Odd question but when buying a whole chicken in the supermarket for roasting what do I look for just a standard everyday chicken thanks all
Depends on your budget!
Generally supermarket chickens are for roasting/casseroling rather than boiler birds (which are the older birds you can get from a butcher).
Label Rouge birds have slightly better welfare standards, and you also find other birds which are local, free range and organic.
The birds that are supposed to be the best tasting are the slightly yellow skinned birds marked “Poulet de Bresse” with black feet. A free range organic one of those will be super expensive!
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Poulet de Bresse, cooked with vin jaune and morilles.
Super luxurious.
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‘Poulet fermier’ is basic entry level free range chicken, so it should have that on the label, if that’s not stated, assume it’s a battery chicken. As others have already noted , above poulet fermier, there’s all sorts of variations depending on your budget.
Alternatively, unless you want very small 1kg bird, go to a local market and buy a poulet fermier direct from a producteur. it’ll probabaly cost a bit more- c.€9 a kilo around us, but will probably have been raised more slowly be a bit older and more flavoursome. For me at least, it’s a far more socially satisfying form of transaction and you’ll get lots of extra bits for stock afterwards.
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These are the types of acceptable chicken:
“En volailles de chair, le terme « fermier » est réservé (définition dans le règlement CE européen n°1538-91et dans le code rural français depuis janvier 2001) aux volailles élevées en plein air et élevées en liberté sous Label Rouge, biologiques ou AOC, à l’exception des volailles issues de production de petite taille et à vente directe ou locale (50 volailles par jour).
Toutes les volailles Label Rouge sont fermières. Toutes les volailles fermières sont soit Label Rouge, soit biologiques, soit AOC, soit issues de production de petite taille.”
thank you all
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Bon appetit, whatever you decided to buy!
Merci will let you know how we get on
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I went off those when I learned they are confined to a crate for the last two weeks of their lives.
I agree that’s unpleasant, and would probably put me off even if the price hadn’t already dine so! Trouble is that when we go past the farms the hens seem to have a lot of room outdoors so never look crowded.
The last time I bought a label rouge chicken it was as tough as old boots, and very scrawny.
Yes, they have a great life and their farmers look after them as a very valuable asset. And, to be honest, I don’t know that the chickens would be distressed by being in a crate.
There’s a local duck farm that I first saw while hiking on a cold rainy day in the Cantal. All the ducks were huddled closely together in a huge marquee type structure. Later did the same route in mid-summer and this time the ducks were outside the tent in a huge field - all huddled together…
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Well if I was a farmed duck I’d try to hide!
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Safety in numbers?
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