1. WHY??
2. Chicken PAWS? Is this really an accurate description?
3. What about the CLAWS? Do people really eat things that still have fingernails attached???
4. WHY???
5. If you have been reduced to eating chicken feet... do you really care that they've been "PREVIOUSLY FROZEN" ???
6. Why is the expiration date so far in the future??? I thought chicken was only supposed to stay fresh for 3 days or so?
7. Couldn't you have arranged them a little nicer in the package? It just looks so morbid... like a bunch of dismembered fingers...
8. WHY????????
9. Why do the short toes look so similar to human thumbs???? (shudder shudder) The foot on the left kinda in the middle looks an awful lot like a HAND (minus a finger)...(shudder more)
10. What part DO you eat? (not that I'm going to try it or anything... just wondering)
I stood in the grocery store for quite a while looking at these... mesmerized. I am sure they've been there before - but I've never seen (I'm SURE I'd remember!) Then a lady came up beside me (buying a DIFFERENT chicken part) and saw me looking at the feet, obviously shocked, and said, "I suppose you could use them for stock...?" I said I preferred my stock NOT to be made with feet or fingernails. She agreed, bought her boneless/skinless breasts, and moved on.
Of course - now I had to investigate. If asked, say... Friday? whether or not I believed people ate chicken feet - I would've said,"of course not!" I was apparently wrong. This is what I've discovered:
* Chicken feet do make GREAT stock - our grandmothers used them along with the necks and backs and such. Thankfully you do need to chop off the claws first (ugh... that leaves me out right there!)
* Most of the recipes (other than stock) are Asian. I'm still just not understanding what part you EAT. Isn't it just skin and bones???
* You can fry, braise, steam, boil (oh gosh - there goes the old gag reflex), & make soup from chicken feet.
* I am a wimp... I would never be able to cook OR eat the recipe for Dim Sum Chicken Feet. It starts out: "The feet are fried first, then marinated, then steamed. Make sure to WASH the chicken feet first and chop off toenails. Cut the feet into quarters." Seems like washing would be a no-brainer, but the chopping off of the toenails and cutting feet into quarters is way beyond my raw chicken cooking tolerance.
If you're interested in recipes (or just want to be grossed out) follow this link to cooks.com:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,chicken_feet,ff.html
I'm done... probably won't eat anything today... goodbye.
