Tonight, as I walked in to the house to the smell of Carolina style BBQ chicken in the oven, The Ravishing Mrs. TB asks me "What should I do with the parts?"
This is typically not a question I get coming home.
Looking at the sink, I see the pad on which the chicken had come - sure enough, there was the neck, heart, liver, and gizzard. Where did this come from? Apparently when she got the chicken, which was cut up, they gave us the whole chicken.
What the heck were we going to do with giblets? Indeed, when was the last time I even saw giblets?
I hate to waste food (especially now with the general malaise of economic uncertainty I always feel just over my neck) but had no idea what to do with them. Literally. Not a clue, except for use in making gravy (which was not going to happen - not a gravy fan and what would I put it on anyway). What to do? Go Internet, Young Man.
Turns out there are several things you can do. After a little research, I am saving mine (via freezing) for this weekend where I am going to try a little experiment based on something I saw: fry them in a little butter and eat them warm.
I write all of that to think of this: I am lucky in that I have actually eaten giblets in the past and know there is something you can do with them and I am willing not to waste. It saddens me - perhaps frightens is a better word - that there is probably a large part of the population that has no idea what to do with such things and even if they do, would rather throw them away than figure out a way to use them.
Someday we may very well be in a place where optional is really need to. How we will fare as a civilization then?
TB - what's even sadder is that the most nutritious part of any animal/bird/fish is the organ meat. i make giblets a few different ways - like you are going to try, just fried in butter (make sure you cut them to the same size so they will cook evenly). my second way of using them is to cook them in some butter and mix them into my stuffing to stuff the bird, chicken, turkey, rabbit, quail, etc.
ReplyDeletebut my ABSOLUTE favourite way is to make giblet soup. love it. so does jambaloney. he had never had it before. cut the giblets in really small pieces and cook them in butter. leave all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. add 1 pint of homemade bone broth (or a can of broth) and heat to a boil, all the while scraping the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits up - they come off pretty fast and add delicious flavour to the soup. chop up one stalk of celery into super-thin slivers and at the last minute toss them in your soup and let them cook for about a minute - you want the celery to still have crunch.
I LOOOOOOOOVE GIBLET SOUP!!!! (sorry for the yelling, i just really love giblet soup!).
sending much love! your friend,
kymber
Oh my. That sounds delicious. I may have another recipe to try.
DeleteIt strikes me that the reason many put their noses up at is due to a certain disdain (and perhaps bad nutritional press, sort of like the "Eggs were Bad" for you craze). Sort of sad and wasteful.
Lhiats, TB