Stay calm...

My sincere apologies to all, my updates are not as frequent as I wish. After a 5D/4N trip to the City of Angels, I was pretty busy once I got back. The daily routines are... well, routine while a lot of outstanding task had to be attended to. Anyway, am glad to be back home and I really don’t mind the work, in fact I relish the joy of working on the land in spite of slow progress. The words of my ‘Yee Koh’ when he visited me here is almost prophetic as he told me that it’ll be a good 5 years before I can shape anything out of this ‘jungle’. Heh! What is five years to me if I am enjoying what I do?
Last week was the worst in terms of orders for our healthy chickens, many were apprehensive about chickens as the news of H5N1 cases in Selangor surfaced. We allowed those who were fearful to cancel their orders even though there were really no grounds to be concern about. I figured it would be better to give them a break from having chickens rather than have them staring fearfully at our good tasting birds, wondering if that would be their last meal of chickens! Sorry! Just couldn’t resist. Seriously what seems to be afflicting many in Malaysia concerning H5N1 comes across to us as an over reaction to the issue. To begin with there are many other more potent stuff that will eventually kill you than H5N1, that is not to say that we take H5N1 lightly, of all people I think I am more concern than others as I value my life a lot. I just think we must be well read and not let every wind of doctrine blows us all over the place. I guess it is a norm rather than an exception to play it safe and I do respect that decision even though I question the many inconsistencies in our daily decisions. I pray that the fears will eventually go away and we can once again share our healthy and delicious chickens with you again. As always the chickens we rear are indeed the best you can get.
Another feedback which we received which I think would require some clarification has to do with the fact that they found our kampong chickens to be larger that what they are used to and that the meal is tender and not ‘tough’ as they are used to with those they get from the wet market. I’ll try my best to KISS, Keep It Simple and Short.
The kampong birds that you get from us is simply larger due to the fact that they get fed well as opposed to the typical kampong chickens that roams around the house compounds of many kampong home scavenging with little success for food. Our chickens are fed twice a day and allowed to roam the entire 4 acres or so of land filled with trees and vegetation, so they practically feed the whole time they are awake. Due to the fact that they roam all over the place, they are able to build strong muscle tissues from the protein intake, this in turn leads to the common misconception that this means tough meat. The question of whether the meat is tough is due to the processing and handling the birds upon slaughter and nothing to do with misconception that due to the exercise, ‘original’ kampong chicken must be tough to chew on. For a start, every living thing that dies goes into rigor mortis, this basically means all the muscle tissues are stiffened as a result of muscle protein coagulation soon after death. Our chickens, all varieties are tender and juicy with a nice bite to it, not soft and mushy due to the simple fact that we take the trouble to do aging. An aged chicken is tastier and more tender as compared to a chicken that cooked or frozen soon after being killed. We start cooling the birds in ice water right after the main feathers are removed, this also helps to prevent bacteria from multiplying too quickly, once the birds as cleaned properly, they are dripped dry, vacuum packed before being chilled at between 2-6 degree Celsius for at least 16-24hrs before it is frozen. This means higher cost for us but this is also the proper way to ensure that you get the best. I assure you that the chicken seller at the wet market doesn’t do all the above. Having said that there is a whole lot of information which I will not bored you with as this is turning into the longest blog ever. If you require more info, please do email me or simply get this good book, Storey’s Guide To Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow, the book contains valuable information and covers almost everything you would want to know.
Think my time is up, will certainly write again tomorrow. Oh! One other thing, I can guarantee the quality of our chickens, healthy and chemical-free, tender and juicy but I can’t guarantee that it will taste fantastic as this really depends on your skill as a cook. He! You got to get a good recipe book to get delicious food.