Originating in the area around the town of Barbezieux in the south of the Charente, the Barbezieux chicken was bred from the Middle Ages onwards, and was popular until just after the Second World War when the fall in popularity of white eggs combined with more industralised agricultural systems caused its decline.

It had almost disappeared when, in 1997, a small group of farmers began raising it again. The way the birds are raised is strictly controlled – they must be kept in the open air, with a minimum of 4m2 of grassy space per bird and their feed must be 80 per cent cereal-based. The result? ‘Skin that is beautifully golden, with a fine odeur de froment. The meat is firm with a pronounced almost gamey flavour,’ says the highly-regarded French food guide Gault-Millau. Find it at butchers (boucheries) and supermarkets in the following towns: Angouleme, Dignac, Mouthiers, Gond Pontouvre, Soyaux, Ruelle, Cognac, Barbezieux, Baignes, Blanzac, Lignieres-Sonnecille, Segonzac, Montignac, Jonzac in the Charente-Maritime and in the Deux-Sevres, Niort and Arcais.