Chicken Feet

I guess this one is a no-brainer. I'd eaten chicken feet long before the Weird Meat project began, so I sort of forgot about it being a "weird meat." But you know, if your average suburban American person thinks it is gross to eat, it's weird meat. Of course, your average suburban American person thinks it is gross to eat green vegetables also. What do these average suburban American persons eat, anyway?

So here's the deal. Lots of Chinese restaurants, especially Cantonese dim sum ones, serve chicken feet as a popular small dish. Usually for brunch. They are prepared in different ways -- from plain steamed, to fried with a slightly spicy black bean sauce. My favorite is braised. They're a little tricky to eat at first. Veterans can chow through a foot in about 5 seconds, spitting out each "digit" of chicken toe bone in rapid fire, or just in one bunch. You savor the soggy skin and chewy cartilage.



I've gotten better at eating these in the past year in Shanghai. I can gobble up a chicken foot in about a dozen seconds. It takes a little practise and refinement to hold the slippery foot with chopsticks, and nibble the skin and munchies off the little bone bits. The thing to know is, you just pull apart each "digit" of the toe. Don't try to leave them attached to each other -- you'll get no meat and embarrass your fellow diners. That's what I did at first, but now I know better.

Try the chicken feet, I think you'll like them!