On the family farm in Bermonville, in the Pays de Caux (Seine-Maritime), the 5 Brothers raise their dairy cows to prepare the raw milk Camembert which bears their name.
And in recent months, the cows have found new neighbors! Gournay hens very recognizable by their black and white plumage. “It is a heritage breed! It is called the Norman Bresse” Explain Côme Bréant, the fourth of the five brothers who has just started breeding this “premium hen“.
Hens that drink milk
Top-of-the-range hens which are raised five to six months, against three months for ordinary hens and especially which “have whole milk and whole wheat finish“That is to say that their breeder makes them drink milk. And this contributes to their”give a very tender and marbled flesh“. This is also one of the characteristics of these hens. The white of their flesh is intertwined with grease blades which gives an incomparable taste and fondant, ensures Côme Bréant.
The 24-year-old breeder launched his first production this year. The first 70 hens have found a taker for the end of year celebrations. He is preparing 70 more for Easter. “These are chickens that we don’t eat every day“he insists. It’s a good hen for good occasions and besides its price is up to its quality, around 15 to 20 euros per kilo.
La Gournay soon at the Elysée?
Côme Bréant has in any case great ambitions for his hen. Why not the Elysée? It would be a “pride“he said and it is absolutely “possible“assures Pascal Grosdoit, of the house that bears his name. The Grosdoit house, a Rouen institution for 35 years for meat and poultry.
Pascal Grosdoit himself is very involved in the restructuring of this Gournay hen sector under the impetus of the Normandy Region. “We have an exceptional garden in Normandy. Between Norman beef, Duclair duck and Gournay hen“he rejoices.
– Bénédicte Robin
“She has all the qualities to be on the big tables“assures Pascal Grosdoit who intends to give him the renowned for certain large poultry such as Bresse chicken or Licques poultry.
“But it’s a lot of work“to build a sector, also to give people a taste in order to make this Norman treasure more than 200 years old but which had been put aside a little since the end of the Second World War.
In any case, the curiosity is there. Because the first 400 chickens provided by the Yvetot agricultural school with whom he has entered into a partnership, have quickly found a buyer without difficulty for the end-of-year celebrations.