I always used to think that a Chicken was pretty much a chicken and not on my top list of must eat meats. Heck, give me succulent beef, gamy lamb or even porky pig any day.
However, just last week, I learned more about chicken than I have in my entire life and here are some interesting facts about the bird. Chickens today are ‘manufactured’ through accelerated growth processes, pumped with growth enhancers and fed antibiotics to make sure that it grows up big and fast with a better yield of meat. This unnatural speeding up of the life cycle, can actually bring the chicken to maturity in a short period of 36 days – unnatural and unhealthy indeed. When tested, some studies have shown that these engineered chicken have high levels of toxins in them. Needless to say, when these high profit yielding chicks make it to the markets , they get consumed by adults and children alike. Ignorance has often made us oblivious to the levels of nutrition or even toxins present in our diet. Eating expensive supermarket food, does not make it any less toxic if the source is compromised.
Anyway organic chicken are of the highest quality, where the living conditions, right down to the grain fed are strictly controlled using only natural means of farming. However, not all the feed available in Malaysia can be organic in nature and as such, the next best thing is the free range Chicken. Free range is a method of farming where chicken are allowed to roam freely instead of being contained. This free-range method is preferred over mass farming of chicken because it is less stressful on the chicken and therefore, the chicken ends up producing less or close to no toxins at all. Just think of it as ‘chick on holiday’.. happy, carefree and toxin free! Anyway, all this I learned from one Mr Gerald d’Cruz of the Kuala Lipis Sunshine Chicken farm. An extremely intelligent entrepreneur and also the person from whom we got this invite to lunch, via Babe in the City KL. So, on to the lunch.
Firstly, a quick tour of Jin Chwan, the famous seafood wholesaler, just next door to Chef Tam’s. I think they like us to see just how fresh our food is before we consume it.
Alaskan King Crab. I can see why it’s called the king. All I can say is that your pockets better be deep, to eat this baby here on a regular basis. For the meal, as well as for your Cardiologist.
Just a spoonful of lemon makes the oyster go down, in the most delightful way. Ask Cumi, as he only just got the hang of eating this slithery slippery morsel. Pacific oysters.. metallic, sweet and engorged .. outstanding.
A capon is a castrated cockerel and this was the pièce de résistance that us hungry bloggers were gathered here for. After caponisation, you will find the feel of the cock’s meat tender and less stringy. I think what this means is that you get a more female-like texture in the meat – i.e. softer, fattier and more plump. As with the human species, the male tends to have testosterone that makes the man harder. Muscle, I mean. You can see from the photo above that the skin yellow and thick. It has in fact, got a really ‘crunchy’ texture. Strange but completely delectable! Sunshine Chicken rocks.
The rest of the following dishes, were just a result of Chef Tam showing off. Man, I love it when a great Chef shows off and I am participating in the food! The deep sea grouper, not too large nor small with a fantastic flaky texture and sweetness in flesh that cries out ‘alive and swimming just a second ago’.
The normal, uncastrated, free range roast chicken was delicious but paled in comparison with the castrated cock. Lovely wobbly tofu – not a term I want to hear from the guy standing behind me at Kickboxing sparring, for sure;)
Dessert was the black as night, guai lin gou with a generous amout of fruit cocktail. An excellent end to the meal.
If you would like to know more about the Sunshine chicken, kindly contact Mr Gerald d’Cruz at 012-2085590 or visit www.sunshinechicken.com
Read who else has blogged this… here
That pic of the yellow skin is “Phwoaaar!” So terra. No need better camera d lah. Stick to your sony.
Happy chikin tastes bettar! And the name Sunshine Chicken seems to have translated into the skin too!
But hmm, how do they castrate the chickens at that farm?
woot! so informative your post 😀 btw the roast chicken is aint normal chicken… its the other free range chicken called ma cho kai (horse grass chicken) yumyum
munkey:
gee thx;) but erm.. any excuse to go shopping!
camemberu:
totally agree. sunshine skin , more like! how do they do it? apparently it’s a really neat, small, incision in the side, and then the swift and pain-free removal of the bird’s testes eliminates the male sex hormones.
babe KL:
thx;)
wow, stunning pics la. who’d have thought it was from a P&S. you da gal!
*pouts at the fact that she wasn’t invited on this yummy (sort of) road trip*
wow… moved to a new home. dot com.. nice 🙂
and lovely pics! oh… those juisy oyesters!! bet Chris would faint after seeing your post as he dislike oysters.. haha. u made me crave for lobsters now 😉
chic pic of the chick! 😀
btw, cute comment profiles cartoons la. i got the bat with some green apple. cool. wonder what this comment will get. ^_^
simply awesome that you enjoyed the cock’s tender meat ( but aren’t they generally firm ? ;D) and yes that was a 1 minute breathtaking lesson in 36 day-chicks for eats ( not kicks )
TQ
Ah.. the dessert looks interesting… black with colorful fruits.
never know chicken skin can describe by using “crunchy”~~ hmm… sound interesting!!!
been here last year- food was ok. looks like it has improved!
For a “pak cham kai” lover like me, being able to savour a flavourful chicken is simply heavenly.
Thanks for the introduction.
+Anton+
fbb:
thx ahpa!
J:
look at babe KL .. don’t look at me! teehee
chiristine:
no kidding .. ! yea there were so many ‘live’ things to checkout but we could only eat so much!
nic:
chick with cocks u mean ..?:P oh, and you are now officially .. the bat!
BSG:
no wor..this one was succulent and not tough.. looks like the kampung Kei but not in texture
selba:
it taste like sweet black jelly.. do u have it in indonesia?
mimi:
totally crunchy ! first time i’ve tired crunchy skin as well.. who would have thought..
huh? chicken with no balls = uncastrated chicken? i thought it was just the cocks?
hahaha..
Sunshine Chicken Farm sounds like a mental asylum for chickens. 🙂 I love free range chicken. It costs more but I’m willing to pay. Its just not worth ingesting all those toxins and hormones into my body. Fish looks fresh and delicious. Can almost taste it! Yum!
Yeah Alaskan King Crab is really something else! I had it in Korea, damn good stuff. 🙂
wow! what a feast!!! and the chicken skin is to die for!!!
GUFFFAW, asylum for chickensssss!!! paprika is just sooo farneeeee……
one who flew over the cuckoo’s nest perhaps.
Wah! You guys are fast. I have not even touched the photos yet. Try to have it out within the week after we are back in Penang.
Jason:
fast meh? second fastest only ler LOL 😉
What a good sentence!
“Eating expensive supermarket food, does not make it any less toxic if the source is compromised”
personally, i like the Chef Tam Chicken Rice very much 🙂