The Coucou de Rennes is the city's own barred grey-and-white chicken breed, slow-grown and firm-fleshed, saved from extinction in the 1980s and now a fixture on Rennes menus; in France we have verified places to eat it in Rennes. Start with where to eat Coucou de Rennes in Rennes.
Coucou de Rennes · Rennes
The Coucou de Rennes is the city's own barred grey-and-white chicken breed, slow-grown and firm-fleshed, saved from extinction in the 1980s and now a fixture on Rennes menus.
The breed was standardised around Rennes in the nineteenth century and was the dominant table bird of Ille-et-Vilaine before industrial poultry displaced it. By the late 1980s the population had collapsed to a handful of birds, and a conservation programme run through the Écomusée du Pays de Rennes rebuilt it from that remnant. Coucou birds take five to six months to reach table weight against six weeks for a commercial broiler, which gives the meat a denser grain and a much stronger flavour, and makes it expensive. It now appears on Rennes bistro menus as a marker of local sourcing, usually roasted whole, grilled over wood or braised long enough to soften the working muscle.
Where to eat in Rennes:
- Jozy
- Coquille
- Fezi
Where to eat Coucou de Rennes in Rennes: the editor picks