The other day I was in one of our bigger grocery stores, looking for a protein other than chicken, since I've used that in so many recipes lately. I did recently make a tiny pot of duck, lamb and barley soup, which I'm rationing, it's THAT good! So when some Angus beef top round practically jumped into my cart, I thought. . ."DONE!" Nope, not so fast Chicken Soup Woman! What's that I see. . .beautiful packages of chicken legs and gizzards on special. 88¢/# for the legs and 99¢/# for the gizzards! I scored 8# of that, but put some away for another recipe. My first thought was, I'll cook the meat together then pull the gizzards out for the dogs.
However, after a couple Google searches and finding YouTube cooks and chefs extolling the amazingness of Chicken Gizzards, well. . .we'll see how this goes as to who * eats what. An article I read stated, "all gizzards are giblets, but not all giblets are gizzards." Sounds like one of those math word problems. Basically, when you buy a whole chicken it may contain a couple packages of giblets including a heart, neck, liver and gizzard (or stomach). Collectively, these are called giblets. Every time I hear 'gizzards' I smile, makes me think of a crabby old man, but that would be a geezer 😉 not a gizzard. . .but. . .technically, that old geezer HAS a gizzard! One that will NOT end up in my soup!
DAY 1:
Put 3# of chicken legs and 2# of gizzards into a big deep pot. Drizzle with 2T avocado oil and 2T of apple cider vinegar. Sprinkle generously with your choice of spices or seasonings. This time, instead of adding vegetables to make the bone broth, I decided to just stop here. Measure 7-8 cups of fresh cold water, into a pitcher. Add 1 cup of the water to the pot then stir everything together with a big wooden spoon to coat all the parts and pieces. Put over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer well. Cover, shut off the heat, stir occasionally, but basically, leave it covered for an hour or so, to season and marinate all the meat. (or just add more seasonings and water and skip the marinating time if you'd rather.)
Put 3# of chicken legs and 2# of gizzards into a big deep pot. Drizzle with 2T avocado oil and 2T of apple cider vinegar. Sprinkle generously with your choice of spices or seasonings. This time, instead of adding vegetables to make the bone broth, I decided to just stop here. Measure 7-8 cups of fresh cold water, into a pitcher. Add 1 cup of the water to the pot then stir everything together with a big wooden spoon to coat all the parts and pieces. Put over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer well. Cover, shut off the heat, stir occasionally, but basically, leave it covered for an hour or so, to season and marinate all the meat. (or just add more seasonings and water and skip the marinating time if you'd rather.)
Add the remaining 6-7 cups of water, cover and bring to a low simmer. After about 75 minutes of total cooking time, using a big slotted spoon, remove and cool all the meat. Skin and bone the chicken and cut the giblets into smaller pieces. Set all the meat and gizzards aside. Return the skin and bones to the pot, adding more water and seasonings if you want. Simmer this covered for 6-10 hours then chill either in a freezer, or overnight in the 'fridge. Or, if you live in Minnesota like I do, in the winter, just put it outside in a snowbank, securing the lid well to keep critters out. Chill it until all the grease solidifies at the top of the liquid.
DAY 2:
Skim the fat layer off, strain the broth many times, through successively smaller mesh strainers, to get it as clear as possible.
In a 5 quart pot, heat a little butter, or oil. When it's hot and starting to sizzling, add the chopped vegetables, 1⅓c white rice and chopped giblets.
Stir and add the well-strained bone broth in small amounts. Continue to cook like a stir-fry for several minutes until the vegetables release their scents. Add a total of 4-6 cups of broth, cover and simmer over low heat, for 15 or 20 minutes. Simmer about 4oz. of fresh kale, separately, in a little bit of water for about 10 minutes. Add that and the cooking water, to the pot.
At the very end of this time, add some of the more delicate anti-viral ingredients. Today, it's chopped fresh and candied ginger, lemon zest and juice and celery tops that I added to simmer a few minutes longer. Gently stir everything, check the flavors, add more of the original seasonings or a little good quality (no MSG) soup base, pepper or whatever is needed.
Add however much chicken you want in the soup, a little or a lot, for the last 5 minutes of cooking, just to warm everything. If there's leftover chicken, it's is good with steamed vegetables, added to a casserole, or made into chicken salad. . .Lin
* Okay, my verdict: Gizzards are Fabulous! I did cut up some of the more grizzly parts for my dogs and cat and they also loved them!!
Be Bold - Be Creative - Stay Healthy and Make Soup!! . . . Lin
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