Poularde is culinary term for a chicken that is at least 120 days old at the time of slaughter and fattened with a rich diet that delays

egg production Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

. In the past it was common to spay the chickens early in life to ensure desirable meat quality, similar to the castration of a capon. Similar terms are often confused: in English, pullet refers to a young hen, generally under one year old. Sometimes it is more specific, indicating a hen that is fully grown but has not reached ‘point-of-lay’, i.e. has not yet started laying eggs, which often happens between 16 and 24 weeks of age, depending on breed. Poulard (no 'e') can be used to mean "roaster", i.e. a young chicken weighing up to 6-7 pounds and living 10-12 weeks, as opposed to smaller "broiler" chickens weighing less than 3 pounds. In French, poussin is a newly hatched chick (either sex), poulet is a young chick (either sex), poulette is a female young chicken (one form of a poulet, and corresponding to the male coquelet), poularde is a poulette deliberately fattened for eating (often spayed, and the equivalent of the castrated male chapon = capon), and a poule is an egg-laying hen (corresponding to the coq = cockerel). Poularde is used in English in the context of cooking (as opposed to poultry farming); Larousse Gastronomique lists around 98 recipes for "Poulardes et poulets" with a ''further'' 100 or more for "Farm-raised chickens". In France many varieties of poularde exist, including the

Poularde de Bresse Poularde is culinary term for a chicken that is at least 120 days old at the time of slaughter and fattened with a rich diet that delays egg production. In the past it was common to spay the chickens early in life to ensure desirable meat qualit ...

, the Poularde du Mans and the Poularde de Loué, which are generally protected by the AOC or

Label Rouge Label Rouge (''Red Label'') is a sign of quality assurance in France as defined by Law No. 2006-11 (5 January 2006). Products eligible for the Label Rouge are food items (including seafood) and non-food and unprocessed agricultural products such ...

certifications.. The high price of these chickens meant that they were traditionally reserved for holiday meals, such as Christmas feasts. Examples of protected certifications outside France include the

Poularde de Bruxelles The Malines, nl, Mechelse Koekoek, italic=no, is a Belgian breed of large domestic chicken. It originates from the area of Mechelen (french: ), in the province of Antwerp in Flanders, for which it is named. It was created in the nineteenth cen ...

from Belgium, the Steierische Poularde from Austria, and the Poularde Den Dungen from the Netherlands.

References

Chicken as food Poultry farming Veterinary castration {{poultry-stub

See also

References