La Cour d'Armoise Whole Chicken

La Cour d'Armoise is a heritage chicken raised by Pascal Cosnet, a sixth-generation poultry farmer at the Patis farm in Coulans-sur-Gée, Sarthe. These are not modern broiler birds. They take significantly longer to mature, they forage freely across more than 6 hectares of grassland, and the result is a chicken with a depth of flavour, a firmness of texture, and a richness of fat that bears very little resemblance to anything you will find in standard retail.

What makes Cour d'Armoise distinctive is the diet. The birds are fed cereals grown on the farm — maize and wheat — supplemented with essential oils and a proprietary blend of more than 25 wild plants gathered from certified farms, including dandelion, nettle, bramble, and horsetail. In the final stage before slaughter, the birds go through a finishing period in which they are fed a blend of five specific plants and whole cow's milk. This finishing process distributes fat evenly through the flesh and develops the bird's characteristic flavour — rich, complex, and noticeably different from even good free-range chicken.

Cour d'Armoise is a name that appears regularly on the menus of France's top restaurants, and Cosnet's birds are a staple of Michelin-starred kitchens. The breed, the diet, the farming methods, and the finishing process all contribute to a bird that rewards simple cooking — it does not need to be dressed up.

FINE & WILD prepares each bird in-house on the day it arrives from France. The birds are trussed using traditional techniques to promote even cooking, then blast frozen to −30°C to preserve freshness. They arrive oven-ready with no giblets.

Producer: Pascal Cosnet, La Cour d'Armoise / Volailles du Patis, Coulans-sur-Gée, Sarthe, France

Ingredients: Whole chicken (heritage breed)

Storage: Store frozen. Defrost in the refrigerator for 24–48 hours before cooking. Once defrosted, use within 2 days. Do not refreeze.