Poulet Rouge from Nature's Harmony Farm

If you cook whole chicken on a regular basis you will probably notice something different in the pictures below. The pictures show a chicken with a smaller, thinner breast and longer legs when compared to a typical supermarket chicken. Now, small breasts aren't always desirable in all aspects of life, but this is a chicken... get your mind out of the gutter! This is a Poulet Rouge (French for Red Chicken) from Nature's Harmony Farm. What is the difference aside from the appearance? For one, they are older chickens: typically twice as old (or more) than a standard supermarket chicken. They are a slower growing, hardier breed of chicken. They are also raised differently. As opposed to being raised in a packed, overcrowded chicken house, the chickens at Nature's Harmony are raised on pasture. To read more about how Nature's Harmony Farm raises their Poulet Rouge chickens, click here.



Aside from the standards by which they are raised, I can tell you based on first hand experience that these Poulet Rouge chickens are an amazing change from what is often bought at the supermarket. The end result is a chicken that is full of flavor, moisture, and texture. Far more flavor than what you are probably used to. If you have the chance to purchase a Poulet Rouge chicken, by all means buy it! I'm certain that you will be pleasantly surprised at the difference. Shown below is a finished roasted chicken over a bed of turnip greens, fresh out of the oven.

Throw Dinner in the Fire

Here's a fun idea for all you kids: cook your dinner in the fireplace! While the idea might sound kind of silly, it's not much different than cooking over a wood fired grill. This technique was first brought to my attention by my good friend The Caveman. Only joking. Seriously though, the fireplace is a perfectly acceptable place to cook your dinner provided you have the right equipment... like a fireplace. Instead of just dropping food directly on the fire I used a nice cast iron grilling grate that I bought a couple weeks ago Amazon.com (more on that grilling grate in later posts).

Step one was to prep the vegetables. I wrapped some medium sized carrots and radishes in a foil packet which would later steam/roast in the fire. The foil obviously protects the veggies from absolute annihilation in the heat of the fire and keeps those dirty ashes off your prized produce. You can season your veggies any way you want but I sprinkled in some thyme, olive oil, a squeeze of fresh orange, and salt & pepper.

Step two is to arrange the logs off to one side of the fireplace. It helps if you've given the fire ample time to burn to create a nice bed of hot coals. This fire was burning for about 6 hours before I started cooking. It's hard to see here because of the camera flash but believe me, there's plenty of heat going on. The cast iron grilling grate fits PERFECTLY on top of my fireplace grate which was a nice surprise considering I was doing this on the fly. Anyway, I would suggest keeping a fire going on one side of the fireplace. Obviously it generates additional heat and coals during the cooking process, but after you're done cooking you probably want to spread the fire back over the entire fireplace again to help burn off any grease.

Step three, cook that chicken. Below is the main course: a Poulet Rouge chicken from Harry's. This particular chicken is from a farm in North Carolina. As far as I know the farm supplies all the Whole Foods stores in the Atlanta area. They are quite different from your usual supermarket chicken. To achieve the Label Rouge status they have to be a slow growing breed, and have to be a minimum of 81 days old, among other parameters. Check out the website above for more info. The meat is more firm and has a distinct, chickeny flavor that is a far cry from the boneless skinless breasts from Tyson or Perdue.

The final result is below after about 45 minutes over the fire. Even if you don't cook your entire dinner over the fire, you can still have a little fun and toss in some foil wrapped sweet potatoes or other veggies.