Preparing Chicken Feet for Nutrient-Rich Broth

“If you just throw them out, may I have your chicken feet?” I asked, the fall air crisp between us, the other shoppers milling about with their farmers market haul.

“Come again?” he answered, clearly unsure of what he had just heard. So I repeated myself, explaining that I would use them to make broth… to make soup… which we would eat.

“Uh, sure…” he trailed off with a questioning grin. His name was Eric and he was one of the many farmers who fed us before we moved to our land to start doing the work ourselves. We bought eggs and chickens from him and when he offered a bushel of tomatoes for $5 if I’d just come out and pick ’em, the boys and I showed up after just a day or two.

Weeks later he and another farmer would fill our trunk with cases of winter squash and I think it all came together for him – the kind of crazy I was – when his buddy declared “You have to respect a woman who hauls around cases of half-gallon jars in her trunk!”.

I needed those jars to ferment salsa, I explained. Judging by the look on his face, I’m pretty sure he thought I was making tomato moonshine and fighting a losing battle.

* * *

Now that we’re butchering our own chickens, we can harvest the feet ourselves and I don’t have to embarrass my family by asking weird questions at the farmers market. I have intended to use them nearly every time we have butchered, but something else would always come up and I would put blanching and peeling chicken feet on the bottom of the list. As one does.

Last week, however, we butchered a couple of roosters and finally I used the feet to add extra collagen, minerals, and gelatin to our bone broth. It’s my understanding that joints, feet and hooves are gold mines of collagen and gelatin, even more so than the bones themselves. As such, it seems a waste to simply throw them into the compost pile. And with a couple of very eager helpers, I was without excuse.

Yes, they look kind of creepy. But then again, we eat funky milk, leave cheese in jars on the counter for weeks, and skim off white yeast in order to get to much sought after pickles. I suppose it’s understandable then, why Eric may have raised an eyebrow or two when you say it out loud like that.

Come to think of it, I wonder if he would have come over for supper, had we invited him for a pot of soup.

* * *

To Prepare Chicken Feet for Broth

1. Cut the feet and lower leg from the chicken upon butchering.
2. Wash the feet by soaking in water, rinsing, and repeating as necessary.
3. Bring a pot of water to a low boil over high heat. Add chicken feet to the pan, a few at a time, but do not crowd the pan.
4. Scald the chicken feet in simmering water for approximately 30 seconds. Remove with tongs to a clean bowl and allow to cool.
5. Once ready to handle, peel the outer skin from the chicken feet, including the nails.

They are ready to throw into a pot of water for broth, on their own, or alongside a chicken carcass. Simmer as you would the bones for mineral and gelatin-rich bone broth.