Bresse (chicken)
A labelled poulet de Bresse
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| Type | pullet, chicken or capon |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | France |
| Region or state | Bresse |
| Other information | appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) status |
The poulet de Bresse (French pronunciation: [pu.lɛ d(ə) bʁɛs]) or volaille de Bresse is a French chicken product which has appellation d'origine contrôlée status. It may be produced only from white chickens of the Bresse breed raised within a legally defined area of the historic region and former province of Bresse, in eastern France.
The chickens of the Bresse region have long enjoyed a high reputation. The lawyer, politician, epicure and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826), who was born at Belley in the Ain, is supposed to have described the Bresse chicken as "the queen of poultry, the poultry of kings". The name Volaille de Bresse, used for both chicken products and for the dinde de Bresse, the turkey of the area, received legal protection on 22 December 1936; this became an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) in 1957. Today the poulet de Bresse has the reputation of being the best quality table chicken in the world. The chef Georges Blanc, who is from Bourg-en-Bresse, has been president of the Comité Interprofessionnel de la Volaille de Bresse, the association which oversees the product, since 1986.Alan Davidson described the poulet de Bresse as the "aristocrat of modern table poultry", and Heston Blumenthal selected it for one of the dishes in his book In Search of Perfection.
Poulet de Bresse may be produced only from white chickens (the Bresse de Bény variety) of the Bresse breed, raised within a legally defined area of the historic region and former province of Bresse, in eastern France. The area is roughly rectangular, approximately 100 km by 40 km, and includes parts of the départements of Ain, Jura and Saône-et-Loire, in the regions of Rhône-Alpes, Franche-Comté and Bourgogne respectively. It lies mainly between the towns of Mâcon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Dole and Lons-le-Saunier; Bourg-en-Bresse is within the area. Lyon is not far to the south, and Dijon not far to the north.
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