Text 20100, 102 rader
Skriven 2007-09-06 22:24:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av BURTON FORD
Ärende: Re: Chicken Feet
========================
 BF> I love these sweet lovely things.
 BF> I have acquaintances who are sure I'm far off weird for liking them.

I like them too. I was going to write a piece on them but Eddie Lin,
owner of the Deep End Dining blog (specializing in far off weird
food) (at www.deependdining.com) said it better than I can. He had
this to say:

"One of the most disingenuous claims a freshly minted multi-million
dollar lottery winner can make is that the money will not change his
life. True, just before winning the jackpot this lucky schmuck was
eating macaroni and cheese straight out of a pock marked pot, but
that doesn't mean all those extra zeros in his bank account will
have him eating foie gras and black truffles out of the same pot any
time soon. Moreover, he pledges to continue to go to work - clocking
in, putting in an honest day and clocking out. Socially he won't do
anything extraordinary, maybe just take a vacation to Hawaii once a
year but not much more. Right.

I'm here to state for the record that if I ever won any significant
amount of money, my life would transform into a party train - you
better get on board! And as far as work is concerned, shoot, being
rich is hard work! Who has time to toil when being fabulously
wealthy is a full time job in and of itself? Just ask Jamie Johnson.

I'd ride my hover tram from the residential wing of my palazzo
to the banquet hall. Once there I'd take my morning oolong and read
the paper as a parade of dim sum carts marched around the hall,
their drivers (all supermodels) calling out the delightful snacks
they're shuttling, hoping that one of their wares will pique my
palate. Not to mention that all of the dim sum divas' attention
would be focused completely on me since I'm the sole diner. That
means I'd be the only one hogging up my favorite dim sum dish -
chicken feet.

This is one dim sum dish I adore more than any other. I love it more
than har gow (shrimp dumpling). I love it more than siu my (pork and
shrimp dumpling). I even love it more than taro ball - a delicately
flaky and crunchy ball of mashed taro root, pork and dried shrimp.
The fact is I use chicken feet as the benchmark for good dim sum at
any restaurant offering authentic dim sum. If the chicken feet
aren't excellent, chances are the other dishes aren't exceptional
either. Plus, after eating second-rate chicken feet, I just want to
make like chicken feet and scram. But since this is MY fantasy, the
chicken feet I'm relishing are flawless. However, when I'm not
dreaming of sudden and extreme wealth, I like to chomp real life
chicken feet at the acclaimed Ocean Seafood in Los Angeles's
Chinatown.... the 900 pound gorilla of LA's Chinatown dim sum scene.
It can handle just about any wedding banquet maybe with the
exception of a mass Moonie wedding reception. Hugely popular so be
prepared to wait - bring lots of friends, your 40 gig iPod or "The
Lord of the Rings" the book! Long lines at popular dim sum
restaurants forming at peak hours can make people think the Red
Cross is giving away disaster relief or it's the '80s again and the
last fifty Cabbage Patch Kids are on the shelves. But at Ocean
Seafood the long lines translate into "there's mindblowing dim sum
inside".

The most frequently asked question concerning chicken feet after
"Uh, do you eat the nails?" is "Why do you eat chicken feet? There's
no meat." It's true that there's not much flesh on chicken feet but
that's not the reason why fans enjoy them...and, hello, McFly, the
nails (talons) are clipped. Anyway, the appeal of chicken feet is
more nuanced than simply tearing a hunk of muscle off bone and
gnashing it. If you've ever eaten chicken feet, then you know the
first sensation to greet you is the velvety smooth skin, so delicate
it peels easily off of the diminutive bones. Following the
tantalizing texture is the perky sweetness of the dish that will
make your taste buds jump for joy. Finally and unexpectedly, you'll
be pleased by how succulent the tendon and ligaments are.

To achieve these pleasant characteristics the chicken feet are
cooked in a four-part process. Basically, they cook the hell out of
it. How else would you turn skin-tight, tendony, throwaway parts not
even a famished, rabid hyena would eat into a small culinary
miracle? Not surprisingly, chicken feet's explosion of flavor comes
from a dream team of seasoning and spices - star anise, chile,
garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce and black bean converge to form a
savory magic potion. You will taste every pod of spice, dash of
seasoning and drop of sauce when you wriggle your tongue in ways you
never thought you could, maneuvering and coaxing every delicious,
edible bit off of the bone.

Chicken feet is infamously difficult to eat but once you've mastered
the technique you'll be spitting out clean bones like a tommy gun
blasts rounds of bullets. Eating chicken feet is like learning to
tango with your tongue; only here a chicken's foot is your dance
partner. Ladies, if you're one of those talented honeys hangin' out
at bars tying maraschino cherry stems with only your tongue, then
polishing off a tin of chicken feet will be a snap. Also, any woman
who's never tasted chicken feet and tries it, automatically gets the
Extreme Makeover bump in my eyes - she's instantly sexier. What can
I say? Chicken feet: it's cheaper than a nip and tuck." - Eddie

Cheers

YK Jim


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