French poultry

Label Rouge logo

There are some 30 groups of farmers, from different parts of France, who raise Label Rouge poultry. These farmers co-operate to keep their brand and their unique and very tasty birds in the public eye and on the table. As soon as the birds are old enough they spend the whole day outside the poultry house in forests and/or pastures as free-range birds, except for a two-week period when they are allowed to be caged and fattened before going to market. When outside in the fields or forests these birds have at least 5,000 square meters for no more than 500 birds. Included in the Label Rouge regulations are the instructions on how the birds are cared for and, at the end there also is a taste test. These are different breeds of chickens to those raised in factory farms and they take twice as long to grow before they are sold. Most of the farms allow the public to visit. Label Rouge poultry are really free-range poultry.

AOP

There is one chicken, one capon and one turkey that have reached higher standards than those offered by Label Rouge, these are the Volaille de Bress AOP, the poultry from Bresse AOP. These are most famous, tastiest, and expensive poultry that may be found in a French butchers shop or on a French menu.

4 Types of Bresse Poultry

All four types of Bresse Poultry have unique marks of nobility. To guarantee their origin, they wear a ring with the name of the breeder, a seal, and a label. They are all fed with a diet consisting of cereals and milk (skimmed, buttermilk, etc.).

The Bresse Chicken (Le Poulet de Bresse) is the most famous by far. Firm and flavourful, it is bred for 4 months in a meadow. Part of the Gauloise Blanche de Bresse, it can either be male of female and weighs at least 1.3 kg. Once you tried it, you will want more!

The Bresse Poulard (poulard: a young hen that has been spayed for fattening) (La Poularde de Bresse) is bred for 5 months. It is more plump – at least 1.8 kg – but equally flavourful to the Bresse Chicken. The Poulard has a tender and juicy meat, and a thin and pearly white skin. The Bresse Poulard is not to be missed!

The Bresse Turkey (La Dinde de Bresse) is accurately called the black pearl of Bresse. Reaching maturity in December, it is a dish of choice for big meals at Christmas time. It weighs at least 3 kg after 7 months of breeding in the Bresse meadows. The Bresse Turkey gained the AOC in 1976.

The Bresse Capon (capon: a castrated domestic cock fattened for eating) (Le Chapon de Bresse) is simply exquisite! That is because it needs 8 months in the green meadows to grow and to become the beautiful bird it is. Most importantly, the fattening period lasts 4 weeks. It is during this period that it acquires the tenderness of its meat. It weighs at least 3 kg.

http://behind-the-french-menu.blogspot.sg/2014/06/the-tastiest-chickens-and-poultry-on.html

http://www.pouletdebresse.fr/bresse-chicken-cleaned-poultry-recipe-aoc-aop-poulard/?lang=en