Preheat the oven to 325 F.

An hour before cooking, take the chicken from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature.

If possible, season the chicken with one teaspoon salt, 2 days to 1 hour ahead of cooking. If not possible, salt and pepper the chicken when you cook it.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and brown the chicken. Begin with the skin side down, about four minutes, then flip. The skinless side will need just a couple minutes. This is not the time to check text messages.

Have a 3 1/2 or 4 quart heavy casserole beside you on the stove. Pour a little olive oil into the casserole and turn the burner to the lowest heat.

While you can brown the chicken in the casserole, I’ve had problems with enameled cast iron surfaces scratching when browning and scraping up drippings. I feel more confident working with stainless skillets and transferring the chicken to the casserole.

Brown the chicken in the skillet without crowding. If anything burns, remove it from the skillet (another good reason to work here instead of in your nice expensive casserole). Transfer chicken to the casserole as it browns.

If you are using the Armagnac, add it to the pan now and ignite with a long match. Please do not set yourself or anything besides the Armagnac aflame. While it burns, call your significant other and tell him/her how much fun you’re having flaming French brandy. If you are single, pretend you’re Beavis (or was it Butthead?) and exclaim fire! fire! while your cat gives you the “humans are crazy” look.

Once the flames have died down, resume adult behavior. Add the bacon, onion, and garlic to the pan, and give everything a stir. Add the white wine or Vermouth, turn up the heat, and cook until the wine evaporates.

Now add the tomato sauce, chicken stock, half the parsley, the bay leaf, thyme, and cayenne. Let it all find itself for a moment, and then tip it–carefully, please–into the casserole.

Place a lid on the casserole. Lacking a lid, cover it with foil, tuck it into the oven, and go about your business for the next hour.

Once the hour is up, remove the lid from the casserole and add the olives. The chicken should need about 20 more minutes, but check. It’s done when cooked through completely–no pink– and pulls easily from bone with a fork.

Note: I am married to a person who is not fond of onion, and must cook accordingly. Feel free to increase the amount of onion in this recipe to 1/2 cup, chopped.

Add the rest of the parsley. Eat with lots of bread to sop up the juices.