Oh, the quandary for Jews on Easter Sunday. What to do? What to do? Virtually everything is closed. If you drive within 100 yards of any church you’ll get stuck in at least 15 minutes of traffic. There are no sports on. It’s a pretty boring day.
Thus, Sam and I ventured off to one of our favorite Chinese places for Dim Sum on Easter Sunday morning. We waited the requisite 40 minutes and then went to town. For the first time, we decided to try the Cantonese favorite that is chicken feet. Let me sum it up quickly: flavor – amazing, texture – challenging.
Chicken feet have this amazing concentrated-chicken-goodness flavor. It’s really good. That being said, the texture is very challenging and this was for two guys who have eaten Asian food since toddlerhood. I can best describe the texture describing how one eats them. It’s like sucking very gelatenous chicken’y goodness from little shards of bone. Even for me, it’s not easy.
Would I order them again? Probably not, but I encourage any daring dim sum fan out there to give them a try. They’re definitely worth trying once.
I like chicken as much as the next person (though obviously Turkey is way better…stay tuned) but having to nibble little bits of chicken gelatin off of these gnarley, spikey little feet, well, it was not my cup of tea. Just now I’m realizing those were the chicken’s FEET, not just “chicken feet” but the FEET of the chicken. Ya, now I’m grossed out. Probably not eating that again. That said, still way better than the bone marrow I got at Ray’s the Steaks, that tasted like liquified-buttery-metal. (the steak though, drool, so good.)
You should write a post about that marrow. It was pretty gross.
I don’t think I would be a fan of gelatenous chicken. Those two words shouldn’t be in the same sentence.
Just so you know, I’ll be reading about your escapades! I love food.
I’m an American expat living in Guangdong Province, China; chicken feet really are popular here. You can even buy packets of them to eat on the road or while walking through a park. I personally prefer not to eat them. Too much work for too little gain. You want a real treat with chicken? Try their black chicken soup. Nothing is more shocking to foreigners than a black chicken claw poking out of steaming, turgid liquid. And yes, that thing bobbing next to the protruding foot is the head. Mm, mm, good.