Bresse Chickens

[BCMaraniac]

I thought they were to be air chilled rather than water chilled?

I think the air chilling is part of what is required for the official French certification.

 

[drlcb]

I didn't use milk or even come close to finishing the birds in the traditional French way.
If I had a cheap source of dairy I would use it... I did give them a generous helping of home made Greek yogurt weekly.
The birds are definitely different.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I roasted my 21 week old American WB tonight. He was delicious! I didn't finish him out at all, because he was picking on the other capons, and I finally just said, "Enough already."

I didn't do anything any differently than any other chicken I roast....except for the oven time. I just wanted to compare it to other roasted chicken I have raised and roasted: CX and Red Rangers.

The breast was smaller, of course, but there was nice meaty legs. The tenderloin was like butter! The remainder of the breast had texture, but was not tough....and was soooo juicy. The flavor was outstanding! He weighed 4 1/2 pounds, which I thought was a pretty decent for age and lack of finish.

I was very pleased with this bird, and I look forward to begining my breeding next year. I am also looking forward to finishing out the two Am WB full capons that I am growing out now.

 

[chiqita]

I roasted my 21 week old American WB tonight. He was delicious! I didn't finish him out at all, because he was picking on the other capons, and I finally just said, "Enough already."

I didn't do anything any differently than any other chicken I roast....except for the oven time. I just wanted to compare it to other roasted chicken I have raised and roasted: CX and Red Rangers.

The breast was smaller, of course, but there was nice meaty legs. The tenderloin was like butter! The remainder of the breast had texture, but was not tough....and was soooo juicy. The flavor was outstanding! He weighed 4 1/2 pounds, which I thought was a pretty decent for age and lack of finish.

I was very pleased with this bird, and I look forward to begining my breeding next year. I am also looking forward to finishing out the two Am WB full capons that I am growing out now.

what did you think of the skin? Im curious!

 

[BCMaraniac]

what did you think of the skin? Im curious!

It was pretty crisp over the breast(I brushed melted butter on it a couple of times while it was in the oven), but there were some places that were thicker than other, and a bit chewy, but the dog didn't mind Flavor was good though. I will admit that some of the skin I ate, and some I did not....I roasted it without a cover, so that could contribute to it, I suppose, but my guess is that it's the bird

My hubby isn't a skin guy, but I am!

What has your experience been with it?

 

[chiqita]

It was pretty crisp over the breast(I brushed melted butter on it a couple of times while it was in the oven), but there were some places that were thicker than other, and a bit chewy, but the dog didn't mind Flavor was good though. I will admit that some of the skin I ate, and some I did not....I roasted it without a cover, so that could contribute to it, I suppose, but my guess is that it's the bird

My hubby isn't a skin guy, but I am!

What has your experience been with it?

It was thick to me. We usually cook them in a salt crust, VERY juicy, but once again not the best skin way. MY husband thinks they are more sensitive to the scalding water but I think its jsut the skin. More evidence for meee!

 

[BCMaraniac]

The other thing I noticed about the skin is that is that it is stuck to the meat underneath. Normally, you can slide your hand up under the skin to season the meat for those who don't like the skin(like my hubby, not with this bird. This means there is more connective tissue which will make the skin thicker and more tough. It is kind of like the difference between the skin on your arm versus the skin on the heel of your food. If you pinch the skin on your forearm, you can pinch it up somewhat, but you cant do that to the skin on your heel because it has more connective tissue to keep it stuck to the bone underneath.

I understand why your heel needs to have more connective tissue in it......could you imagine if the skin on your heel slid around every time you took a step???

 

[tdhenson86]

 

Great question.  We have considered this for a long time, and we continue to explore the idea.  There are a lot of opinions on it, but at the end of the day, it seems like something worth doing if you can do it well.  We are not ready to start doing so yet, but I expect it will be something we continue to study and investigate.  How about you, have you given it a try?
-SF

Actually, I have.  I decided to learn to caponize over the course of last winter.  So I read everything I could, and finally took the plunge this spring. I guess you could say that I am self-taught.  I lost my first one, but none since,  I bought straight run AB chicks and ended up with 4 extra cockerels.  Since there is a learning curve involved with caponization and the chicks were not cheap, I was hesitant to caponize them until I felt more competent, so they ended up being 10 weeks old before I caponized them. I caponized some mixed flock dual purpose males raised by a broody hen, and some White Rocks, Orpingtons, and Giants that I bought this past spring before I caponized them.  The Bresse are 20 weeks old now, and I am growing them out with the other white males.  I have ended up with one Bresse slip, but the other three appear to be full capons.  It was absolutely amazing to watch those huge red combs shrivel and turn pink within about two weeks following the procedure.  I need to make pictures of the capons and the intact males to show the difference between the two since they are the same age.

My Bresse pullets aren't laying yet, but I am looking forward to getting eggs to incubate to have younger cockerels to caponize, because the last cockerels that I caponized were 4 weeks old, and seemed to tolerate the procedure extremely well.  They were a mixed breed lot that I incubated from my dual purpose layer flock in order to hone my skills a bit, and to determine what age seems less stressful for me and the birds.  I have approximately 30 birds total that I have caponized, but a few of them are slips.....another part of the learning curve.

I have pullets from the same mixed hatch that are 13-14 weeks old now that I am going to poulardize in the next week or so to see how they turn out meat wise.  They have to be older than the cockerels because the oviduct has to be large enough to identify(it is about the size of a piece of dry spaghetti at this age).  Removing the oviduct actually prevents the ovary from developing, which I find very interesting.  Apparently the poulard is even better than the capon in terms of the meat quality, and they are supposed to grow more quickly than a laying pullet because they aren't spending energy to make eggs.  I guess I will find out soon enough.

It is going to be interesting to see how the three full capons compare to the slip when I butcher them in terms of the meat.

How did you teach yourself to caponize? Any resources you can direct me to in particular?

 

[juststruttin]

The other thing I noticed about the skin is that is that it is stuck to the meat underneath. Normally, you can slide your hand up under the skin to season the meat for those who don't like the skin(like my hubby, not with this bird. This means there is more connective tissue which will make the skin thicker and more tough. It is kind of like the difference between the skin on your arm versus the skin on the heel of your food. If you pinch the skin on your forearm, you can pinch it up somewhat, but you cant do that to the skin on your heel because it has more connective tissue to keep it stuck to the bone underneath.

I understand why your heel needs to have more connective tissue in it......could you imagine if the skin on your heel slid around every time you took a step???

This is pretty interesting. My friend raises broilers and he say eviscerating a broiler is much easier than eviscerating a heritage bird. Apparently, the broilers innards practically fall out on their own and a heritage bird needs more finessing. I look forward to hearing what he says about processing a Breese.

 

[bayocum]

This is pretty interesting. My friend raises broilers and he say eviscerating a broiler is much easier than eviscerating a heritage bird. Apparently, the broilers innards practically fall out on their own and a heritage bird needs more finessing. I look forward to hearing what he says about processing a Breese.

We didn't notice that on our recent batch. The eviscerating was pretty standard, with the only difference being the amount of room to work on the smaller pullets. We have processed dozens of cornish cross over the years, and I wouldn't say there was a noticeable difference in the way the innards were removed. I was surprised at the nice layer of fat in the Bresse. They didn't feel "fat" like the cornish crosses, but they did in fact have a nice layer that should add to the flavor of the meat. That was our experience.
Best,
Brice