Garlic mashed potatoes

Yeah, I make oldies occasionally. Coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, cassoulet. :) Traditionally, toast points. I think mashed potatoes would gum up the sauce, Little new potatoes would be better, IMHO. Other root veg also go well. And broccoli, believe it or not, or geen beans. And It's great left over as well. ;)

New potatoes with parsley if I'm in the mood to fiddle. Most of the time I toss potatoes and other root vegetables in a little olive oil and roast them on a sheet pan.

All the time. Most commonly it's served with wide noodles. Rice is never very pleasant with a sauce like that. As said above, new potatoes are lovely with it, or very crispy roast. Wonderful dish!

Plllog, toast points are a rarity in France. You need square bread LOL

IC, I stand corrected. In France, do they use the whole slice? Cut into smaller squares? Crust on or off? Thickness? Just to know...

For me, the hardest part is finding a wine which is un-costly enough to devote to sauce, but good enough to reduce well. ;)

I thought Pain de Mie was French, but I guess it is not. I frequently make this bread for sandwiches, but it could also be used for toast points.

I do love coq au vin and beef bourguignon with mashed potatoes. Also agree just good bread and salad is nice.

Pain de Mie is French but it’s not served simply as bread. It’s either toasted or used as an ingredient. Bread with a meal would normally be baguette, or occasionally some sort of rolls.

I’ve successfully Googled ‘toast points’ but what are ‘oldies’?

I fix it occasionally and prefer it with a crusty, rustic bread and a fresh green salad. Same with beef bourguingnon. No noodles, no rice, no potatoes.....just bread to sop up the juices :-)

Floral I believe oldies mean a dish or perhaps a meal which is no longer served as frequently but is traditional hence older an oldie.

haricots verts

I serve a salad and mashed potatoes with coq au vin.

I also would choose a wide noodle like pappardelle, first choice, them maybe an egg pasta....or small creamer potatoes roasted separate with some other veg on hand....third choice, ?, low carb?, some roasted cauliflower, mixed veg.

Up there would be a fresh baguette, torn, not toasted. Maybe that is the best?

I usually have to decide what I have on hand at the moment....

I made a meal after a long drive home from a recent vacation...but it went quick...feta. olives, cherry toms, (forgot the quartered artichoke hearts, and lemon halved and quartered in the roast)...

Not sure why but I want, sometimes, a specific noodle or texture with a certain baked sauce dish.

This classic Greek dish...often an appetizer, is served with bread.

Lars, Pain de mie IS french but it's a bit sweet and is only really eaten for breakfast. You wouldn't serve it in place of a baguette or a good pain de campagne for example.

Bread is sacred here.

Pain de mie isn't really considered to be bread. It's used for bad industrial sandwiches or fed to small children lol

Salad is never served with a meal as it's eaten after, most often with the cheese.

Here, they have things they call "toasts" but it's something to eat with an apéritif and isn't toast at all as we know it. It's either a slice of bread with something nice on it or on dried toasted bread. Or, more in the north, grilled cheese.

Americans eat a green salad either first, or as a side to the main, and rarely have a cheese course. The current word in wide use for the fancy toasts is crostini, unless it's hipster stuff made on a larger slice (batard rather than bagette) and usually vegan, like a salad. Avocado toast is most common, and usually decorated with stuff like pomegranate seeds, radish slices, pickled mustard, edible flowers, chiffonades of whatever, and the general appearance of mixed shape confetti on a 1970's carpet. They're appealing, even so, and taste good. Some might be built on hummus or nut butter or tapenade or red pepper spread. I don't think any would go well with coq au vin, even as a starter, however.

The only thing I ever had "toast points" for was creamed chipped beef on toast. But I did love it as a kid when my mom would butter my toast, put some cinnamon sugar on it and cut it into "toast points." On the other hand, bread dough corralled into a pan de mie I have often seen used as a snack or appetizer, but in a square shape, made into mini sandwiches with elegant spreadable fillings. Either toasted or I like the rye version. Larger pieces could be cut into triangles or smaller squares. Uniformity of crust is the main reason for making that kind of bread no? And I think, the home made version of "melba toast" could be made with bread like that. I don't know, I've never made it but I do have a pan de mie baking dish if I ever want to try it . . . I would say that either square or triangle cut would be purely a matter of personal preference. I'd hardly serve it with saucy meat dish, since it would defeat the purpose of a really toasted dry bread. Seems like for a saucy dish you'd want some kind of "spongy" bread like an artisnal sourdough or other robust yet holey bread . . . I have occasionally seen toast points served alongside lobster or crab in creamy sauces, but again, just personal preference. Well toasted bread of any kind would work.

I had a friend who studied cooking in France, not haute cuisine but family cooking (I can’t remember the French term for the style she studied - cuisine en famille, maybe?). Once a year, she would make coq au vin and invite a group of friends for dinner. She always served the coq au vin over rice with broccoli as the side dish. Hers was my first encounter with coq au vin, so I’ve always thought it was served over rice.

I am going to be the oddball here and say that I serve it with angel hair pasta and a salad.

LPink. Toasted, bread can easily soak up a sauce. As is, plain, it dissolves faster.

I understand that P, but why take a bread that is delicate and soft, toast it to make it crispy and crunchy, and then put it in a sauce to make it soft again. . . just seems redundant to me. I suppose if i didn't have any other bread I might do it, but I keep hefty artisan bread around for just these types of meals, loaf of bread, jug of wine and thou kinds of meals . . . Cream sauces seem to soak in less, in my experience, but depends on how long you let them sit. I also make a dish called "Vegetable Bread Stew from Mallorca" or "Sopas Mallorquinas" that I got a recipe for from our late great Canary Island cook, photographer, musician and writer Sharon Russel/Canarybird. That uses stale country bread, but you can toast it to make it more dried out if it isn't naturally. I would not use a delicate pain de mie type of bread in that, just wouldn't hold up . . . but then again, if I had a bunch left over . . . I use any old type of bread for strata or pudding, although I still like the chewy styles better. My husband hates bread with chewy crusts though, so there you have it, different strokes for different folks.

Agreed! I thought you were talking about the toast points, not the pain de mie.

Surely the point of a toast point is to spread something on it. There's nothing spready about Coq au vin. In traditional english cooking, a roasted partridge or quail could be served on a round of toast. I remember my Mum doing that.

It's just seasoned toast. And often served, at least in the past, with saucy dishes. In the USA, you‘re more likely to be served garlic toast (In general—coq au vin isn't common) Same idea.

Traditionally, coq au vin - just a chicken stew cooked with wine - is served with a crusty bread for sopping up the gravy. You do not need fancy toast points or even garlic bread - a fresh baguette will do perfectly well. Just the same as you would with beef bourguignon.

Gardengal, I would't say it's just a chicken stew..... much more elaborate and it's cockerel, red wine, lardons, cognac, mushrooms,

Noodles, potatoes or salad. Ah. I'd forgotten about this thread. I'm enjoying the answers.

:)

Elaborate or not - and to me it is not; just a few fancy ingredients - it is still a chicken stew! btw, you would have to hunt high and low for a cockerel around these parts!! They are just not marketed for sale here. It would be a typical frying chicken being used.

Really? I find capon in the boring chain grocery here in podunk Nashville. Hm.

I use thighs exclusively in my coq au vin.

Mom used to make Hen au Vin when we were kids. Older layers that it came time for culling, there were a few every year for a while to stock up the freezer till next round. Best chicken in wine sauce, even if it wasn't the rooster. Most commercial retired layers get composted or made into pet food now and I think it's a shame. Older chickens can be very good eating.

White or brown rice was usual, sometimes bread stuffing or mashed potatoes. Mushrooms, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes or winter squash, asparagus, broccoli, caulifower... or on a special treat, a head of both broccoli and cauliflower served up with a cheese sauce and a creamy dilly sauce in boats on the table. Depended on the time of year what sides might get served up. There were almost always salads of various greens, and a bit of a bread basket to sop up what might be left on the plate.

Wasn't unusual for mom to take the leftovers (sans sauce boats) and make it all into a soup, pot pie, or stir fry or two. Depended on the leftovers.

I make a few favorites I consider 'classics' from MarcellaHazan, Julia, the SilverPalate...and do not use red wine with chicken ever. White wine only. I just avoid calling it by a 'traditional' name to avoid the 'recipe police'. 🙄

Pre covid I had a mom and pop beverage store packed to the rafters, narrow isles, with all things liquor and the mini 'airline' bottles of many. I used to purchase a dozen for the spice cabinet every holiday. We don't have a booze cabinet. It was so nice to have a variety of minis for cooking and guests we could offer a favorite cocktail if asked.

That store has had lines out the door for a year. And still, last I passed by.

I think it is fine to use any starch that is in the pantry and sounds good. No rules. I just try and stock choices so I can decide at the moment. During covid, who cares. Many new/learning cooking experiences last year! We were very creative.

I am simply going to have to attempt to make this dish. Not certain what starch I will use... the linked article mentions farro as one of many possible ideas, and I really like that thought. I admit I'm not certain what a toast "point" is, yet... but will look it up. I'll also have to find out how long to cook a coq that really is a rooster....

Answers, apparently 3-4 hours via one recipe, or a very long time - could be slow cooked most of a day after a day or two of marinating, according to another. I have a rooster " volunteer " who will do the honors. Too many roosters to the number of hens doesn't make life pleasant for the ladies, even if the roosters aren't fighting.

Toast points sound interesting, but I'd make them with some other dish. If I make coq au vin, I think I will go with my instinct of farro.

My other options are Rooster Corfu, a Greek recipe that I know works, or attempting sous vide again.

Sous vide would work very well with coq au vin.

I too miss the old big roasters. My grandmother would make and serve them on Sundays.