1st timer with a stupid question

[Clean-cut cowboy]

I am sure I not the first to think of this and there is probably an obvious reason I am missing but here it goes. I have some Breese and Buckeyes, Jersey giants, and a turkey that I am getting ready to start finishing. I have read a lot on how the Breese should be finished with grain or corn soaked in milk, as that is what makes the difference apparently (please!! if this is just a myth let me know) but if that really makes the difference why not finish all chickens and turkeys that way? Assuming that I have the extra milk and cost would be minimal. Like I said I feel like I am missing something obvious but thought worth a question posted here.
Thank you everyone!!

 

[Auntiejessi3]

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll give my opinions. We all have our own preferences. Some people want light meat, others prefer dark. Some like fried chicken, some prefer grilled or baked. We may have a preference for a certain texture or flavor. Our personal preferences play a part in this.

Some of us have more delicate senses than others. My sister-in-law can replicate a sauce she gets in a restaurant. She can come up with ingredients, proportions, and preparation methods by taste, smell, and appearance. I would not have a prayer doing that. Some of us may be more sensitive than others in taste, texture, etc. If I can't tell the difference it won't matter to me but it may matter a lot to someone else.

Some people like to be trendy. Influencers strongly influence them. "Oh, that style is so last week. This is what you have to do this week or you are out of date". Right now olive colored eggs seem to be trendy. Next year it might be mint green. Who knows. Many decades ago a Home Ec teacher told my wife that the secret to a good pie is a flaky crust. To this day she worries more about the crust being flaky than about the filling.

if that really makes the difference why not finish all chickens and turkeys that way?

My suggestion to something like this is to try it yourself and see if it makes a difference to you. It doesn't matter what I think about it, it's what you think about it that matters to you. I don't know if it will make any difference to you or not or if the effort is worth it to you.

I have not raised Bresse, some people on this forum do. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but one reason you are supposed to use Bresse is they have a different texture than other breeds. On my opinion the age you butcher them and the sex has a lot of influence on the texture you get but the Bresse are supposed to be finer textured than other breeds.

 

[Geena]

Also a large part of the way the french finish Bresse is to put them in little cages, similar to what is used for commercial laying hens. The inability to move around very much during the finishing stage greatly contributes to the tenderness of the meat.
Personally I wouldn't bother feeding them anything special, but I prefer home grown chicken specifically because it does have more texture and flavor.

 

[gooseapplefarms]

I watched a few youtube videos about these Bresse chickens after I read this post. So far nobody has done a side-by-side comparison of Bresse raised the french way vs some other way.
The culinary properties sound a little over hyped to me. I read one source online that these chickens allegedly have some different type of metabolism which allows them to process foods differently, resulting in a 'marbled' meat. Working under this assumption, finishing these chickens would lead to marbled meat rather than just cavity fat in a typical bird. Is this all real? I have no idea.
Anyway, I think if you're going to go through the trouble of raising these exclusive birds, you should do a few the french way and a few the standard way and see if it makes a difference.

 

[FunClucks]

X2 vote for finishing them both ways and then letting us know how it goes. I'm super curious!

 

[CNJ]

I don't think milk will make a big difference. If you want tender chicken you need to process them at 3 months old. My Breese crossed with Cornish X is superior to a standard Breese in my opinion because I get 4lbs dress weight from 3 month old cockerels where as it takes a standard Breese rooster 4 to 5 months to reach that weight dressed. However, I process my hens at 4 months and they are still tender. I think the Rooster's testosterone affects the quality of the meat, so they need to be processed early.

 

[Clean-cut cowboy]

Thank you everyone. I only have 4 breese I am thinking I may just finish everyone a milk mix and see if it adds too much fat to the jg or buckeye. I will let you know how it goes.