The best chicken stock I've ever made!
As of this morning, I am the proud owner of 4 quarts of gel-a-tin-us stock! I have made stock many, many times before but this time was different. This time, instead of using just 1 carcass I used 5 lbs of chicken feet.
Surprisingly, chicken feet look like human hands (kinda gross kinda fascinating)
Unlike previous stock-making experiences this one was completely unique. To cook with the feet I had to “blanch” the feet in boiling water and then cut off all their little toes and nails. Although this is a tedious and somewhat disturbing process, it ensures that the gelatin in the bones will be introduced into the liquid – hence the jello-like consistency of the finished stock. Aside from the feet I added the usual stock necessities: onion, carrot, celery, thyme, parsley and a bay leaf. I followed a basic recipe provided by Mr. Bittman in his book, How to Cook Everything. For the feet, I found a recipe at Simply Recipes. After I snipped a gazillion little toes I put everything in the pot and let it slowly simmer for 5 hours. The apartment smelled great; the house smelled great. And now I have an enormous amount of stock to use for quite some time. For those of you who are willing to make stock, whether or not you use feet or plain ol’ carcasses, I highly recommend it. Having your own stock on hand saves money in the long run and makes every meal taste way better.
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It seems like adding 2 feet along with your carcass would be a nice additional since it would mimic what you’d be using if you’d started with a whole bird. It wouldn’t take long to prep just two feet either.
That’s a great idea, especially as it will cut costs on buying bulk feet and save time on chopping off toes. I like both of these possibilities. Thanks for the suggestion.