Does anybody have any information, links or knowledge about swiss chicken? I know in the supermarket there are the normal, free-range and bio varieties, but sometimes the chicken is labelled as 'Swiss'. Do they have high standards for this label (like the RSPCA freedom food label in the UK) or is it simply born and bred here? Thanks
Well,the chickens grew up in Switzerland before they were dinner,so that must be kinda cool ....until of course the wacking,which is pretty much the same for all chickens,free range or not
In principle, it's just a declaration of origin. But in Switzerland it is not allowed to keep chickens in batteries, so they live in free run (Bodenhaltung) or free range (Freiland) facilities. The EU is in a transitional phase and some countries allow cage facilities until 2012.
I am not an expert to chicken breeding, but anyone has ever experienced or have seen as small little litters as those mini chicken that they sell from MIGROS for CHF6-CHF10? Last time I saw a poor little chiken on offer in size of the human fist
Might also be "Mistkratzerli" - sorry, the closest translation I found is muckraker ;-), or Coquelets in French. They are kind of smallish chickens (though I have never ever seen one alive.....) --> compare here: http://ja6.free.fr/fichiers/v20.htm
You might be right. It was placed in poultry section in MIGROS (Baden Bahnhof) where usually I get the normal size chicken for CHF11. It looked the same (I won't expatiate here on description because I might be judged by lack of taste). Next time around, I will take a better look at the label, but we couldn't stop laughing last time with my girfriend when we considered it as a stomach filling supper
Yup, stomach-filling it ain't, they're usually stuffed to avoid that. Still need a couple of them, unless you're into tiny portions. While quite good in taste and texture, I find them to be too expensive to bother with. Migros also sells quail eggs (if you like tiny fried eggs sunny side up ).
@herc82
When I first saw "Mistkratzerli" (lil dung scratchers) on the menu I had to chuckle as well, but they're young roosters (coquelets), about hamfistsized (+/- 500g) as opposed to fistsized and usually around 7 Fr. My favourite recipe is marinaded rosemary/sage Mistkratzerli .
Sorry for hijacking this thread (will make up for it in the next post), but I remember there was a question about "where can I find a mobile stall selling grilled chicken around (I think it was) Thalwil?"
Found a list here for the Natura Güggeli group, locations and times at the end of the pdf.
There's been a scandal about chickens from China (antibiotics) or Brasil being labelled as "Swiss" when the final processing is done in Switzerland (like breading or forming into nuggets). It takes some careful reading of the label to see if it really is "Swiss"...
I have a question. Are the chickens in Switzerland 'growth hormone' free? Although I could do with some growth hormones I just bought a step ladder so it will be a waste if suddenly become taller
As far as I can tell from lack of media coverage in the last ten years, yes. Otherwise, Kassensturz would definitely have mentioned it, as the cantonal
. Also, the growth cycle of chickens is so steep, growth hormones are unnecessary and would only drive up the producer's cost. Seems like the holy margin is for once working in favour of not using moob -boosters.
Want a really delicious chicken, juicy, tasty, and correctly breeded? Buy it at the open air market (poulet fermier, bio if possible; the top is the "yellow chicken", fed only with corn). expensive, but worth it! Bette eat a delicious chicken twice a month than a old sole twice a week...
completely agree with this - also the better tasting meat is always the better reared - this is the idea we were starting to adopt in England before we moved to Switzerland so we are interested to keep up the good work. In the UK at the moment there are a number of sources promoting animal welfare (Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall etc). Is there anything similar in Switzerland or Europe?