Awww, come on. EVOO in marinara aside, chicken feet might be ideal, but its not like wings and necks are worthless. I’m not “Chinese”, but I still like to eat chicken.
Parts is parts? I should probably check that out before quoting it.
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I’m not convinced that feet are actually necessary for chicken stock. They do have thick skin on them, and I’m sure it makes a worthwhile difference, but I’ve had good chicken soup that I’m positive didn’t involve any feet.
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Yes, me too.
But then that’s soup. We’re talking stock here.
And for stock, I really do think chicken feet is necessary.
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Add to your chicken stock. Provides collagen . And flavor .
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I didnt always use feet in my stock, and there are still times I just havent been to the Asian market to buy feet.
There’s an enormous difference in the silkiness of the stock when I use feet.
My stock is delicious without…but better with.
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oh! the cacal market… this is my favorite place to visit
me too, i like make noodles with the broth… really yummy
I tried to eat a foot by holding it in my hand, but my fishing buddy put the foot in his mouth and worked on it. He would occasionally spit out something, maybe bones?
I do not think the proper method is to eat as one would eat a KFC drumstick…if so, then why?
In the late 80’s, at a company picnic I met the 80yo father of a co worker. The father commented on the amount of food, told me, he didn’t eat protein for two years, he ate grass and leaves. He was from China, when I saw chicken feet, I thought of him.
How do you eat them?
Just put a section in the mouth, work on the skin and the collagen, spit the bone out when done.
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This is pretty existential.
Never thought that eating chicken feet, or, ahem, more precisely how to eat chicken feet would be a point of discussion.
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I grew up knowing a relatively limited range of foods, and being unsure how an unfamiliar food is eaten can prevent me from trying it. Many foods are “obvious” only when they’re already familiar.
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True. Very true.
I was befuddled the first time I had Ethiopian.
But I still feel like it’s existential nonetheless.
One can eat them any way they want. To me, that’s the easiest and most thorough way to finish off all the edible parts.
For people who have never eaten a certain food, the only time you can tell them to eat something whatever way they want is when “bite off absolutely any part of it, chew up all of that bite, and swallow it” is a good idea. In other words, “any way you want” must include being fine to eat the bones.
(I personally know not to eat the bones from other parts of a chicken, but the whole point is that I was already familiar with the other parts.)
Something like 100 business trips of 2+ weeks each throughout Asia (over a 25 year period) pretty much exposed me to most every different food. Chicken feet came early on at Hong Kong dim sum restaurants. Pretty much all skin and collagen, but delicious.
an unplanned experiment — and definitive answer:
had a roasting pan filled to the brim with bone (and feet) s to go in the oven overnight when a friend dropped off her carcass. since there was no room in the pan, i simmered the turkey carcass on the stove — no feet.
both are delicious — but the stock with the feet gelled, the other one did not.
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I just saw someone make souse from that on that Zimmerman show. Growing up our souse was made from pig feet.
This picture is from Simply Trini Cooking
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It’s unfortunately not definitive at all, because you didn’t weigh the bones and measure the water. The experiment shows one gelled and one didn’t, but it certainly doesn’t show why.
One of The Sprout’s best friend’s family is Trini so I’ve been a Trini cooking kick of late. Thanks for the website info.
