|
Ready To Try?
Ready To Buy?
Just click here to
[Go Shopping].
You will be directed to our online store.
| |
|
|
Poussin
"Poussin", French for unfledged chicken or spring chick, owes its tenderness to its young age and fast growth. Just over three weeks of age at processing, and with a dressed weight of approximately 12 to 20 oz. for a whole-body, eviscerated bird, these happy little chickens are free to roam about in comfortable heated barns, in their own natural social clusters. The young Poussins have complete freedom to eat and drink at will. This combined with their young age allows Poussin to be of extremely tender, light meat, while delicately textured and flavored character.
Some have confused these special small chickens with "cornish hens":
Poussins are younger than cornish by a week or more when prepared for the market. Cornish can reach as much as 2 lbs in size whereas a Poussin ranges from 12 to 20 ounces. Recent market changes in part due to limited availability of fresh cornish, has pushed the traditional Poussin size to the upper ends of the size range. Historically, Poussin would be closer to 12 to 16 ounces is all. In recent years we have seen demand stronger for birds weighing closer to 16 to 20 ounces in size when eviscerated whole body ready to cook.
Some have wrongfully called them "squab chickens":
Poussins are not pigeons as are squabs. The practice of using squab to imply young and small is not appropriate nor is it accurate. As long ago as the early 1970's the USDA pronounced the use of the term "squab" as a modifier for chickens was no longer legal as had been the practice for years. Poussins are all natural chickens prepared for market while still extremely tender, and the word "squab" specifically and solely refers to young pigeons.
In some circles they are even referred to as "spatchcocks":
Poussins are not "spatchcocks", which is a term that accurately and historically relates to the method by which boneless birds are split (butterfly style) lengthwise down the back to allow easier cooking exposure.
Though even dictionaries vary as to the source of this term, they all agree that a flattened bird or "dispatched cock" of any species is a "spatchcock", and we agree it is a great way to prepare a Poussin.
Cherished in European cooking for centuries, Squab Producers of California began producing these delectable little birds for the marketplace back in 1983. A young and anxious gourmand, Gerald Prolman is really responsible for Poussins being grown in the United States. Gerald started with another grower, north of San Francisco, but when he quit producing them after a short time, we began production and have done so continuously ever since. Other growers in different parts of the country now raise Poussin for both retail and restaurants throughout the country, however, California all natural Poussins remain the original, and by the accounts received from our customers, the best available.
Our California Poussins are provided a balanced diet consisting of all vegetable feed, high in soy for protein and all natural grains. We use no antibiotics. We allow no artificial ingredients while either growing or processing. We recycle everything we can to follow our philosophy that sustainable agriculture is healthy agriculture. California Poussins are nutritionally excellent, the perfect single serving size whether whole or boneless, and lends itself nicely to a variety of cuisine flavors, and preparation methods including grilling and roasting.
Poussin Chicken Nutritional Information
For more information, including additional preparation ideas visit the following links:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12725835/
www.recipesforwildgame.com/poussin/poussin_recipes.htm
Silkie Chicken (Taihe chicken).
Rich in Chinese culture and tradition, the Silkie Chicken is a very special bird. Native to South China (Marco Polo is said to have seen them in his travels) and surrounding areas, the West came of know of these fine chickens in the late 1500's, when publishers began to print of history and medicinal values of the various foods and herbs of the Dynasties. Chinese folklore includes celestial attention to the Silkie when the white birds gained immortality by consuming Lu Dongbing's pills from his pond in 798 A.D. on the Wushan Mountain of Taihe, and were transformed into white phoenix. Tradition remains strong, and the use of the Silkie is very common today throughout the world.
Research and reporting supports the Silkie's benefits in disorders of the kidneys, and liver. The complete list of medical disorders that Silkies are reported to benefit is indeed long. Various Chinese medical journals from throughout history report the many benefits of the Silkie, which is at times confusing and overlapping through the centuries. However, it is well known that Silkies contain certain hormones, blue pigment, and amino acids which can increase blood cells and hemoglobin, and many use it to aid with women's health relating to pregnancy and child bearing. In fact a sizable industry now flourishes in China marketing products based on the black colored foods and herbs, with these factories manufacturing pills designed to help with various illness which include the meat of the Silkie mixed with many herbal combinations.
The health benefits aside, Silkie is popular for its very sweet and rich flavor. Silkie chicken is often enjoyed at banquets as well as at home. It is most common now to enjoy Silkie in a very special soup containing particularly flavorful herbs. The whole bird is often served in sumptuous herb flavored broth with vegetables, and is becoming more and more popular.
Our Silkie, a bantam raised locally here in the Central Valley of California, carries several very important traits. Our birds, with their five toes, tasseled heads, silkie white feathers, double crown, black skin, bone, and black meat possess all critical elements in assuring our customer they are enjoying not just any black chicken but a real Silkie Chicken displaying the traits as written of for centuries.
Fed an all vegetable grain diet containing no antibiotics, and allowed extra room to socialize and to mature naturally, our silkies are special indeed. We maintain our own breeder line to assure consistency and value in our birds which are processed for the market when reaching dressed weights in the 1.5 to 2.5 pound range.
More information on silkies:
www.olypen.com/pcpets/silkiechk.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silkie_(chicken)
www.itmonline.org/arts/wuchi.htm
http://starbulletin.com/2002/08/28/features/story1.html
www.e2121.com/food_db/viewherb.php3?viewid=218
Silkie Chicken Nutritional Information
California Poulet Bleu
For years, the famed Poulet de Bresse of France has been the gold standard in chicken. As this breed is so highly protected and any dressed, live or egg export from France illegal, our only way offer this delectable bird to the American public was to create it ourselves. Finally, after years of effort in cooperation with our friend Peter Thiessen, of British Columbia, in 2004 Squab Producers of California introduced to the United States a chicken that has been received in culinary circles as matching or even exceeding the wonder of the Bresse chicken. California Poulet Bleu has quickly become known as the California "Bleu foot" as chef after chef in the New York restaurant market added this bird to their menus or their list of special entrees. The American gold standard is finally here.
California Poulet Bleu (Blue foot) is a uniquely developed, highly protected new breed that Peter developed over many years of natural breeding evolution. The Poulet Bleu displays a bright red comb, beautiful white feathers, and very crisp blue feet. Highly social, our Bleu Foot has the very attitude we have come to view of the French when they know they are the best.
The Cooperative brought its breeders into the United States from Peter's farm in February of 2004, just one week before a form of avian flu was found in the Fraser Valley duck flock east of Vancouver resulting in the Canadian government euthanizing millions of birds in the region. Peter's remaining breeding flock was actually put down by officials to prevent spread (never actually had the flu), leaving the only survivors of this special breed safely flourishing in the agriculturally rich San Joaquin Valley region of California. Little did we know at the time, what impact that rescue would have, as our original plan was to move the entire flock to California in several trips. This event merely slowed down the introduction, as our breeder flock was so small at the beginning.
Poulet Bleu is raised all naturally in housing located on two of our small farms in the towns of Hughson and Turlock, within 15 minutes of our processing plant in Modesto, California. Originally, we raised them by ranging, just as the Bresse birds (which by the way were forced indoors earlier this year by the threat of AI in Europe). International events surrounding the worldwide H5N1 avian influenza epidemic has caused us, as well, to bring the birds indoors for their own safety, as well as in cooperation with the entire U.S. poultry industry. We view biosecurity as the responsible course right now to prevent spread of disease in this country. Despite this, our birds receive lots and lots of room to roam and socialize in small flocks while growing up in natural lighting. Our Poulet Bleus are raised on all-vegetable, antibiotic free, whole grain foods. Our birds are raised humanely and comfortably, being allowed to grow up naturally many weeks longer than traditional poultry. We even feed milk with their water and their natural grains.
We are extremely proud of our new entry into the American gastronomic environs. California Poulet Bleu is special in every way. It has rich chicken flavor, with a texture and color just as perfect chicken should. California Poulet Bleu (the California blue foot) is available in very limited numbers as we focus on painstakingly doing it right, one step at a time.
More information:
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/features/14787/
www.foodandwine.com/articles/7-california-ingredients-you-must-taste-now
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-blue-foot-chickens-with-glazed-parsnips-and-carrots
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?category=TABLEHOPPING&storyID=468401&BCCode=&newsdate=4/5/2006&TextPage=3
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/10/17/8358044/index.htm
| |
|
