When Ron Joyce contacted me a few weeks back to comment about a recent chicken recipe I’d posted and to say it would have been better if I had his Poulet Rouge Fermier on hand, I admit, I was curious. Chicken just isn’t at the top of my list of proteins so I thought “how good could his chicken really be?”. The answer – fantastic.
Ron, of Joyce Farms in Winston-Salem, N.C., is a second-generation producer who raises heritage chickens lauded in France. The breed of chicken is called cou nu – “naked neck”, considered by many top chefs to be the best tasting chicken in the world.
At Joyce Farms, the chickens live for 80 days, almost double as long as “commercial” chickens, in a spacious indoor-outdoor environment that lets them exercise their muscles, break down their fat, resulting in succulent, almost gamey meat.
I decided to make a butterflied Poulet Rouge on the grill with a bit of spice and cooked another on the rotisserie after marinating it in my ginger concoction. This was by far the juiciest, most flavorful chicken I’ve ever made and perhaps tasted. The skin was paper-thin and crispy, almost like a crackling, and the meat with moist and succulent. I’m thrilled I have two others in the freezer.
Joyce Farms’ prices start at $16 for a fresh, 2 ½ – 3-pound broiler and products are available at www.Joyce-Farms.com.
Give them a try and replace that dry, flavorless turkey with a couple of these amazing chickens for Thanksgiving, I know I plan to.
Cheers,
Veronique
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