Making Chicken Stock

Pot full'a feet

While volunteering for a local pasture-raised chicken rancher/farmer/wild-chick, I was introduced to the idea of chicken feet as food.  Sarah (the wild-chick) told me that people use to make stock with chicken feet.  She didn't have a recipe, but I figured I'd get a bag full of feet and consult Google.  One of the first hits was a foodie blog with a recipe. 

It is pretty easy to do if you can get over the initial gross factor (I'm the 4 year old kid who picked the eyes out of the fish my Dad caught...I'm drawn to this). It isn't rocket science and I've made it a bit different each time.  All variations make great soup! It does take a good chunk of time though - count on 6 hours.

The Recipe and Method

For 2 lbs of chicken feet you'll need a couple celery ribs, an onion, a bay leaf, about 10 peppercorns.  You could also add some thyme sprigs, parsley stems and a couple carrots if you'd like. You'll need a big soup pot, a sharp knife, a colandar, a Fleco #2 hand pruner (optional - but really nice) and cheese cloth.

Finished chicken stock

1. This first part is to clean-up the feet and get them ready for stock making. Rinse the feet and place in a pot large enough to hold the feet.  Add enough water to cover.  Heat uncovered until boiling and simmer for about 5 minutes. Skim the foam that forms on the surface and occasionally push feet at the surface to the bottom (making sure all the feet get blanched). Drain the water (don't save the liquid) and dump feet into a colander to drain more and cool. When feet are cool enough to handle, cut the tips of the toes off, right at the first joint...seriously.  This is where the hand pruners become very useful, but a knife works well too.  Next, cut off any dark calluses on the foot pad (sharp hand pruners do this well too).  Rinse again. At this point you can refrigerate the feet until you're ready to continue.

2. Place feet into a clean pot, cover with water, bring to a boil.  Immediately turn down heat to a simmer, and simmer s-l-o-w-l-y for 3 hours. Keep skimming the foam and occasionally stirring the feet so that they all cook.

Chicken foot treat

3. Cut celery, onions (peeled) and carrots (if using) into big chunks (each one into about 3-4 pieces).  Add to pot and continue simmering for another hour.

4. Add herbs and spices and simmer everything together for the last hour. In total, the feet will simmer for 5 hours.

5. Drain the stock through a colander lined with cheesecloth (saving the liquid this time!). Cool the liquid quickly (I fill a gallon sized Zip-Loc with ice and swirl it around), then refrigerate.  When stock is cold, it will be jelly-like.  I scrape the thin layer of fat and 'skin' off the surface. Next, I'll re-melt the stock (heat slowly, not for long, until just melted) and pour it into quart sized containers to freeze. Simple, but time consuming.

Don't throw those feet away after making stock - they make great dog treats!

Comments

[anthrogrrl]

[this is good] Two of my married professors brought their 2-year-old son into the field with them for 2 years of research with a tribe living in the Amazon rainforest.  They went back home to California when he was four.  He missed getting to gnaw on the chicken feet whenever they had a chicken for dinner, so his dad had to hunt all over town to find some for him to snack on.  *grin*

[Help Me Rhonda]

I've been tempted to gnaw on a foot...but my dog seems to like it way more!  I'm happy with just stock for now.

~R