black chicken

[OliverB]

A Ranch 99 Asian market opened here yesterday (hooray!) and I got a little selection of game birds (partridge, pheasant, etc) and also could not resist a small black chicken. I'm kind of thinking of roasting them all together like Jamie Oliver did in a Jamie at Home episode (though I don't have a wood fired oven - yet). But I can't find info on roasting a black chicken, I find references to soups etc.

So, can this black chicken be roasted or will I end up with a black rubber chicken for Halloween?

I'd be happy to use it in a soup or any other dish of course. They're quite pretty birds, with silky feathers that almost look like soft fur.

Thanks!

Oliver (who's contemplating what to do with the two true red snappers in the fridge)

[KennethT]

A Ranch 99 Asian market opened here yesterday (hooray!) and I got a little selection of game birds (partridge, pheasant, etc) and also could not resist a small black chicken. I'm kind of thinking of roasting them all together like Jamie Oliver did in a Jamie at Home episode (though I don't have a wood fired oven - yet). But I can't find info on roasting a black chicken, I find references to soups etc.

So, can this black chicken be roasted or will I end up with a black rubber chicken for Halloween?

I'd be happy to use it in a soup or any other dish of course. They're quite pretty birds, with silky feathers that almost look like soft fur.

Thanks!

Oliver (who's contemplating what to do with the two true red snappers in the fridge)

Do a google search for Silky chicken... the black chickens are typically called 'silky's because of their soft feathers... I gather they actually make decent pets... Silky's are very common for Chinese to eat when pregnant, elderly and I think around New Years... typically silky's are used in soup - otherwise i think the skin gets pretty rubbery and the meat is tough...

[OliverB]

thanks, maybe I'll make a nice soup with that bird instead of roasting it then. Seems to be the way to go.

[John Rosevear]

A friend and I saw some (live) silkies in a kill-to-order place in Boston's Chinatown recently and were wondering what to do with them beyond the traditional medicinal soups. Has anyone tried slow-roasting them? I mean, if the skin is going to be rubbery anyway... maybe a barbecue treatment would work? (By which I mean a low-slow-fire cooking process, not so much the ketchup and whatnot). Ordinary supermarket chickens tend to get a big mushy in a bbq cooker, but with the right seasonings it seems like it might suit these. Am I off base?