Is this chicken safe? silkie chicken edition

Question

First off, I am a pastry chef, and my first thought is, when in doubt, toss it out.

I have very little experience with chicken. I am also obsessed with trying new things, in this case silkie chicken. It is a breed of chicken with black skin, meat, and bones, although the color can very from grey to black.

I bought it from a new Asian market that just opened up, it was pre-packed and frozen in a tight wrap like you would see at the store. I bought it Wednesday I think and left it to thaw in the fridge until today.

I opened the bag, removed the head and feet, and the wind pipe. The smell was very strong, and not pleasant, I would have to say musky with a touch of egg. The skin was a bit slimy, but the slime seemed to be gone by the time I was done cutting heads and feet off.

Since the color is dark, I cant tell from that, and the strong smell has persisted on my hands after scrubbing 3 times and doing the dishes.

Another note, the bird was an import from china, it wasn't USDA inspected, instead it had a Buddhist exemption tag on it and something saying it was inspected back where it came from.

Answer 1

Firstly let me note that I have never prepared this breed so I can't speak from personal experience, just what I've come to hear and see.

From what I've learned about silkies they're tremendously different to the regular breed of chicken we're used to. They're not well suited for roasting or frying and should rather be braised or prepared sous-vide (I imagine a silkie avgolemono would be quite exciting).

Getting back on-topic now, this blue/blackish breed being mostly raised free range does have a bit of a gamey note to it once rendered, but definitely not unpleasant or reminiscent of egg, and the skin should certainly not be slimy.

That being said I personally wouldn't take the risk on this one.

Answer 2

I've had silkie chicken a bunch of times. It's going to smell more foreign, almost imparting a shitake mushroom taste, but it shouldn't have an eggy smell. However, I won't ever eat something that was not USDA inspected, so it's best to get the chicken locally. I get it freshly slaughtered at a chicken store.