Chicken Feet
Unfamiliar China brings you the best Chinese chicken feet recipes at dim sum. With these detailed instructions for how to make chicken feet of all styles, you can easily learn how to make delicious Cantonese dim sum on your own!
Though looked down upon as a food in most countries, chicken feet are an important part of Chinese cuisine, whether marinated or simmered. Making use of every part of the animal reflects the true breadth of Chinese culinary culture.
What is Chicken Feet?
Chicken feet are also commonly known as phoenix claws. After being prepared, they make chewy, delicious snacks. Yet they are not calorie-dense, making them the perfect food for those who are calorie conscious. Additionally, chicken feet are full of collagen, which is great for skin care.
In Cantonese dim sum tea houses, phoenix claws refers to rosy, glistening chicken feet that have been fried and then simmered. For serving, they are placed in a small dish, which is then placed in a bamboo steamer to keep it hot.
One variation of the dish is baiyun chicken feet, which are made in the same way as baiyun pork knuckle. Chicken feet are frequently simmered together with peanuts and cowpeas. Other chicken feet dishes include oil-brined chicken feet, chicken feet with sand ginger sauce, Guangdong bittern chicken feet, and salt-baked chicken feet. Then there are even Thai deboned hot and sour chicken feet and more.
Chicken Feet Toothpicks
A mime performance entitled Eating Chicken Feet from the early 1980’s dramatically displays the ingenuity and industriousness of the Chinese people in utilizing animal protein sources.
During the same period, CCTV aired a special about the different ways people use chicken feet. Included in this special was a refined chicken feet-lover from Shanghai whose specialty was making toothpicks by gnawing clean the fine bones near the chicken’s ankle.
