Food Tube ([info]foodtube) wrote,
@ 2006-10-07 17:37:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend  Next Entry
Field Chicken
Misleading Chinese name - "field chicken"

What they really are - frogs. Lots of frogs.

Location - Cheers restaurant




I often go to this semi-outdoor barbecue restaurant to eat more normal food, drink cheap beer and the like.



To order food here you generally go up to the entrance and pick out what you want. Generally this means various meat and vegetables on skewers, tofu, corn-on-the-cob, chicken feet, etc. One day, though, I looked down and saw this-



The bottom section contains snakes, which I may come back to at some later date. In the top section you can see a few big miserable-looking frogs. A brief inquiry revealed that these weren't intended to be put on the barbecue but instead to be prepared in the kitchen in some way. Sounded good.
About twenty minutes later the cooked version arrived.



It didn't look bad at all, and the smell was promising. There did seem to be substantially more frog there than I had expected - at least six of the creatures, maybe even more.
Still, bon apetit.



It tasted, as expected, a bit like chicken. It didn't exactly have the stringy texture of chicken meat, though - more rubbery, like biting into a mushroom.



The sauce was actually pretty nice, a subtle ginger, red-vinegar and soy concoction that suited the meat and the vegetables. In fact, the whole thing was generally a normal-tasting decent stir-fry. It didn't seem off-putting at all that I was sucking bits of frog-meat off frog-bones.



Soon I'd started to just generally enjoy it, and polished it off fairly quicky. I left the cucumber on the side. Now that is disgusting.



Apart from the cucumber there was a decent platesworth of frog remains - bones, gristle and the like. It didn't look very nice, really.



Still, it was a good meal which I'd be happy to eat again any time.
Nothing wrong with field chickens.




(6 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]otana
2006-10-20 07:25 pm UTC (link)
That actually looks pretty yummy.

(Reply to this)


[info]nigirisake
2006-10-28 12:48 am UTC (link)
Snake is actually pretty good if cooked correctly. I remember eating it when I was 6, but I don't remember how it was cooked.

(Reply to this)


[info]pastel_pure
2006-10-28 02:04 am UTC (link)
Shame on me for not having any before leaving the country.

(Reply to this)

Cucumber
(Anonymous)
2006-11-11 11:37 am UTC (link)
I have travelled extensively through SE Asia and at one time or another have eaten all of the things that you have here and I totally agree with you. Cucumber is the worst tasting thing on the face of our planet.

(Reply to this)

Re: Field Chicken
(Anonymous)
2006-11-12 07:05 am UTC (link)
Maybe it's because I grew up with stuff like this (is Chinese), but the name field chicken makes sense to me, though I don't know exactly when they started calling it that, I can think of a few reasons:

1. Both chickens and toads eat insects...in the field.
2. Meat is not something you can always get in ancient China, beef is definitely a rarity, pork is for special occasions, and even chickens are expensive. Toads on the other hand, can be acquired regularly if you can catch them, so for the poors who work on the fields, a good-enough replacement for chicken.

Speaking of the poverty and food...have you ever tried 'beggar chicken'? It's chicken cooked, by being wrapped in dirt, and then placed in the fire. That's for what people back then who are too poor to afford pots do when they have a chicken.

- Suzy

(Reply to this)


[info]surrealkitten
2006-12-27 01:46 am UTC (link)
hiya.
i like your journal.
and i'm moving to china soon.
may i friend you?

(Reply to this)


(6 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…