As so often happens in the Bluegrass state, the conversation soon turns to breeding. The blood line should provide the physical characteristics of a winner, we are told, while the environment (training) can contribute the sense of well-being or attitude that brings out the best in the creature.
David Wilson, a passionate, even charismatic speaker, pauses and looks around him. The setting is not an oval track with graceful thoroughbred horses going through workouts. Instead we are standing in a 172-by-38-foot structure along with 4,700 handsome, red-crested hybrid chickens.
Immigrants from France whose lineage can be traced back some 700 years, the chickens have been gathering support from culinary handicappers, including Julia Child, as America’s best since their introduction in 1991. Sold under the La Belle Rouge label by Wilson Fields, the Louisville-based company in which David Wilson is a partner, these free-range chickens recently reached Chicago. Packaged whole, trussed for roasting, or as parts, they are on sale in the new Fresh Fields stores in Palatine and Naperville, and at Treasure Island, The Marketplace, Potash Bros. and the Cafe Patou restaurant in Rockford.
The birds look healthy on this, the 65th and penultimate day of their lives. Leon and Laverne Kessler, the couple who raise the chickens for Wilson Fields, point out that the birds, none of which had been deprived of claws or beaks, have the run of the chicken house and the rolling grassy pasture outside, are fed an all-grain and vegetable diet, receive no antibiotics or growth stimulants and have lived half again as long as commercial chickens (which have a usual lifespan of 39 to 42 days).
The Kesslers, a 50ish couple, are among 19 central Kentucky farmers under contract to raise the French birds.
“When David first came here and said he wanted to raise chickens outside,” Leon Kessler says, “I thought he was joking. I didn’t know if I should take him seriously. The chickens we raised before never left the house. But eventually we said `Sure, why not.’ “
“We’ve been doing this for two years,” Laverne continues, “and we hope to stay with it. It’s less work than the other way, and we really enjoy these birds. During the day they go everywhere, but we close them in at night because of owls and other creatures.”
The very fact we are able to stay among the chickens talking for more than 30 minutes without being driven out by the strong ammonia smell that is common to most chicken houses offers sensory testimony that the Wilson Fields approach to raising chickens is different.
Wilson sees himself as putting the taste and health concerns of the consumer ahead of the commercial interest of the producer.
“In this country,” he says, “since World War II, chickens have been bred toward mass volume for little expense. When you confine 12,000 chicks in a space this size, the increased density increases stress dramatically.
“Our approach is to let a chicken be a chicken. Allowing them to move about and have a slower growth cycle means they develop muscle and the fat content goes down. Furthermore, we’ve found that flavor doesn’t begin to develop until the 50th day. It takes longer and costs more, but for us it’s a matter of intent.”
The differences continue at the Wilson Fields processing plant in nearby Columbia, opened late last year. Here the freshly killed birds are washed by a European system that uses three scalders instead of the single washing system commonly used in this country. Then, instead of chilling the birds quickly in cold water, they are air-chilled over 12 hours, a process that Wilson says is less likely to spread diseases such as salmonella and avoids the absorption of water. (U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations allow up to 10 percent water in freshly processed chicken.) It also contributes to a shelf life of 14 days before there is a danger of spoilage, he says. (Normal processing gives a shelf life of 7 to 10 days.)
The final area of distinction is at the dining table. The La Belle Rouge is a taste revelation-firm and well-textured without being tough, flavorful and juicy with a thin skin that crisps nicely when roasted. The heightened flavor and texture are apparent even when using leftovers in a chicken salad or chicken pot pie. The taste of poultry, only hinted at when eating mass-market chickens, actually overrides the seasoning and lingers.
This means two things: Consumers must want a bird with flavor (for some consumers blandness is a virtue) and they must be willing to pay for it. Here’s the rub. Retail prices for whole La Belle Rouge chickens in the Chicago area vary considerably, from a low of $1.69 a pound at Fresh Fields to a high of $2.69 a pound at the Marketplace. At Treasure Island, the chickens are $1.99 a pound compared with $1.09 for whole Perdue chickens.
“I think of swordfish and lobster and tenderloin and lamb as the competition,” says Missy Camp, a partner in Wilson Fields. But many consumers and even restaurant chefs who say they want to work with high-quality, free-range poultry make price the first, if not the only, criterion for purchase.
It “takes a lot of money and education,” Wilson acknowledges, to make people aware of the product and convince them-chefs as well as consumers-that the cost is justified. The effort has led to “a lot of frustration” for Wilson.
All the more so because Wilson, a former grain farmer with experience raising squab, could be called a visionary. Lyrical descriptions of the quality of European chickens led him to France in 1988 for an intense investigation of methods of breeding and raising poultry. He discovered that while American producers had turned the broiler into “a commodity,” the French continue to breed their chickens to maximize aroma, texture, eye-appeal, even “carvability.”
“I didn`t think I could improve on what they were doing, but I saw an opportunity to fill a void (in the American market) by bringing French chickens here,” he says.
It wasn’t easy. He had to find a grandparent flock in France that was free of an antibody not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He then had to direct each shipment of 3,500 chicks-a parent flock-to Canada for a four-week quarantine before they could be brought into the U.S.
(The parent chickens have a 64-week breeding cycle, then must be replaced. To build the flock, a shipment-now numbering 10,000 chicks-arrives every 18 weeks. Eventually, when sales volume warrants it, a grandparent flock will be brought to Kentucky.)
This effort represents no less than Wilson’s heartfelt attempt to improve at least one facet of the quality of life in America. But the system itself was clumsy, and initially business growth did not meet projections. The company had to be reorganized and refinanced in late 1991.
The current management teamis targeting upscale restaurants, gourmet specialty food stores and markets specializing in natural foods.
“Growth is step-by-step,” Wilson says. “We do fine when we can get a store manager or chef to taste our chicken. We’ve never lost a customer based on (a bad reaction to) the quality of the product.”
Still, he has no illusions that La Belle Rouge will revolutionize the American poultry industry.
“The industry sells 110 million pounds of chicken a week outside what fast food restaurants do,” Wilson says. “We hope to be at more than 50,000 pounds a week by October. But that’s only a .5 percent share.”
Two different routes to flavorful chicken
Here are two recipes adapted from La Belle Rouge company.
ROAST CHICKEN WITH LEMON AND GARLIC
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 60 to 70 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
1 whole chicken, about 3 1/2 pounds
3 cloves garlic
3 slices lemon
Olive oil
Salt (kosher preferred), pepper (freshly ground preferred)
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Insert garlic cloves and lemon slices into the cavity. Truss opening closed with thread or trussing pins. Tuck wings behind; tie drumsticks together. Rub olive oil over the bird’s skin. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
2. Put chicken, breast up, on a rack in a roasting pan. Place in oven and reduce temperature to 375 degrees. Cook 20 minutes per pound or until juices run clear when thigh is pricked with a knife point, about 60 to 70 minutes.
BRAISED CHICKEN WITH ONION-THYME SAUCE
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/4 hours
Yield: 4 servings
Serve with roast or mashed potatoes, green beans and a lightly chilled Beaujolais.
1 whole chicken, about 3 1/2 pounds
12 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt (kosher preferred), pepper (freshly ground preferred)
1 large onion, Vidalia or another sweet variety preferred, to yield 2 cups sliced
1/2 teaspoon sugar, optional
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup chicken broth, or 1/2 cup each: chicken broth, dry white wine
Lemon juice
1. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Place 6 sprigs thyme in the cavity. Truss opening closed with thread or trussing pins. Tuck wings behind; tie drumsticks together. Rub a light coating of oil all over the bird and season with salt and pepper. Slice onion and reserve.
2. Select a casserole or Dutch oven as close to the size of the chicken as possible. Add remaining oil and warm over medium-high heat until nearly smoking. Add chicken and brown on all sides. Remove chicken to a dish or bowl.
3. Add onion slices and remaining thyme to the casserole and cook over medium heat until onion begins to wilt. If sweet onion is not available, sprinkle on the optional sugar. Add garlic and cook and stir an additional 2 minutes. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
4. Add broth to the casserole and, as it comes to a boil, scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon to deglaze it. Return chicken to pan, resting on one side. Cover pan tightly and simmer 20 minutes. Remove cover, turn chicken on the other side. Cook 20 minutes longer. Remove cover and turn chicken breast side up. Cook 20 minutes longer.
5. Remove chicken from casserole and keep warm. Remove thyme sprigs and discard. Spoon and pour onions and liquid from casserole into a blender or food processor and puree. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired with salt, pepper and, if desired, a little lemon juice. Reheat while carving chicken.
