Warning: this post may terrify you.
So during the last Baltimore Foodmakers potluck, I happened to acquire a ziploc baggie full of frozen chicken feet. They are supposed to make very good stock. Apparently the cartilage in the feet makes the stock have a very silky texture, plus it's a great way to use up a part of the bird that doesn't have much meat.
So after a little Googling, I found
this great post on Simply Recipes. A definite recommend!
Not only are the Simply Recipe photos fabulous, I actually learned a lot from reading the comments section. It was hilarious reading about people's terror at touching the feet (one woman who was a nurse even described blaring music while she chopped them so she couldn't hear the bones crack!). I also enjoyed reading about people eating the feet themselves for dim sum or other recipes.
Plus I learned that not only is chicken soup great for a cold, chicken feet have great medicinal properties too!
One older woman wrote that she was put on bone density medication, but she decided not to take it because of the side effects. So she made a soup with chicken feet and a little vinegar (to dissolve the bones even more). She said she went back to the doctor for a bone scan and her density improved. Interesting.
Either way, this soup was a fun experiment. I haven't tried the stock yet since it's still cooling in the fridge. But after making the stock, I did make a dim sum style treat with the cooked feet. More on that after the photos.
For now, prepare to be made a little squeamish:
Not so bad once they're boiling in a pot with onion and dried parsley. You can add carrot and celery too, but since I didn't receive any in my One Straw CSA, I didn't have any.
Four hours later: mmmm.
After making the stock, I took the cooked feet and fried them in a pan with oil until the skin got crispy. Then poured on some soy sauce and rice vinegar and sauteed them in that for a little bit to make a kind of glaze.
I know it looks a little scary, but once something gets all crispified, you can eat the tiny crunchy bits and not think about the foot part.
Sooooo good. It's fun to chew on the bones. Very rich, kind of caramelized in the soy and vinegar, they were absolutely perfect to snack on with a cold beer. Can't wait to get more!
I've always liked chewing on the bones of chicken wings. Maybe I need the calcium? Marrow also is a delicacy in many parts of the world. Anthony Bourdain is a big fan of the French method of spreading marrow on bread with a little sea salt.
My big problem with eating bones is that I don't trust factory farmed chicken AT ALL. Who knows what's in that marrow. (That's not to say I don't succumb to a weakness for wings every so often). But it was nice to crunch away on a bone that I knew came from a healthy chicken.
You can see how much I liked it:
I brought a bowl to the Foodmaker's potluck but I think I have found the foodmaker's adventure limit. Aaron and Brian were brave enough to try one, but I don't think that brunch time, with a bunch of sweet breads and rolls and other yummy breakfast food, was the best time to be snacking on chicken feet. We'll try again one day!
Speaking of Foodmakers, I hope to post a few photos of our swap from Saturday. Stay tuned!
