11353 Mon Jan 20 11:15:14 -0800 2003 19 4 Pacific Northwest 0 16885 Irwin, You are very knowledgeable concerning Asian ingredients and cooking techniques. Can you please let me know the info on those blue chickens I see in Asian markets? (None of my cookbooks mentions them.) Why are they blue? What specific recipes are they used for? (I have never seen blue chicken on a menu even in some pretty obscure Asian restaurants.) Let me know if you can. Thank you! Leper Mon Jan 20 11:15:14 -0800 2003 0 Leper 1 16893 LEPER: i'll be pleased to follow up your inquiry and research this interesting new development by first responding to you directly for more information and then eventually posting the results to the message board. you'd have been interested in the mixed dozen leghorn eggs available at cornell university with 4 blue shelled eggs, 4 green shelled eggs and 4 pink shelled eggs that they used to sell on campus. Tue Jan 21 04:59:55 -0800 2003 16885 0 irwin koval 1 16894 Search for "black chicken" and ye shall find. Popular in Korean restaurants, among others. Tue Jan 21 09:05:19 -0800 2003 16885 0 empty stomach 2 16901 Empty Stomach:the type of black chicken that is served in korean restaurants may be of two types. [1] leghorn chickens bred for the asian market that's only difference from regular leghorns is that they have black feet skin that's a excuse to charge premium price for the bird.[2] black chicken is also a asian herbal medicine used in chinese, maylaysian and korean cultures that contains no chicken. [something like new york egg creams soda's with no cream or eggs]in korean food this is served cooked into chicken broth. the bird Leper is interested in is "blue" not "black" and he has seen it in seattle markets. Tue Jan 21 13:37:34 -0800 2003 16894 0 irwin koval 1 16896 The reason you have not seen those game birds (not really chickens) in Chinese restaurants is due to their almost exclusive use in tonic soups that usually get made at home with other things added to make a medicinal/health soup. Grace Young's book has a recipe. regards, trillium Tue Jan 21 11:59:48 -0800 2003 16885 0 trillium 2 16900 TRILLIUM: i'm pretty sure that the type of game bird your mentioning is regularly served in restaurants it's known by the common name of "Teal" and it skin may have a greenish or bluish tint but is not the chicken that "Leper" is interested in as i'm sure that being the type of chowhound he is that the difference between a chicken and a type of duck would be appearent. Tue Jan 21 13:25:17 -0800 2003 16896 0 irwin koval 3 16902 I'm talking about "black chickens" aka Silkies which are not really chickens from what I've read, they're a game bird, like a guinea hen. I didn't say anything about ducks. Here's an url showing the bird in the soup and showing it raw. That's what I presumed Leper was talking about. I rarely see it offered at Chinese restaurants but maybe I don't get out much. regards, trillium Link: http://www.restaurantsweb.com/recipes/peter_tsang.jpg Tue Jan 21 13:42:09 -0800 2003 16900 0 trillium 4 16903 I posted the wrong pic in my previous post. This is the one that shows the chicken raw and cooked. regards, trillium Link: http://starbulletin.com/2002/08/28/features/story1.html Tue Jan 21 13:46:51 -0800 2003 16902 0 trillium 5 16912 Trillium, thanks for this interesting post. I know the original search is for blue chicken, but do you know where to find black chicken? Tue Jan 21 15:45:37 -0800 2003 16903 0 jay 6 16914 You can find them in the freezer section of almost any Asian grocery. Here in Portland I've seen them at An Dong, Om Seafood and Uwajimaya. regards, trillium Tue Jan 21 16:36:50 -0800 2003 16912 0 trillium 5 16922 Trillium: thank you for the information. The 'chinese black silkie" chickens had been introduced to honolulu appearently via a sister city program with china. at that time they were only available in hawaii and vancouver, B.C. i had fun serving them to my grandchildren who only liked the dark meat on chickens as a special treat. there was talk of bringing them to san franciso and it must have been successfull as it's now available in seattle. Now if you can help find the "blue" chickens? Tue Jan 21 19:22:32 -0800 2003 16903 0 irwin koval 6 16935 Hi there, I was under the impression that "black chicken" = silkie with black feathers, "blue chicken" = silkie with white feathers but they both go as "gai dum". Here is a photo of a "blue chicken", is this the blue chicken in quesiton? regards, trillium Link: http://www.truetex.com/bluechicken.jpg Wed Jan 22 16:44:56 -0800 2003 16922 0 trillium 7 16943 Thank you for your wonderfull information. where did you get the great pictures from. i'm not computer competent enough to attempt attachments but your's seem to have come from a hong kong market stall best photo i've ever seen. if you know where this stall's located i'll have some friend's go shopping there and report about the taste and quality. i've still not been able to find any locally but will keep looking. only knew about the black silkies because of living in honolulu when they were introduced. just imagine soon unstead of chicken 3 ways you'd be able to order 3 colors at chinese restaurants. now that we've found the "blue's" hope someone locates where to buy them. Wed Jan 22 22:37:06 -0800 2003 16935 0 irwin koval 8 16944 That's actually from a stall in New York chinatown. I found it by searching for black chicken pictures on google groups. I'll post the link to the thread it was discussed (sci.chem) where someone saw them and wondered if they were dyed. I think they are available in SF/bay area too, I remember seeing them around. If you really wanted to find some in the pacific northwest, I'll bet you could find 4-H people or silkie chicken fanciers that might be willing to sell you some to eat, but you'd probably have to butcher them yourself! I wonder if the white silkies taste any different then the black ones, they might, since the skin is lighter on the white ones. regards, trillium Link: http://tinyurl.com/4td2 Thu Jan 23 16:28:02 -0800 2003 16943 0 trillium 9 16953 They sell the black chickens at the Ranch 99 store in Kent Fri Jan 24 08:51:16 -0800 2003 16944 0 Fishshooter 1 16995 finaly i've managed to experience "Black and Blue" Silky Chickens the majority of birds are imported into Seattle from British Columbia and are sold mostly frozen. Most Asian Markets seem to prefer the Black Birds and they sell for about $6.00. Couldn't find an Blue in Seattle so my friend sent me one cooked and steamed in ginger with green onions and "fardue" wine from restaurant in san francisco dish cost $13.75. the Black i purchased frozen from "lums" market only cost $4.99. both bird's were enjoyed by my dark meat eating grandaughters they taste more like cornish game hens but nothing close to the black game birds like grouse. okay as a novelty but not exciting eating experience. the broth on the blue bird was pleasant but my paper foiled preperation of the black with garlic, ginger and pepper was the favorite. curious if any one remembers the taste of the original cornish game hens featured by Victor Borge that actually had character and darkish breast meat while the modern birds are bland and almost all white fleshed. Wed Jan 29 20:11:44 -0800 2003 16885 0 irwin koval 2 17008 Do you mean "Lam's" market? One block south of Jackson St, one block east of 12th. Great market. In Thailand black chicken (gai dahm in Thai) is served only in fancy restaurants, and it's a bit like Shark Fin soup. Supposed to bring good health, and spendy. This is an interesting discussion. Now I need to go get some black chicken soup. Probably that New Kowloon restaurant on Jackson will have it. By the way my wife's dad in Thailand likes to eat those black chickens as well as a daily diet of five small raw eggs from a special kind of bird. His key to long life :) Thu Jan 30 14:27:22 -0800 2003 16995 0 Fritz 3 17014 Fritz: thank ou for the correction the name listed for the market is "Lam's Seafood Market" my current favorite in the International District. when i bought the chicken i was surprised to find coffee imported from vietnam " Trung Nguen Brand" Culi Robusta at a very reasonable price plus several varieties of beef broth [pho]and asian style chicken broth of superior quality and flash frozen imported "Rambtuan" that your wife may enjoy. Another interesting market recommended by "Leper" that i'm going to follow up soon is "Waynes Market" located in Burian [152nd and 1st avenue south] that features both Mexican and Asian foods as well as a Mexican Butcher Shop with high quality fresh Goat Meat. i'm disappointed by goat meat provided at Halal butcher shops in seattle. Please let us know if your successfull being served "Black Silky Chicken" at the New Kowloon Restaurant the "Yum Cha" is good plus free parking. I'll never forget the gigantic open air restaurant in Bangkok that specialized is "thai chicken" that served over 5000 chickens daily. Thu Jan 30 18:46:48 -0800 2003 17008 0 irwin koval 4 17018 I share your enthusiasm for Lam's market. Also, the imported beef and chicken cubes have excellent taste, better than American ones but I don't know why. I recall two years ago the Knorr brand chicken and tom yum cubes from Thailand were listed among Saveur's top 100. However, I have it from very reliable sources that the US FDA has recently embarked on a more restrictive policy with regard to imported products that contain meat products. This includes all imported beef and chicken bullion cubes. If you like those I suggest you buy one of the small cases now because they won't be on shelves long. Then again, you will continue to see bullion cubes made in USA that are not likely to be much different, but say goodbye to the imported ones that contain meat. The Vietnamese coffee you referenced is cheap but personally I think it tastes like cheap coffee. Fri Jan 31 14:13:22 -0800 2003 17014 0 Fritz 5 17027 FRITZ: The broth's i refered to are canned liquid asian seasoned beef and chicken broth's. The market has a very large selection of flavored cube's but i've found them to taste much to salty for my use, haven't tried very many. Vietmanese coffee is indeed inexpensive but of high quality. remember this is a filter drip type of french roast coffee made for vietmanesse taste and flavor. after reading your message i prepared 3 coffee's for a blind test and compared with 5 friends. my method was to take 250 grams of each coffee placed in a Militta #6 Filter with a pyrex coffee carafe and pour boiled tap water to the full level in container. the coffees used were "Trung Nguyen", "Starbuck's French Roast" and the vietnamesse restaurant's favorite "Cafe Du Monde" a coffee and chicory blend from New Orleans that's the most popular coffee throughout the united states for this community. The starbucks was ground similar to the other two coffee's and was the only one not pre-ground. the favorite was "Cafe du Monde" next "Trung Nguyen" and last 'Starbuck's. i also snuck in a forth item a blend of my personal favorite made up of 1/2 Cafe du Monde together with 1/2 Starbuck's and this was everyones choice. Lums Market Prices were $3.59 for 500 grams trung nguyen [about 18 oz.], $3.29 Cafe du Monde [15 oz.]it sell's for over $6.00 in non-vietnam stores and the internet, Starbuck's more expensive depending where you buy it. i've got a large container ready for iceing with sweetened condensed milk in my refrigerator. Fri Jan 31 22:17:10 -0800 2003 17018 0 irwin koval