It seems a never ending struggle to find fresh, real chickens, preferably raised with daily access to a pasture. Most chickens raised, slaughtered, and sold in this country are the descendants of a crossbreed known as the Cornish Cross, yes even most of those that are raised and sold as “organic” and “free-range.” 
Developed in the late 1940s and early 1950s to eat, eat, eat and grow, grow, grow, it is particularly adept at quickly converting feed into muscle - today the standard industrial Cornish Cross can attain a five pound dressed weight in just six weeks. Many of the still common breeds back then, today’s heritage breeds, required 16 to 20 weeks or longer in the pasture to mature. Unfortunately, the Cornish’s internal organs and bones can’t quite keep up with this pace of growth resulting in many problems including the inability to walk since their legs often cannot support their bulk. Additionally, the flavor and texture of their meat do not develop to the same extent as a bird that takes 12, 16, or 20 weeks to mature. (The image to the left is an industrial Cornish Cross that has developed leg problems. Photo by Pamela Marshall, posted on www.feathersite.com.)
I have had heritage breed chickens a number of times over the last few years, and on each occasion the “fresh” bird was shipped thousands of miles overnight at a substantial cost - quite an obscene cost, frankly. The flavor of those birds however, was transcendent, even more so than my first fresh heritage turkey. These experiences have ruined me as far as the Cornish Cross is concerned, and they are the root cause of my ranging to Farmers’ Markets throughout the Pacific Northwest in search of fresh, heritage birds. My joy in stumbling upon yet another farmer offering chickens is usually dashed by their responses to my two critical questions: “Are your chickens fresh;” “no, they’re frozen,” and what breeds do you raise;” “Cornish Crosses.” The latter answer has become even more depressing than the former. Even though additional versions of the Cornish Cross have been developed, - the so-called slow growing versions - they still don’t seem quite right in texture and flavor.
As I was making my last pass through the Portland Farmers’ Market last weekend, I noticed the “fresh” sign, was no longer present in the Pine Mountain Ranch booth, but I also noticed what looked like a fresh chicken at a booth that normally offered only frozen pasture-raised meat and poultry. I inquired about the breed of their fresh birds, and their answer was encouraging, sort of: “Cornish Cross, but we will also be having heritage breeds later in the summer.” I talked myself into the “fresh” consolation prize with hopes for the future and bought a 4-1/2 pound bird. As I put it in my ice-filled igloo for the trip back to Seattle, I noticed that it had a huge breast and very, very short legs. I drove out of town a bit annoyed with myself for not inquiring about the specifics of its diet, but the thought of tasty roasted chicken for dinner still made me smile.
As usual, Sunday morning found me at the Ballard Farmers’ Market where I scored the last of the Tieton Cherries among other things, but discontented with my options for greens, I headed over to the Capital Hill Farmers’ Market for my first visit of the season. When I arrived, I immediately noticed the Dog Mountain Farm booth. They raise vegetables and poultry near Carnation, WA, and I have bought some tomatoes, duck eggs and chicken eggs from them over the last few years. More importantly, I noticed a hand written sign in the booth, “Chickens $3.75/lb.” The coolers suggested that the chickens would be frozen, so I wasn’t surprised when the farmer, David Krepky, gave me the typical response and bemoaned King County’s draconian regulations concerning the sale of fresh meat. However, when he told me his breed was the “black-leg French variety,” my eyes widened, and I thought I hit pay dirt of sorts. Since I already had a bird on ice at home, and no room in the freezer, I decided to wait a week by which time I could research the breed and decide about buying “frozen.”
Over the next few days I searched in my spare moments for information about a French, black leg heritage breed with no success. There were French heritage breeds with black legs, but apparently they were no longer in any serious production for meat. I dried my fresh Cornish Cross in the fridge for a few hours Monday afternoon before I roasted it. The short, short legs combined with the very plump breast made the bird seem a bit freakish for the weight. Late that afternoon, I prepped and roasted the bird, starting briefly at a high temperature (425 degrees) and finishing at a lower temperature (325 degrees). The bird came out perfect, crisp and brown on the outside, juicy on the inside, and while the flavor was good, the texture was a bit soft as if it hadn’t done much work during its short life. All in all, it was not really worth the $6 a pound that I paid for it.
I spent several more hours searching for the “black bird” that night, and the only thing that kept coming up was the Label Rouge certification program in France, its highest level of quality certification – all Label Rouge birds are raised “free range” with many stringent requirements, including the fact that these slow growing breeds must be raised for a minimum of 81 days (11-1/2 weeks). There was no mention of a specific breed such as the “black leg variety.” I ran into David again at the Queen Anne Farmers’ Market on Thursday, and I bought a 4-1/4 pound Poulet Noir as he called it this time. As I popped the bird into an ice bath at home, the Cornish Cross came to mind. The Poulet Noir’s breast was long and slender, and its legs were long, very long with the meat showing dark through the skin.
A search on Poulet Noir took me again to Label Rouge and also to several website discussion boards where Freedom Rangers and Colored Rangers were discussed. This finally led me to the two French companies that had developed a number of slow growing breeds over the last 30 years specifically for the Label Rouge program. Their starting points were proprietary crosses of various heritage breeds, one of which resulted in the slow growing Poulet Noir, a naked-neck chicken with black feathers and black legs. They also produced several other slow growing birds meant to “free range” forage for a portion of their food, all descendants of heritages chickens, but not heritage chickens in their own right.
I prepped and roasted my Poulet Noir in the same fashion as the Cornish Cross earlier in the week. The flavor of the black bird was more robust and the texture was meatier, chewier - but not chewy if you know what I mean - with the dark meat approaching more of a game bird richness. The oysters were particularly succulent and flavorful. I went back to the Capital Hill Farmers’ Market this morning to confirm a few things with David, and to buy another bird. Due to the size of his property, and the size of his flocks, his laying chickens, meat chickens, ducks, and geese are raised in long spacious runs and fed a mix of organic grains. They are processed between 10 and 11 weeks to a dressed weight between 3-1/2 and 4-1/2 pounds. David also informed me that he could no longer get Poulet Noir chicks, and was replacing his flock with another Colored Ranger developed by the same French source but hatched closer to Washington. The only hatchery that produces Poulet Noir is in Pennsylvania, and the losses in shipping have been unacceptable. Scraping the surface, the Poulet Noir, didn’t turn out to be what I was looking for, but it will have to do for now. Some comparative images and more information about Colored Rangers to follow.
Over the next few days I searched in my spare moments for information about a French, black leg heritage breed with no success. There were French heritage breeds with black legs, but apparently they were no longer in any serious production for meat. I dried my fresh Cornish Cross in the fridge for a few hours Monday afternoon before I roasted it. The short, short legs combined with the very plump breast made the bird seem a bit freakish for the weight. Late that afternoon, I prepped and roasted the bird, starting briefly at a high temperature (425 degrees) and finishing at a lower temperature (325 degrees). The bird came out perfect, crisp and brown on the outside, juicy on the inside, and while the flavor was good, the texture was a bit soft as if it hadn’t done much work during its short life. All in all, it was not really worth the $6 a pound that I paid for it.
I spent several more hours searching for the “black bird” that night, and the only thing that kept coming up was the Label Rouge certification program in France, its highest level of quality certification – all Label Rouge birds are raised “free range” with many stringent requirements, including the fact that these slow growing breeds must be raised for a minimum of 81 days (11-1/2 weeks). There was no mention of a specific breed such as the “black leg variety.” I ran into David again at the Queen Anne Farmers’ Market on Thursday, and I bought a 4-1/4 pound Poulet Noir as he called it this time. As I popped the bird into an ice bath at home, the Cornish Cross came to mind. The Poulet Noir’s breast was long and slender, and its legs were long, very long with the meat showing dark through the skin.
I prepped and roasted my Poulet Noir in the same fashion as the Cornish Cross earlier in the week. The flavor of the black bird was more robust and the texture was meatier, chewier - but not chewy if you know what I mean - with the dark meat approaching more of a game bird richness. The oysters were particularly succulent and flavorful. I went back to the Capital Hill Farmers’ Market this morning to confirm a few things with David, and to buy another bird. Due to the size of his property, and the size of his flocks, his laying chickens, meat chickens, ducks, and geese are raised in long spacious runs and fed a mix of organic grains. They are processed between 10 and 11 weeks to a dressed weight between 3-1/2 and 4-1/2 pounds. David also informed me that he could no longer get Poulet Noir chicks, and was replacing his flock with another Colored Ranger developed by the same French source but hatched closer to Washington. The only hatchery that produces Poulet Noir is in Pennsylvania, and the losses in shipping have been unacceptable. Scraping the surface, the Poulet Noir, didn’t turn out to be what I was looking for, but it will have to do for now. Some comparative images and more information about Colored Rangers to follow.
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