high heat; the time stated in the recipe wasn't enough time for all the liquid to evaporate.