French chickens taste like
something.
When a Frenchman or woman suggests that
you order chicken or other poultry in France they are doing so for a good
reason. France’s chickens, especially
its Label Rouge, red label, chickens have a taste, “forget about it,” they
taste like something.
Visit the poultry counter in a large
French supermarket and you will be surprised at the choice. A large French supermarket may have ten or
more choices of whole chickens in the freezer section while the fresh section
will include four or more with those varying week by week. In a restaurant, there
may only be two chicken dishes on the menu, but you may be missing out if you
don’t really understand what’s being offered.
Take this post with you and choose a chicken dish you'll never be able
to try at home
The members of the chicken family
not included in this post.
Coqs, Chapons, and Coquelets are all from the male side
of the chicken family and are left for another post. (BTW don’t look for wings on
a Poulain, it’s a foal, a young horse).
The descriptive terms used for a Poulet on
French menus:
Poulet – A
young chicken, male or female, that is going to be on the menu as roast
chicken. Roast chicken is a bistro
staple but chicken in one manner or another is going to be on nearly every
French restaurant’s menu with more recipes, sauces, herbs, and spices
than you probably imagined.
Poulet Fermier – Farm raised chickens. This does not mean chickens that spend the
day running around in the open air.
Unfortunately, their living conditions are not much better than most
battery hens. The requirements for a poulet fermier, a farm-raised chicken is much like
the UK or USA requirements for "free range". French law says that chickens may be called farm-raised as long as they have had access to the open air for about 40 out of 80
days and that there cannot be more than 10.5 chickens per square meter. (What
happens to the half a chicken that doesn’t fit into the square meter is an
unanswered question). These young birds reach the table after six weeks.
Poulet Bio or Poulet Biologique – Organically raised chickens. The requirements for organic, farm raised,
chickens are very strict. Apart from organic vegetable products. Any addition
including vitamins must be at least 95% organic and the birds are raised without the use of antibiotics or growth
hormones etc., These chickens still have cramped living quarters though they access the outdoor from smaller buildings with perches and natural
light, and they reach the market after 12 weeks. In the markets, these birds will have AB on their labels. The government-controlled AB stands for Agriculture Biologique, organic farming and is the
most trusted organic marking.
Poulet Bio
Poulet de Bresse AOP – France’s famous, succulent, white feathered and blue legged Bresse AOP
chickens called the Gauloise a Pattes Bleues These are France’s tastiest, most
famous, and most expensive chickens, with their own AOP label.
These birds are all raised in the old province of Bresse, the area that
today is included in part of the departments of Jura and Saône-et-Loire in the
new super region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté as well as in the department of Ain
in the Auvergne -Rhone-Alps. These birds are a special breed which are 16 weeks
old when they go to market and antibiotic and growth hormone free. The Poulet de
Bresse it's an
expensive treat but you will taste the difference.
Poulet de Bresse
Poulet Label Rouge – Red label chickens. France’s diners
know all about the tasteless factory raised chickens and so some 25% of the
population have chosen to refuse those tasteless birds. The 25% who buy Label Rouge
free-range poultry know they are paying 50% more than the price of the
other poultry in the same supermarket. These birds come from some 30 groups of farmers,
from different parts of France, who raise different breeds of Label Rouge poultry. As soon as the
birds are old enough they spend the whole day outside their 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. Like organically raised birds red label
chickens are free of antibiotics and growth hormones. In the fields or forests, the farmers must have at least 5,000 square meters (6,000 sq yds) of freely accessible
land for every 500 birds they raise. The highest rating, but one, for French
chickens are those that bear the Label Rouge and the AB marking. These birds do not hold their
title by the grace of their name, they, like the Label Rouge Poulet de Bresse
must pass annual organoleptic tests for taste and texture.
Free-range chickens.
www.flickr.com/photos/dionhinchcliffe/43261262455/
Poulet Liberté or Poulet Élevé en Liberté -
Freedom chickens, These are true free-range chickens. We may all want to believe that farm-raised
chickens spend their time clucking around the farmyard though that is not the chosen
lifestyle of even freedom chickens, however tasty they may be. The public
rarely knows what farm-raised means in any country and it is only Poulet
Liberté, Label Rouge, red label chickens
and the Poulet de Bresse AOP that are free range for most of their lives. Two
weeks before being sent to the market they are placed in chicken coups to allow
them to fatten up.
As a child growing up in the North of
England we had about two hundred chickens plus ducks and geese clucking around
their own yards, laying eggs in their own nesting boxes or sometimes wherever
they happened to be at the moment. Despite their freedom 80% of their time
outside was not spent walking around, pecking and clucking, rather they spent
most of the time sitting around in self-created chicken harems of maybe 30 or
40 birds waiting for the most handsome cockerel
who sat on the top of the chicken house in the yard to pay them some
attention. Each chicken house had its own cockerel and harem and woe betide the
chicken that tried to change harems. Our
chickens were raised as egg layers and so it was the young cockerels who were
the candidates for roast chicken.
A Label Rouge, Freedom Chicken.
The best of the very best,
From the department of Landes
in Nouvelle Aquitaine.
Poulet on French
Menus
1/2
Poulet Rôti (Cuisse et Blanc) –
Half a roast chicken, (leg and breast).
Escalope
de Poulet Pannée - A
breaded chicken breast.
Poulet à la Peau
Croustillante – Roast chicken with a crispy skin.
Poulet Basquaise or Poulet à la Basquaise - Chicken in the Basque manner. Basque chicken began, rather obviously, as a culinary specialty in the Pays Basque, the French Basque country that is on the Atlantic coast of southern France in the department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques with the city of Bayonne as its capital. The dish is made by simmering chicken in a piperade sauce made with lightly fried onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, the red peppers of Espelette and olive oil. Piperade sauce is part of many other Basque dishes. Sometimes, like in Poulet Basquaise, the sauce is served with the dish in which it is cooked, while in others it is served on the side. Then, as you travel around France you will find piperades on other menus with changes in the recipe that are made to suit local tastes.
Poulet Basquaise or Poulet à la Basquaise - Chicken in the Basque manner. Basque chicken began, rather obviously, as a culinary specialty in the Pays Basque, the French Basque country that is on the Atlantic coast of southern France in the department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques with the city of Bayonne as its capital. The dish is made by simmering chicken in a piperade sauce made with lightly fried onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, the red peppers of Espelette and olive oil. Piperade sauce is part of many other Basque dishes. Sometimes, like in Poulet Basquaise, the sauce is served with the dish in which it is cooked, while in others it is served on the side. Then, as you travel around France you will find piperades on other menus with changes in the recipe that are made to suit local tastes.
Supreme de poulet
www.flickr.com/photos/leplaza-brussels/11932009806/
Poulet
Landais Label Rouge –
These golden feathered free-range chickens come from the department of Landes
in Nouvelle Aquitaine. Among the
Label Rouge, red label chickens these are the aristocrats. Like all red label chickens and there are 30
different breeds in different French regions they are mostly corn-fed and
free-range for 80% of their lives. They are only placed in holding pens for two weeks
before going to the market when they are fattened up and at least 12 weeks
old. However, the Poulet Landais are let free in the forests
and their farmers have a unique chicken house called a Marensine that they move
every few days as their birds move to find fresh land with the bugs, worms
and more that add tasty natural protein to their diet. Following the birds' travels these
mobile chicken houses keeping the birds safe at
night. All the Label Rouge chicken breeds have unique stories; the French gourmands will have identified their favorites and
know where they are available.
Poulet
Marengo – Chicken Marengo, a chicken
dish with a place in French history. The dish is named after the Battle of
Marengo, Italy, where a young General Napoléon Bonaparte led the French army and
defeated the Austrians who occupied that part of Italy. Napoleon’s cook Dunan had to make a celebratory dinner for his general and staff after the victory and all that could
be found were chickens, freshwater
crayfish, tomatoes, onions, and white wine; the result was a success and the
dish remains on French menus today.
Napoleon wouldn’t have had a problem with wines as the whites from the area today include Asti and Cortese di Gavi and the reds Barbaresco and Barolo.
Whether the story about the origins of this dish are correct or not Napoleon
would certainly have been surprised to see shrimp
Marengo and veal Marengo after his battle.
Poulet Marengo
Poulet Rôti à la
Broche - Spit-roasted chicken.
Spit-roasted chicken.
www.flickr.com/photos/twicepix/2464198420/
Poulet Reine
Poulet Reine – An older, larger chicken, usually over
1.5 kilos (3.3 lbs).
Poularde or Poularde Gras
Poularde or Poularde Gras – A fattened
chicken, either spayed or raised on a very rich diet. When ready for market a
poularde will weigh about two kilos and will be over twelve weeks old.
Poulardes will usually be on the menu
roasted and shouldn’t be described as a young chicken as they are always
significantly older than any other chickens on a menu. Their diet and age give them the
much-appreciated taste, Red label
poulardes are always spayed but other very tasty poulardes, fat, but not
spayed and without a Label Rouge will be on recommended menu listings and in
the markets.
Visiting a farm or looking at chicken
without their clothes on in a supermarket a
Poularde will always its will be a little fatter than a regular chicken.
These birds are full of flavor, though they are not as tender as younger
chickens. Nevertheless, when you want
the tastiest chicken in France and a choice rarely if ever seen on a menu at
home choose a poularde.
The Poularde de Bresse AOC, like the
Poulet de Bresse, have white feathers and blue legs. They are spayed a few days
after birth and raised free of antibiotics and growth hormones. Like the Chapon
(capon) de Bresse, they are the tastiest of all French chickens.
Poulardes on French Menus:
Poularde
de Bresse a la Vapeur de Champagne (1 H de Cuisson) Pour 2 Pers – A whole Poularde de Bresse AOP steamed over
Champagne (for
over one hour) and served for two diners.
Suprême
de Poularde Fermière Farci aux Abricots, Sauce au Foie Gras – Breast of a farm-raised poularde prepared with apricots and
served with a sauce made with fattened duck’s liver.
Cuisse de
Poularde Farcie
Stuffed fattened
chicken leg.
Poule
Poules on
French Menus
Poule à la Broche - A spit-roasted large chicken.
Poule
Rôti - A large roasted chicken.
Poule
au Pot - The dishmade famous by King Henry IV of France
(1553-1610):
King Henry’s famous quote was:
"Je veux qu'il
n'y ait si pauvre paysan en mon royaume qu'il n'ait tous les dimanches sa poule
au pot.”
I
wish, that in my realm, that there will be no peasant so poor that he cannot
have a chicken in his pot every Sunday.”
Poule au Pot
The
traditional recipe for poule au pot is a slowly boiled large chicken cooked
with the vegetables that will be served with it, onions, carrots, leeks and turnips, and
others added along the way. The stuffing is as much a part of this dish and its
tradition as the bird itself and includes diced ham, chicken livers, chicken gizzards
and chicken hearts mixed with breadcrumbs, garlic, and
herbs.
Building on that original quotation many
early twentieth-century politicians made similar promises in their electoral
speeches. The most famous act of
plagiarism was Herbert Hoover in the 1928 USA Presidential elections where he
promised: “A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” Hoover and others
who used similar phrases never acknowledged that they stole the theme from the
French King Henry.
Béarn is today, within the department of
the Pyrenees-Atlantiques in Nouvelle Aquitaine; an area that includes part of
the French Basque country. The City of Pau has been the region’s capital since
the 15th century, and today is their prefecture, their regional capital. Many
of the locals also speak Occitan or Basque in their everyday lives, as well as
French.
Henry IV (1553 – 1610), was King of
Navarre where he was Henry III from 1572 – 1589. Navarre was a separate nation
on both sides of the Pyrenees when he was offered the throne of France in
1589. Then he became Henry IV of France
and joined Navarre to France. Henry married Margaret of Valois, daughter of
Henry II and Catherine de Medici and despite one of his nicknames being Good
King Henry, he was involved in some nasty mass murders. He was also the first member of the House of
Bourbon to sit on the French throne, and then he was assassinated in 1610.
Poussin and Coquelet
Poussin in the Alsace and Coquelet in the rest of France
Coquelets and Poussins - Very young chickens, often translated as spring chickens; they weigh between 400 - 700
grams ( 14 - 25 ounces). That weight includes feathers and all, and so a
poussin (often served for one) may have 100 – 180 grams (4 -6 ounces) of meat. N.B. A poussin, in much of France, means a chick that just hatched and that
will not be on the menu.
Coqueletes and Coqueletes on French menus:
Le
Poussin Entier Rôti, Frites
Et Salade – A
whole roast small spring chicken served with French
fries and a salad. (From a menu-listing in the Alsace region of north-eastern France,
www.flickr.com/photos/55935853@N00/5560981816/
Coquelet Rôti en Crapaudine, Sauce aux Morilles – A roasted, butterflied spring chicken served with a morel
mushroom sauce.
Moving on
Poule de Bois, Maitake – Hen of the woods or Maitake
mushroom. (see the appendix Herbs and
Spices, Mushrooms, and Truffles: Champignons, Poule de Bois).
Hen of the Woods Mushroom.
www.flickr.com/photos/pauljill/45845903162/
Chickens in the languages of France’s
neighbors:
(Catalan – gall), (Dutch -kip), (German -
huhn), (Italian - pollo),
(Spanish - gallo, pollo), (Latin
- gallus gallus domesticus).
My thanks to Michel Mass, who in good humor, has made sure that certain corrections have been included in the text.
-----------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2019.
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--------------------------
Connected posts:
Frites
or Pommes Frites - French Fries in the USA and Chips in the UK. French Fries on
French Menus.
Tomate
– Tomato. France’s Greatest Tomato, the Tomate de Marmande AOC. The Tomato in
French Cuisine.
