Chicken licken

That’s the title of one of the little books in the early reader series I used to read to my children. I can’t remember the story now but so far, I haven’t seen it again recently when I browsed the shelves in the bookstores to survey potential first books for Alman. I’d given away almost all of my children’s collection to my grand nieces and nephews several years ago when we moved house, so got to start a new collection now. In any case, baa baa black sheep, humpty dumpty and sing-a song-of-six pence are mandatory.

Since I’ve had to make chicken soup (with a lot of ginger and garlic) regularly for Alman’s mummy after she came back from the hospital, my interest in chicken has been somewhat intensified. I’d always gone for the air-chilled anti-biotic residue-free ones before this. The butcher had once explained to me that the plastic wrapping for the “air-chilled” chicken is not laced with chemical preservative unlike the rest. In that sense, their turnover is expected to be higher and they are hence, fresher. But they are not anti-biotic free, only antibiotic residue free, right? So, going by all folks’ advice, I went scouting for “ayam kampung”. The ones I had seen in the supermarkets always looked gaunt and dried up. No matter how good they are lauded to be, I’d never been induced to bring one home. They are still there, always a bit too big for my liking. I had bought a range-free chicken once costing almost twice the price of the air-chilled variety, but could not detect any difference in the texture or taste of the meat. Then I found this mini-sized Al-Masyhur ayam kampung in Max Value which was totally enticing. It must be spring chicken too. The guy in charge didn’t look like he had time to engage in a chat with me , or rather, in answering any questions I had about the characteristics of the chicken. But when I went back for another the following week, I told him that the chicken made especially delicious soup….”manis”. Even my daughter noticed the difference. But you’d have to get it really fresh, otherwise you’d have to do all kinds of tricks to get rid of the smell even though the meat is edible.

Another discovery is “sakura chicken” in Isetan supermarket. The price is slightly higher than that of ayam kampung. This Japanese guy tried telling me in faltering English that this chicken variety was “clean, white and sexless”. I was repulsed at the idea of eating meat of a freak chicken! Noticing my disbelief, he called a Malay staff over to explain and from her I found out that these chickens are actually virgins (“ayam dara belum bertelur”). She pointed out that while ayam kampung is always male (‘jantan”), sakura chicken is always female. Also that sakura chicken is, like ayam kampung, anti-biotic free but fed a special diet and the meat is especially tender. Well, it is true…it makes pretty clear, tasty soup and I thought my honey chicken was better than ever, the meat tender though well fried. I still have some in the fridge to try out Izaz’s lemon chicken recipe and roast chicken too.

So by the time Alman is ready for macaroni chicken soup and chicken porridge, Opah should know which chicken is best, when and where to get them freshest. Come to think of it, he’s got bears, monkeys, lions, on his jumpsuits and t-shirts, but not a single chicken!