The Chicken Dance

Since moving to Romania, our diets have changed dramatically.  There are many differences between our two food cultures.  The most obvious is the lack of processed foods.  But other differences exist as well.  The food and the people are always surprising me. (Almost always for the good!)  For example, today I bought two whole chickens.  Just like at home, whole chickens are generally cheaper than their already cut up counterparts.   When you purchase a cut up chicken you also usually do not get the backbones. 

I absolutely love the back bones of chicken.  They are wonderful for making chicken stock and there is a surprising amount of meat of them.   A store bought broth or stock simply cannot compare to the tasty richness that is a homemade stock.   Throughout the week when I am making dinner, I toss the ends of vegetables (onions, carrots, bell peppers etc.) into a bag that I keep in the freezer specifically for stock.  Then when I am ready to make stock each time I purchase a chicken, voila, all of the ingredients are ready to go.  All I need to do is cut up the chicken, add the backs to the pot, toss in some spices and I have homemade stock by the bucketful. 

Surprise!  No Giblets: Only feet and head

This post today however, really wasn't supposed to be extolling the virtues of homemade chicken stock.   The purpose of this post is tell you about the surprise I received after purchasing my whole chickens.  As you can see here, I purchased normal everyday whole chickens.  I went to remove the giblets and inside my chicken, I found no giblets.  Instead, there were the chicken’s feet and it’s decapitated head.  

Making the Stock: Chicken Parts
& Vegetables 

While I am unaccustomed to my chicken bought at the market to look back at me, I just rolled with it.  I've never cooked with chicken feet before, but I figured what the heck!  It’s just going into stock.  So I threw those babies into the pot with the backs.  I am however, a tad queasy about using the heads.  I am not ashamed to say that I did not use them, instead, I wrapped them in plastic along with the trimmed fat and placed them in the garbage outside of our building.  The backs and chicken feet made one of the best pots of stock I have ever made.  The soup that I made with the stock made Mr. Dowd one very happy man.  

Finished Product: Don't Worry! The
Feet and Bones Were Strained Out

TLDR: Chicken feet make great chicken stock.  Which in turn makes excellent soup.