Chicken Feet!

New Culinary Adventure

I had heard that if one loves chicken wings and chicken skin, you're likely to love chicken feet, so I thought the next time I saw them in the store I'd buy a package and see what I could come up with.  There are lots of recipes, some of which are really involved, like the Chinese versions.  Most of them featured simmering in water or stock for 1 1/2-2 hours, so that's what I did.  We make stock from all our bones so we had plenty of chicken stock.

Started out with a package of feet at $1.65 per pound, total $2.54. Rinsed them well and clipped off the nails with kitchen shears. These were very clean and needed no other work. Instructions on the web for peeling or heavy cleaning if you get your feet from a source a little closer to the earth.   

I put them in a smallish big pot with 3 cups of home-made chicken stock, a couple more cups of water to barely cover and simmered for 1 1/2 hours. Seasonings include Don's Special Seasoning Mix http://don-guitar.com/kdseasoning.html , a teaspoon of powdered ginger and 3 cloves of garlic.

Checked to make sure the feet were nice and pliable (wiggly) and took my first bite. Awesomesauce! I love chicken wings and skin and if you do, too, you will love them. If you hate gristle, cartilage, or skin, I wouldn't recommend.

These look pretty creepy, but once you taste them, you'll get over it real quick. Take a bite, roll around in your mouth, separating the skin and tendons with your tongue, and spit out the bigger bones. Chew the remainder, and be prepared for an explosive chickeny taste.

The broth is full of natural gelatine which contains glucosamine and chondroitin as well as other minerals and amino acids which are beneficial to joints, skin and your innards. Who knew medicine could be this tasty? http://realfoodrn.com/chicken-feet-bone-broth/

As well as having a couple of feet a day as a snack, I'll use about two tablespoons of gel in a mug of hot water to make a nighttime hot broth. Here I've doctored it up with a few slices of shiitake mushrooms and a splash of soy sauce.