Chicken For The Soul
Chicken plays a huge part in the lives of the masses. An estimated 65 billion chickens gets consumed every year and it plays a huge part in the cultures of so many people all over the world. But how do restaurants and different cultures treat poultry in their dishes, and the new technologies or ideas that will elevate these dishes in this day.
Nestling in the restaurant Birds of a Feather, Chef Eugene See of Birds of a Feather is egg-cited. The youthful looking chef is serving up an im-peck-able meal of spices and chicken: spicy, but amazing. Where else can you get a great exploration of Szechuan and Western cuisine but here at Birds of a Feather? The dishes at the restaurant is based off the traditional Sichuan chicken dishes, with some done to showcase a cleaner, more artistic presentation.
This is not to say that Chef See only does modern interpretations of the Szechuan dishes: His interpretation of the Szechuan dish Yu Er Ji (芋儿鸡), includes both the traditional interpretation served with yam and spices, as well as the modern take on it with Western presentation, meant to be shared between two or more people. “Chicken in China is used in many versatile ways because of how wide China is,” he explains. “Braised, roasted, boiled, steamed, fried, there is so many ways to cook it.” The wide usage of chicken in China, as well as worldwide, is one reason why Chef See views the chicken as less of an ingredient and more as a ‘product’.
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