Every time I make these braised chicken feet, or fèng zhǎo (meaning phoenix talons), they fill the air with the savory and aromatic smells of star anise, spicy fermented chili oil, and fragrant garlic.
With this recipe, I am sticking with the traditional way of cooking chicken feet by frying first and then braising. This process might seem a little weird to you, but frying the chicken feet first actually gives us the most plump and tender skin at the end of cooking.
Chinese Food Feet
The frying process slightly breaks down the stiff structure of the chicken feet, removes the excess water from the chicken, and allows for the chicken to soak in all the savory and flavorful liquid during braising.
After frying, I braise the chicken feet with an assortment of aromatic ingredients like star anise, oyster sauce, chinkiang wine, ginger, and garlic. You want to braise for a long period of time to get tender and flavor infused pieces of chicken feet. Skipping the braising step can potentially give you chewy and tough chicken skin that no one wants to eat.
Even through the 70s, it was still a luxury to have meat for dinner in a ordinary family. A delicious alternative was cooking fried noodles with lard. For young men who worked on construction sites, pork intestine stew (chao gan) was the most popular food.
Love the stewed or braised pig feet eat all the time the aroma is so wonderful. Im African American and the history of eating all parts of the pig are the same and traditional in my home as well, alittle more used to the smell lol garlic, onions, & cilantro help with that some. ? Enjoy lots of authentic Asian recipes will try others that you hve posted. Thk you
Love this recipe.Thank you, reminds me of my mothers southern cooking.I make rice, collard greens, and corn bread, With these delicious braised pigs feet, we call trotters. Do much flavor!Thanks,Msmillie
Hi Elaine, yes you could cook the whole pork feet without chopping them apart. As for serving, it can be tricky picking the meat off but you can try. Some of the cartilage attached to the bone is the best part ?Happy cooking and let me know how the dish turns out!
Dear Maggie,Thank you so much for this recipe: my wife missed this dish very much (not so many genuine chinese restaurent in the area of France where we are living), and she was pleasantly surprised when I cooked it for her.Many thanks for all those recipes, they are very detailed and easy to follow.Best regards,Julien (from France)
I am cooking pigs feet for the first time and my house smells heavenly! I was raised in American not eating odd parts but was always drawn to them. They taste more unique, have amazing texture and are fun to eat. This recipie is really great and I am sure to use it many times! Thank you for sharing!
We have a Chinese cookbook with a recipe for a very gingery and rather sweet pig feet stew that is allegedly a popular dish made for womes who have just had a baby. My partner made me a big pot of it after our first son was born. So pig feet have a special place in my heart ?
SMILE GIRL SMILE. I have a great asian store in the area with chicken feet ,pig feet, time to reach out and try some new things . Mc Donalds will kill you. We need a food show that uses unconventional food items. There is an opportunity for you. With the insane money people spend on kitchens and stuff we have a new generation of people willing to try new things. Lets them think they are new and influentialtioal. Sorry for the spelling. Get a new REAL food network show going . Go Girl Go
This recipe reminded me of a recipe we have in a Chinese cookbook of a rather sweet and gingery braised pig feet dish that the authors said was often made for women to nourish them in the week after giving birth. My partner made me a big pot of it after our first son was born, and braised pig feet have had a special place in my heart ever since!
Chicken feet are boiled, and then pickled in an acidic brine with a variety of herbs and spices including Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and most importantly, whole chili peppers. For the brine, most recipes use rice vinegar or lemon juice, but traditionalists prefer to recycle the brine from previous batches for more complex flavors.
Chicken feet are boiled and then marinated with sliced lemon and cilantro in diluted passion fruit juice. The recipe first went viral on TikTok (Douyin) during the pandemic lockdown, as a variation to the classic version with marinated chili peppers. Now, many food companies offer this flavor in vacuum packs.
You can find this version in almost any Cantonese-style dim sum restaurant. Chicken feet are fried and steamed with a sauce made from fermented beans and oyster sauce. In some recipes, the chicken feet are braised instead.
A traditional Cantonese dish made by marinating boiled chicken feet in a juice made of sugar, vinegar, and rice wine. It is sweeter and milder than the Sichuanese version, and is served as a cold appetizer in many Cantonese restaurants.
A classic stew that can be found in many homestyle restaurants. Chicken feet are blanched and then braised in a soy-based sauce. The use of seasoning is flexible, but some most commonly used spices are ginger, scallion, and five spice powder (made of star anises, cloves, cinnamon bark, Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel).
In this dish, the sauce for the chicken feet is brought to a boil and let simmer for half an hour. Then the chicken feet are marinated in the sauce overnight to let the flavors seep in. It is often served as a cold appetizer in homestyle restaurants, and is also sold in vacuum packs.
While it may be easy to claim some grand conspiracy, I have a feeling that the truth is much more boring. Like all restaurateurs, the owners of Chinese restaurants genuinely want you to enjoy your meal. If you complain or leave a bad Yelp review, that could negatively affect their business. So many owners make assumptions, and sadly the assumption out there is that most white people don't like spicy food or meat from any part but the loin.
According to an account, an emperor's favorite concubine danced on a gilded lotus flower with bound feet, which gained the emperor's favor. Then other concubines imitated her, making the practice popular, spreading from the royal court to the whole country. It was thought to be a sign of beauty.
Walking was possible after foot binding, but a long-distance walk was impracticable. As the functional structure of the feet was destroyed and altered, walking became very difficult and required support.
Chicken feet are packed with proteins, calcium, and collagen. These nutrients are great for improving joint movement to minimize arthritis and joint pain. 100g of chicken feet provide 88mg or 9% of the daily value of calcium.
Good base recipe to follow- I had 1.5 kg of chicken feet- I soaked them in cold water (added ice chips) for a few hours while I did some housework. Then added extra garlic and ginger- 2 chillies (a red and green) used more oyster sauce than suggested, did 1&1/2 tins of mid strength beer. Absolutely delicious!
Just made this as a last-minute dinner for my husband and me. I used seasoning soy sauce instead of regular soy sauce, and water instead of beer, and it was still delicious! We devoured all the chicken feet. Thanks for sharing your recipe ^-^
Chicken Feet Dimsum is one of the classic Chinese dim sums, it is called Feng Zhao in Chinese. The chicken feet are blanched, soaked, and then deep-fried. It is then coated with an umami sauce made with soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, and an array of spices and seasonings. Finally, they are arranged in small bowls and steamed until the flavor is fully infused in the chicken feet.
Chicken Feet Dimsum is usually served as an appetizer, but you may also enjoy this dish for lunch or dinner served on a bed of hot rice. It is also great as booze food!If you are making this ahead of time, or have any leftovers, you can store them in airtight containers and keep them in the fridge for up to three days or up to 2 months in the freezer.You can reheat the Chicken Feet Dimsum in the microwave if you are in a hurry. However, this method might dry them out. So, if you have time, transfer them to a steam-proof plate and steam for 10-15 minutes.
Owners George Chen and Cindy Wong-Chen will reprise their modern Chinese fine-dining restaurant Eight Tables by George Chen, adding a hidden bar featuring cocktails by the SF Cold Drinks Bar team, along with beer, kombucha, and hard soda. The Chens will feature a variety of Chinese cuisines at their bar and retail market, sourced from local and regional Washington food purveyors.
Chichi Wang wrote a variety of columns for Serious Eats including The Butcher's Cuts, in addition to other stories. Born in Shanghai and raised in New Mexico, Chichi took her degree in philosophy but decided that writing about food would be more fun than writing about Plato.
In western countries, chicken feet, 鸡脚 jījiǎo in Mandarin, are more likely to end up in the trash can. In China it is a refined dish. Chinese people cook chicken feet in a lot of different ways, such as boiled, in soup, grilled, with ginger, caramelized, crispy...
As we said before, Chinese people don't like wasting food, so intestines should be eaten too. If you go to a hot pot restaurant, it is really easy to find duck intestines (鸭肠 yācháng) or pork intestines (猪肠 zhūchàng). In Beijing, you can even eat it for breakfast.
Chinese and Western cultures are extremely different, and so is the food. Thus, we may be surprised and reluctant when visiting China for the first time. However, it is important to be open-minded and at least try some of these dishes when eating with local people. You may be surprised by how good it tastes. 2ff7e9595c
Comments