The Bresse Gauloise is a French

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

. It originates in the historic region and former

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Bresse Bresse () is a former French province. It is located in the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté of eastern France. The geographical term ''Bresse'' has two meanings: ''Bresse bourguignonne'' (or ''louhannaise''), whic ...

, in the

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône an ...

Bourgogne Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

and

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

, in eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Because of legal restrictions on the use of the name, only white chickens raised within that area may be called "Bresse"; outside it, they are given the name "Gauloise"; the breed name combines both. Four

colours Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

are recognised for the Bresse Gauloise, three of them linked to areas within Bresse: the Bresse de

Bourg Bourg or Le Bourg may refer to: Places France Bourg * Bourg, Aisne, a former commune in France, now part of Bourg-et-Comin * Bourg, Bas-Rhin, a former commune in Bas-Rhin, now part of Bourg-Bruche * Bourg, Gironde, also known as Bourg-sur-Gir ...

is "grey" (silver-pencilled); the Bresse de

Bény Bény () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. Geography The ''bief du Lignon'' forms the commune's southeastern border, then flows into the Solnan, which forms most of its northeastern border. The Sevron flows northwest through ...

is white; the Bresse de

Louhans Louhans () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.

is black; a blue variety has recently been created. White Bresse de Bény chickens and

capon A capon (from la, cāpō, genitive ''cāpōnis'') is a cockerel (rooster) that has been castrated or neutered, either physically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, and, in some countries like Spain, fattened by force ...

s raised in the area of Bresse have ''

appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

'' status and are marketed as

poulet de Bresse The () or volaille de Bresse is a French chicken product which has ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' status, and which was registered as a Protected Designation of Origin under EU and UK law as ''Volaille de Bresse / Poulet de Bresse ...

; they are regarded as a premium product and command higher prices than other chickens.

History

The first documentation of the chickens of Bresse reportedly dates from 12 November 1591, when the citizens of Bourg presented two dozen birds to Joachim de Rye, Marquis de

Treffort Treffort (; oc, Trafòrt) is a commune in the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 301. Demographics See also * Communes of the Isère department *Lac de Monteynard- ...

. In the early nineteenth century, the lawyer, politician,

epicure Epicureanism is a system of philosophy developed by Epicurus ca. 300 BCE. Epicurean or epicure may also refer to: *Epicure (gourmet), a person interested in food, sometimes with overtones of excessive refinement *'' The Epicurean'', 1827 novel w ...

and

gastronome Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (; 1 April 1755, Belley, Ain – 2 February 1826, Paris) was a French lawyer and politician, who, as the author of ''The Physiology of Taste'' (''Physiologie du Goût''), gained fame as an epicure and gastronome: " ...

(1755–1826), who was born at

Belley Belley () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. History Belley is of Roman origin, and in the 5th century became an episcopal see. It was the capital of the province of Bugey, which was a dependency of Savoy till 1601, when i ...

in the

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

, is supposed to have described the Bresse chicken as "the queen of poultry, the poultry of kings". Like the

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most po ...

, which was raised and fattened in a similar fashion, the Bresse chicken had high standing in the market. Nevertheless, by about 1900 the breed had virtually disappeared. Its recovery was due to

fancy Fancy may refer to: Places * Fancy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a settlement * Fancy River, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Music Albums * ''Fancy'' (Bobbie Gentry album), 1970 * ''Fancy'' (Idiot Flesh album), 1997 * ''Fancy'' (video ...

breeders, who

selectively bred Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

a sufficient number of white chickens for the breed to become stable. A new breed standard was drawn up in 1904. The Bresse name, used for both chicken products and for the , the

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

of the area, received legal protection on 22 December 1936; this became an ''

'' (AOC) in 1957.

Characteristics

The Bresse is preferred as a meat bird due to the fat marbling in the meat is same as beef steaks are marbled, resulting in the juiciest breast meat of any cooked chicken although taking longer to achieve a mature weight it is worth the wait. They are also great egg layers

Use

Although the Bresse Gauloise is principally famous as a meat breed, it is a good layer of large white eggs, which in the black Louhans variety may weigh . Hens are usually non-sitting.

References

{{Chicken breeds of France Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in France