No thanks...I used to raise hens and know where those feet have been :-)

Years ago there was a thread about making broth with chicken feet. Someone posted a photo of the feet and another poster got all up in arms about it. Crazy times. 😂

Chicken feet gross me out, on or off the bird :-) I can understand cooking with them (not something I would do) but I do not care to see them intact.

CA Kate, thank you. Read some years ago that, in some asian countries chicken feet were considered a popular crunchy snack? After deep frying?

Dim sum chicken feet

I've used the (scrupulously clean) chicken feet from Whole Foods to enrich bones and spines stock. Still have some in the freezer labelled ”foot stock”. I don't like the flavor. Fine for making a rich soup, but too funky as is. That might be from the bones, i.e., could be the minerals, but I've made mostly feet stock, and that had the funk, too. Anyway, I decided I don't need chicken bone stock. I like beef better. So what's in the freeze is the end for me. Compared to the spines and giblets I save in the freezer for chicken stock, the immaculate yellow ”paws” from Whole Foods aren't icky at all!

Kate, thanks for the stories. They were very enjoyable.

No thanks...I used to raise hens and know where those feet have been :-)

So you must know where chicken eggs have been, too. 🙂

The feet have a skin-like membrane that is removed during the dressing out process. Most markets that is done for you. When i get them locally from the farm, i need to do that myself. Just a quick blanch and that membrane comes right off. Similar to blanching fresh tomatoes. The skins come off easily without much effort.

So good for you. Lots of collagen and calcium. Minerals.

I've never made just foot broth. I toss a half dozen from the freezer in my Dashi prep.--beef necks, chicken frames, etc.

Much improved recently after watching AlexFrenchGuy's new ramen series of videos.

-sleeve

I bought some recently to help my chicken bone broth to gel, they are in the freezer but havent used them yet. thanks for the reminder and info :)

lat62, I too just found a bag in the freezer when searching for dinner last night. I see more chicken broth in my future. ( My frozen supply of bone broths saved me when I had COVID over Christmas. I don't know what I would have done without it. )

We bought those crunchy fried chicken feet at a cinema in China in the 1980s. You ate them out of a paper bag.

Jain/bluemoon would be freaking out if she saw this thread. 😂

If you go to youtube to see how they prepare chicken feet before they ship them to the stores, you can understand why those feet have no taste left in them.

You can find chicken feet with "scale" still on the skin in Asian stores.

dcarch

I'd never seen them cooked or otherwise not attached to or in use by a chicken, but a friend kept mentioning her mother had cooked them. She brought a bag when several of us were getting together one day and cooked them. Pretty silly looking, and I don't remember her doing a lot with seasonings other than salt, no actual sauce or the like prepared.

They didn't have much taste as I recall. Good for a laugh and a different experience. But not to DH who left the room, completely appalled. He was raised on farm and helped with the chickens. His mother who wasted nothing had ever cooked the feet so he was convinced the practice was not of this planet.

You could probably use dcarch 'scare tactics' for 80% of all things grocery with processed foods etc.

Makes no sense. Annie's back yard birds, local to me pasture raised. WholeFoods pasture raised...big enormous factories will be chicken feet processed much differently. I have no interest in going on y-tube looking for whatever he speaks of.

All pasture raised feets really have not much flavor across the board. A shared plate in a dim sum is marinated, grilled, braised, or fried. Like many protiens they, take on the flavors and tossed in sauces. Usually too sweet for my taste.

It is just the nose-to-tail use of proteins for broths/stocks. Feets/necks/backs/...beef, pork, chicken parts are cheap and full of flavor, colagen, minerals. Don't over think it.

"Chicken Feet Soup Benefits
Since it contains a lot of collagen, it can help with strong nails, hair, and help with the elasticity of skin. Can help treat leaky gut. Collagen is very soothing to the stomach lining and can help tighten the junctions which can help treat leaky gut. Hydration is a great benefit.Jul 20, 2022" Farm House Boone

"In addition to being low in calories, chicken feet are also a good source of protein and contain micronutrients such as calcium, iron and zinc. They are also low in fat and cholesterol, making them a healthy and nutritious snack or meal addition."

"ATR-FTIR analysis showed that approximately 70.90% of the total protein from chicken feet is collagen, whereas, in commercial gelatin, only 30.31% is collagen.Mar 2, 2020"

More than you ever wanted to know.

My MIL would briefly dip them in boiling water to remove the skin and claws. She’d then boil them, pop them in the fridge and eat them as a cold snack. I never tried one.

what a fowl thread.

I understand the proper term is chicken paws 😃

I've never eaten them, but do clearly recall piles of them in shops in NYC Chinatown.

I'd think boiling/ scalding would kill any bacteria, even before cooking them.

Why have I never seen turkey feet for sale?

Last night i was in the T.O. Whole Foods waiting to buy some chicken paws/feet for my daughter. The woman next to me was afraid I’d take them all and barged-in ahead of me. The butcher was on to her and said he believed I was next. I asked for a pound, but of those on the leftside. I got the bigger, fresher ones. She was miffed, but glad I only wanted a pound. Too funny . 😄 ” A fight at the local Whole Foods over the last of the Chicken Feet” 🤣

Kate, you've got more courage than I have, trying to feed chicken foot soup to a bunch of kids. I'll bet those letters were interesting. (grin)

I've never seen chicken feet at the Whole Foods in either Grand Rapids or Ann Arbor, but that doesn't mean they aren't there as I seldom shop the meat section. The only place I see them available commercially here are the Asian grocery stores.

Mother used to tell me that when she was a child and her Mother cooked chicken she'd let the kids have the feet to chew on before the meal was ready. Since there were three kids and only two feet per chicken, she'd "save" chicken feet in the freezer until she had enough for all three kids, so they only got the feet every other chicken dinner or something. Whenever it was a "footless" meal, the kids were greatly disappointed..

When I was small, the feet all went into the soup or broth. Grandma would add them for "body" and flavor when she was boiling a chicken for chicken and dumplings or chicken and biscuits. Maybe it was because she made chicken and dumplings from her old stewing hens, but there was never much to eat on those feet.

I also use mine for stock but a couple of years ago Elery's middle son mentioned that a co-worker from the Philippines was bemoaning the trouble he had finding chicken feet, they were the "best part" of the chicken in his estimation. I sent a whole gallon bag to him and he was crazy happy and grateful. (grin)

We will be processing chickens on Friday, I think. I waste very little of a chicken. The chef across the street told me her guilty pleasure was chicken gizzards, so I'm sending those to her. The livers and hearts get used for dog treats and cat food, although we used to put the hearts in gravy as well as the chopped gizzard. Backs/neck/feet are simmered into stock and canned. Grandma always told me to be sure to trim the toenails and I do, LOL. The addition of feet make a really nice addition to the stock, it turns it into that chicken "jello" from the collagen.

Annie

I think the kids were more open to the feet because of the book they were reading. I don’t imagine that any had see a real chicken foot before the soup.