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The black meat of a Silkie is generally considered an unusual or unpalatable attribute in European and American cuisines In contrast, several Asian cuisines consider Silkie meat a gourmet food. Chinese cuisine especially values the breed, but it is also a common ingredient in some Japanese, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Korean dishes. Areas where Chinese cuisine has been a strong influence, such as Malaysia, may also cook Silkie. As early as the 7th century, traditional Chinese medicine has held that chicken soup made with Silkie meat is a curative food. The usual methods of cooking include using Silkie to make broth, braising, and in curries. Traditional Chinese soup made with Silkie also uses ingredients such as wolfberries, Dioscorea opposita (white yam), orange peel, and fresh ginger. A few fusion restaurants in metropolitan areas of the West have also cooked it as a part of traditional American or French cuisine, such as in confit.

The Chinese believe in drinking more tonic soups during winter to balance the "yin" (cold) in the body, and for nourishment. Most Americans are probably not familiar with the use of Silkie (Black) Chicken as food but it is quite common in some parts of Asia.

Silkie Chicken Herbal Soup is often considered "tonic" soup because of the medicinal-cure tag that the Silkie (Black) Chicken carries. Silkie (Black) Chicken is nutritional (contains proteins - more than 10 types of amino acids, Vitamin Bs, and tonnes of trace minerals - iron, phosphorus, potasssium etc.); and considered much more nutritional than the common chicken breed. As it has MORE amino acids and iron, it is also believed to nourish our body (esp. the lungs and blood), enable us to fight fatigue, enhance our bones density, and especially beneficial for women. Carnosine is a protein found in animal products such as chicken, pork, beef, milk and eggs. It's a powerful antioxidant which prolongs cell life span by slowing down the damage that cellular proteins suffer over time. As a result of this effect, which has been demonstrated in rats and cultured cells, health supplement. There are claims that carnosine is good for anything from cataracts to Alzheimer's disease, autism, diabetes, wrinkles, building muscles, etc. Some doctors are using carnosine for cataract patients. As for treating other ailments, the research isn't conclusive yet. However, we do know that black chicken has twice as much carnosine as regular chicken.

These are the ingedients for the Black Silkie Soup that I made. The basic recipe calls for garlic, ginger, a little sesame oil, medjulee dates, goji/ wolf berry, osmanthi flower and cilantro as garnish. We added leeks, onions, shitake mushrooms and potstickers (at the end) to make it more interesting for the kids. This is the recipe that I would suggest for your first cooking experience with Silkie.