Of the barbarism just referred to, many Parisian restaurants, I regret
to say, are habitually guilty. One evening, at one of the best of them,
I was simply dumfounded when a choice poularde, which cost as much
as the almost extinct canvasback duck does in New York, was served
with--_horribile dictu_--a sauce made of American canned corn! It was
not an attempt to cater to the supposed taste of a New Yorker, for it
was a _plat du jour_, prepared before we arrived and served to others.
Had I been the host of the occasion instead of merely a guest I should
have taken the head-waiter into a corner and whispered some advice into
his ear.
What aggravated the crime was that it was a poularde de Bresse that was
thus maltreated.
Many varieties of chickens are raised in France--the _poule commune_,
the _race de Houdan_, _race de la Flèche_, _race de Crèvecœur_,
_race de Barbezieux_, _race Caussade_, etc., besides imported
varieties; but the noblest of them all is the _race de la Bresse_.
The poulet de Bresse is the most highly esteemed of all domestic birds
that are served not only at French dinners, but at the best restaurants
and hotels all over Europe. It has a richness of flavor that puts it
far above other fowls--as far as its delicious fragrance puts the
Gravenstein above all other apples.
In France the poule de Bresse has long been held in highest esteem.
Brillat-Savarin wrote in 1825: "as to chickens, the finest are those
from Bresse, which are as round as an apple." English breeders have
recently discovered its superior merits. It promises, the London
"Telegraph" remarks, to "become very popular in the near future, and
deservedly so, considering the breed's laying and table properties,
which have been tested for fully a century across the channel. Bresse
is one of the principal towns in the Aisne district, and the breed
which bears its name was always cultivated for its white flesh, with
delicacy of flavor. Poularde de Bresse usually fetches a higher price
than any other fowl in the Paris market." "It behoves our English
poultry keepers to use every effort to popularize the Bresse fowl in
this country. The specialist club, started some three years since
[1909] has already done much.... Mr. G. H. Caple, of Stanton Prior,
near Bristol, is honorary secretary, and will give all needful
information."
It is to be noted that the Bresse fowl not only "puts on flesh in a
wonderful way," but has all the other qualities most desirable in a
farmyard bird. Several varieties have flesh as juicy as the Bresse,
and almost as delicate in flavor, but there is always some trait or
other that puts them at a disadvantage. The Houdan, for instance, is
a good bird for the table and a fair layer, but it requires too much
attention to be generally profitable. La Flèche provides a tender
morsel but flourishes only in dry regions, and the same is true of
the Crèvecœur class, which is extremely sensitive to humidity. The
Belgian Campine puts on good flesh but not enough of it. The American
Wyandotte and the Leghorn are robust, and good layers, but the flesh is
inferior in flavor. Much better in this respect are the Plymouth Rocks,
but they are poor layers. The Langshans class is good to eat, but does
not fatten easily, while the Cochins grow too slowly and their flesh is
mediocre as to flavor.
The poule de Bresse has none of these flaws. The black variety is the
hardiest of all chickens, flourishing in any climate except the extreme
north, and on any soil, dry or humid. As a layer she is among the very
best, often winning prizes for size and number of eggs. Though prolific
she is not too eager to set, but when she does hatch, she makes a
devoted mother. Best of all, the flesh is tender and juicy, there is
plenty of it, and in flavor it is beyond compare.
Truly, the poule de Bresse is the chicken for the farm and the
market--"c'est la véritable poule de rapport, celle qui convient à la
ferme," as a French noted _aviculteur_ remarks.[9]
To my great surprise, in looking over Farmers' Bulletin No. 51 (1907)
entitled "Standard Varieties of Chickens," I found no mention of the
poule de Bresse in this forty-six-page document, which begins with the
statement that there are 104 standard and a large number of nonstandard
varieties of chickens raised in this country. Can we afford to be so
far behind the French--and the English?
Ungastronomic America confronts us in the statement, in Bulletin 51,
that although as a table fowl the Leghorn is only "fairly good," it
"holds the same place among poultry that the Jersey holds among cattle.
The question of profit in poultry has been decided in favor of the
egg-producing breeds."
In a country in which most poultry is spoiled by being put into cold
storage undrawn, it is no wonder that the laying capacity of a fowl
should alone be deemed worth considering; for, under these conditions,
as previously pointed out, breed and feed are of no consequence so
far as flavor is concerned. But the time is coming when the American
consumer will imperatively demand Flavor in Food; and bountiful
harvests will be reaped by farmers who look ahead now and stock their
poultry yards with an eye to good and abundant flesh as well as good
and abundant eggs. The Bresse race will fill the whole bill. It is best
for eggs, best for the table. A Bresse hen will virtually hatch two
chicks from one egg.