Chicken feet
Jun. 19th, 2007 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranIt's 4:41 pm and I'm craving chicken feet.
I'm not sure how I came to consider poultry offcuts as comfort food, but right now I'm cold and I'm hungry, and I know what I want.
My memories are probably coloured by the last time we had dim sum with my extended family. I was playing with Liem when the orders were taken and I just managed to catch Linda, one of the restaurant owners as she was leaving with our order. I asked if she had the beef tripe (my usual favourite), and she said no, and offered the chicken feet instead. "It's funny," said my sister, "They're completely different and yet they're both scary things to eat."
Anyway, for some reason, the chicken feet that day were the best I'd ever tasted. It is an odd sort of thing to eat, but there's a certain method to the madness. They're not so much Slow Food as Slowing Down Food. They make a poor and mundane food if simply eaten, but they make a truly great food if savoured. You slow down, you stop to enjoy each moment, and the result is wondrous. There's a succession of different tastes and textures. It's not just about flavour, but about the whole experience - slippery, gooey, crunchy, sticky, so many different textures one after the other. Slow down and you lose yourself in the food. Chicken feet for the soul, if you like.
Maybe it's yum cha again next week...
I'm not sure how I came to consider poultry offcuts as comfort food, but right now I'm cold and I'm hungry, and I know what I want.
My memories are probably coloured by the last time we had dim sum with my extended family. I was playing with Liem when the orders were taken and I just managed to catch Linda, one of the restaurant owners as she was leaving with our order. I asked if she had the beef tripe (my usual favourite), and she said no, and offered the chicken feet instead. "It's funny," said my sister, "They're completely different and yet they're both scary things to eat."
Anyway, for some reason, the chicken feet that day were the best I'd ever tasted. It is an odd sort of thing to eat, but there's a certain method to the madness. They're not so much Slow Food as Slowing Down Food. They make a poor and mundane food if simply eaten, but they make a truly great food if savoured. You slow down, you stop to enjoy each moment, and the result is wondrous. There's a succession of different tastes and textures. It's not just about flavour, but about the whole experience - slippery, gooey, crunchy, sticky, so many different textures one after the other. Slow down and you lose yourself in the food. Chicken feet for the soul, if you like.
Maybe it's yum cha again next week...
