Silkies or Black-skinned Chicken

We got it wrong on a recent podcast. Having observed black-skinned chicken frozen in Asian markets, consumed it at the Maryland Club, then researched it on the web, I'm now befuddled, even embarrassed regarding those words "as white as chicken breast meat gets." A more accurate assessement would have described the meat to be "not as black as the skin." I make this correction after cooking a silkie, as the Asians call them, last night using a New York Times recipe. The result presented an interesting photo op and something novel for Mrs. Yi's and my dinner. I do suspect, however, that Mrs. Yi might have passed had she observed a bit of the visual yuk in the kitchen from start to finish.

Though Unique Culinary Adventures craves the unusual and offbeat, we'll pass on the gross. No image, therefore, is shown of the thawed black-headed, black-footed raw bird that came home with me on Friday from Han A Reun. It remained almost as ugly after the head and feet were removed and the carcass quartered. The instructions in the Times were straight-forward and easy to follow. A photograph that relates to this recipe as prepared at Manhattan's Chow Bar appears in the associated Times article. Interestingly, this image lacks any clear visual evidence of the definitive coconut curry component.

Stewed to falling from the bones, the meat was tender, and similar in flavor and taste to the kind of chicken we're used to. My big complaint was it was not finding it distinctive enough. Everything about that definitive coconut-curry component, however, was sublime.

Meanwhile, a couple of Cornish game hens await our attention in the freezer, and I wonder how they might work with this recipe as a silkie substitute. Perhaps sometime in the next month, such could be their fate. Or maybe instead we'll use those partidges from the AA Interational Supermarket that I referred to in another recent podcast. Stay tuned.