The Greatest Retailer-Purchased Rooster I’ve Ever Roasted—Right here’s Why It Tastes So Good

I do not keep in mind precisely after I noticed the hen model LaBelle Patrimoine pop up in my native Entire Meals Market. However I do keep in mind tasting the corporate’s chickens for the primary time. After dry-brining an entire hen in a single day and roasting it, I minimize into the chicken for a style. The meat was tender and succulent, and the schmaltzy yellow fats was so deeply flavorful that I might have fortunately eaten the fats by itself—no meat, sauce, or sides required. You may chalk it as much as my dry-brining or roasting method, however I’ve dry-brined and roasted dozens of chickens, and none have ever come near being as scrumptious as this one. 

I discussed my expertise to my Severe Eats coworkers, and our affiliate editorial director, Megan, instantly chimed in to say that she had just lately found LaBelle Patrimoine and was as smitten as I used to be. We’re not the one followers: An Instagram consumer gushed that the model’s chickens style “so a lot better than any store-bought hen you’ve got ever had,” and New York Instances columnist Eric Kim described it because the “chickeniest hen” just a few weeks in the past.

Curious what may clarify why their chickens are so good, I took a have a look at their web site. They level to numerous elements that probably do make a distinction: the breed of hen, their farming practices, and the way the chickens are processed after the slaughter. In accordance with the positioning, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based firm works with about 40 small Pennsylvania farms to boost a heritage breed from France that takes longer to mature and develop a deeper taste than many of the fast-growing typical chickens that prioritize pace and effectivity over taste.

The LaBelle Patrimonie chickens are additionally Step 4 Animal Welfare Licensed, which ensures the birds have entry to out of doors shelter, shade, a dust-bathing space, and freedom to forage in open air. It is a designation that carries considerably extra weight than unregulated phrases like “all pure.” The birds are pasture-raised, which implies they spend most of their time open air; this designation is often a step up from “free vary,” which typically simply means the hens have entry to the outside. 

There’s quite a bit to be mentioned concerning the ethics of typical poultry farming practices; the demand for affordable hen has pushed many hen producers to boost chickens in inhumane situations. Because the Systemic Justice Journal touched on in 2021, many conventionally-raised broiler chickens are “genetically modified to develop so quick their legs can’t maintain their weight,” making it troublesome, if not unattainable, for them to maneuver. Usually, these chickens lack entry to out of doors house and are confined to small cages. Not solely are typical poultry-farming practices merciless, however they have a tendency to provide lacklustre chickens that, for my part, merely do not style pretty much as good. 

After slaughter, the LaBelle chickens are air-chilled, a course of that many people right here at Severe Eats imagine yields hen with higher taste and texture in comparison with the extra frequent apply of water-chilling in a chlorine resolution. As former Severe Eats editor Kenji notes in his article on learn how to butcher a hen, air-chilled chickens are higher worth (since they do not retain water the way in which water-chilled birds would) and now have a extra concentrated taste. 

Along with being Animal Welfare Licensed, LaBelle Patrimione makes use of a regenerative method to farming, exhibiting that it is attainable to boost scrumptious chickens thoughtfully, humanely, and sustainably. In French, “La Belle Patrimoine” means “a wonderful heritage.” Their chickens are, certainly, a wonderful heritage—but when the corporate evokes different suppliers to boost scrumptious birds the way in which they do, then that, I might argue, can be an much more lovely legacy.

June, 2025