You have probably heard that saying “once you go black you never go back?” Well I recently went on a mission to discover if that was also true in the fowl family.  One of my favorite places in Seattle, Uwajimaya, sells black Silkie chickens.  I’ve been eyeballing their lush, purple- black skin for a few months now but I wanted to make something of them that would truly showcase their ebony splendor.  Silkie chickens are one of the oldest breeds of chicken, and the most well-documented and earliest mentions come from China.  They are prized today for their downy white plumage said to be as soft as silk- hence their name, Silkie.  From a culinary perspective they are most frequently seen in Chinese dishes such as soups and stews, but not very usual in Western culture.  I don’t mean to generalize, but I feel this is because they lack the over-bloated unnatural abundance of flesh most Westerners now expect on the genetically modified animal commonly known as a chicken. 

The texture of Silkie meat is tougher and more sinuous than most of us are used to, so going into the project I wanted to cook them in a style that would complement rather than overshadow this.  I decided a long slow cook at a low temperature would probably soften up the flesh, so I employed the use of the Sous Vide Supreme.  Though they are common in Chinese brothy soups, I don’t have a lot of experience with that, so I decided to incorporate Thai ingredients like coconut milk, galangal, lemongrass and lime leaves.  Without an insanely expensive vacuum sealer you really can’t seal too much liquid into the sous vide bag along with your meat, but my Foodsaver can accommodate a can of coconut milk if I press the seal button before too much liquid seeps up into the heat-sealing element.  If you have a Foodsaver and want to try this, here is a little trick I’ve discovered. When sealing liquids, bring the Foodsaver to the edge of the counter and hang the bag you want to seal off the edge.  Insert the edge to be sealed into the Foodsaver, but make sure the bag is hanging far below it, this way you will have gravity on your side and very little liquid will seep up into the element while allowing more air to be removed. 

Back to the Silkie.  Most Asian grocers sell Silkies with the head and feet attached, so if this is a problem of squeamishness for you a Silkie may not be your best bet.  The beauty of including the head and feet is that they give a significant amount of intense flavor and depth to whatever you’re cooking, especially in a braise or sous vide preparation.  What I am saying is don’t remove them, at least until you serve the dish as their flavor is prized, so work with it, not against it.  I butterflied my Silkie for more even cooking, then tossed it in a large Foodsaver bag.  I added a can of coconut milk, several rounds of lemongrass, an equivalent amount of galangal, three lime leaves, a Thai chili, some cilantro, a quartered fennel bulb, four cipolline and some salt.  Then I sealed the bag using the technique described above and immersed in the sous vide bath at 170° for seven hours.  I pulled the bag from the bath, cut it open and put the coconut milk, flavorings and fennel into a small stockpot.  I added a cup of chicken broth and set it to simmer over medium low heat in order to fully marry in the chicken broth.  Meanwhile, I set a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat inside which I placed a generous tablespoon of duck fat.  Once sizzling I added the chicken, skin side down.  I crisped it for five minutes, and then placed the skillet and chicken in a 400° oven for 10 minutes without moving the chicken at all.  At this point I removed the feet, placed the chicken in serving bowls, and poured the broth and veggies over it. 

The texture of the meat was unlike any fowl I’ve ever tasted, but perhaps the closest would be a Cornish game hen.  There is not a lot of meat on Silkies, really just a few bites of breast (which is more like turkey dark meat) and if you’re really resourceful a nibble or two on the legs and thighs.  The skin crisps up nicely, and reminds me a little of duck confit.  The real treat was the powerful flavor slow-cooking the bird imparted on the brothy sauce.  In order to enjoy a Silkie I had to forget my usual Western mindset and concentrate on the nuanced essence of the marriage of all the ingredients in the broth.  The Silkie broth seemed almost curative and restorative, like it would be the perfect thing to lap up in the throes of a bad cold. 

This first foray into the mighty power of the Silkie chicken will not be my last.  My head is ruminating with ideas on different ways to showcase the pretty bird, so expect more Silkie scenes in the months to come.  I really enjoyed all the Thai flavors, but next time I’m thinking a slow and low French braise might be interesting.  Also the birds are small enough that I could just confit them whole, crisp up their skin, then splay them on a bed of wilted greens.  The green and black would make such great contrast, much like the creamy white of the coconut milk and fennel against the delicate slate skin.