Bresse

Bresse (Arpitan: Brêsse) is a former French province. It is located in the regions of Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne, and Franche-Comté of eastern France. The geographical term Bresse has two meanings: Bresse bourguignonne (or louhannaise), which is situated in the east of the department of Saône-et-Loire, and Bresse, which is located in the department of Ain. The corresponding adjective is bressan, and the inhabitants are Bressans.

Bresse extends from the Dombes on the south to the Doubs River on the north, and from the Saône eastwards to the Jura mountains, measuring some 60 miles in the former, and 20 miles in the latter direction. It is a plain varying from 600 to 800 feet above the sea, with few eminences and a slight inclination westwards. Heaths and coppice alternate with pastures and arable land; pools and marshes are numerous, especially in the north. Its chief rivers are the Veyle, the Reyssouze and the Seille, all tributaries of the Saône. The soil is a gravelly clay but moderately fertile, and cattle-raising is largely carried on. The region is, however, more especially celebrated for its table poultry.

Bresse chicken

The poulet de Bresse (French pronunciation: ​[pu.lɛ d(ə) bʁɛs]) or volaille de Bresse is a French chicken product which has appellation d'origine contrôlée status. It may be produced only from white chickens of the Bresse breed raised within a legally defined area of the historic region and former province of Bresse, in eastern France.

History

The chickens of the Bresse region have long enjoyed a high reputation. The lawyer, politician, epicure and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826), who was born at Belley in the Ain, is supposed to have described the Bresse chicken as "the queen of poultry, the poultry of kings". The name Volaille de Bresse, used for both chicken products and for the dinde de Bresse, the turkey of the area, received legal protection on 22 December 1936; this became an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) in 1957. Today the poulet de Bresse has the reputation of being the best quality table chicken in the world. The chef Georges Blanc, who is from Bourg-en-Bresse, has been president of the Comité Interprofessionnel de la Volaille de Bresse, the association which oversees the product, since 1986.Alan Davidson described the poulet de Bresse as the "aristocrat of modern table poultry", and Heston Blumenthal selected it for one of the dishes in his book In Search of Perfection.

Bresse (disambiguation)

Bresse is an area and former province in eastern France.

Bresse may also refer to:

Places