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Wot, no giblets?
Dec. 2nd, 2010 02:06 pmLast week, I wanted to make some Real Chicken Stock as the basis for Real Gravy. So, one takes a chicken carcass, takes the giblets that come in their neat little plastic bag, assorted veg and herbs, and boils for a few hours, right?
Only one problem. No giblets.
All the supermarkets around here sell all manner of chickens - cheep ones, yellow corn-fed ones, free-range ones, "taste the difference" ones - but they all have one thing in common. No giblets. We asked why, and in general, the staff don't know. One muttered something about "hygiene". (?)
They did suggest that chicken livers can be bought. This is true, and I have some in the freezer.
A Real Butcher agreed that smaller birds are no longer sold with giblets - buy a nice big turkey and you'll get them (and I've seen them with large ducks, and geese), but not with your normal-size chicken. He wasn't sure where they went, maybe pet food?
Now that got me thinking. Where do they go? I'm pretty sure I've eaten them in France, as a delicacy, only they weren't called giblets, they were gizzards: a subset of giblets, after all. And I'd seen them, somewhere...
One junction up the A1 from us is a Chinese supermarket. We went visiting. They sell frozen chicken gizzards. I'm still missing the heart and neck, but I can live with that.
The resulting stock, incidentally, was delicious. I've been using my slow cooker a lot more recently, and it really comes into its own for things like this that need long slow cooking. Bones and skin and other bits we don't want to eat from a roast chicken, gizzards, bit of celery, bit of onion, tops and tails from some carrots, leaves from the bay tree...
The gizzards, fished out of the stock and eaten as a hot supper sandwich, were also delicious.
We had a look round the supermarket afterwards, and also found some cheap frozen octopus tentacles, which I love, and some strange nibbles in the crisp section that turned out to be dried flavoured seaweed - surprisingly low-fat, and delicious. We spotted (but didn't buy) frozen pigs blood, so at some point I'll see if I can find a recipe for Black Pudding.
Only one problem. No giblets.
All the supermarkets around here sell all manner of chickens - cheep ones, yellow corn-fed ones, free-range ones, "taste the difference" ones - but they all have one thing in common. No giblets. We asked why, and in general, the staff don't know. One muttered something about "hygiene". (?)
They did suggest that chicken livers can be bought. This is true, and I have some in the freezer.
A Real Butcher agreed that smaller birds are no longer sold with giblets - buy a nice big turkey and you'll get them (and I've seen them with large ducks, and geese), but not with your normal-size chicken. He wasn't sure where they went, maybe pet food?
Now that got me thinking. Where do they go? I'm pretty sure I've eaten them in France, as a delicacy, only they weren't called giblets, they were gizzards: a subset of giblets, after all. And I'd seen them, somewhere...
One junction up the A1 from us is a Chinese supermarket. We went visiting. They sell frozen chicken gizzards. I'm still missing the heart and neck, but I can live with that.
The resulting stock, incidentally, was delicious. I've been using my slow cooker a lot more recently, and it really comes into its own for things like this that need long slow cooking. Bones and skin and other bits we don't want to eat from a roast chicken, gizzards, bit of celery, bit of onion, tops and tails from some carrots, leaves from the bay tree...
The gizzards, fished out of the stock and eaten as a hot supper sandwich, were also delicious.
We had a look round the supermarket afterwards, and also found some cheap frozen octopus tentacles, which I love, and some strange nibbles in the crisp section that turned out to be dried flavoured seaweed - surprisingly low-fat, and delicious. We spotted (but didn't buy) frozen pigs blood, so at some point I'll see if I can find a recipe for Black Pudding.