News: Yum, These Scaly Feet Look Delicious

Sometimes the "nasty bits" are unexpectedly yummy. With a reputation for being both cheap and reliably good, Chichi Wang of Serious Eats describes chicken's feet:

"These morsels of skin and bones are a unique combination of textures--the wrinkled, puffed skin on the surface and the soft, gelatinous tendons within.

Goose and duck feet have ample amounts of webbing; when stewed, they are delicate and tender with a hint of chewiness that resembles the texture of simmered sheets of bean curd. While goose and duck feet are more prized in Chinese cuisine, I prefer the meatiness of a chicken's foot.

In restaurants, I've always wondered why the feet (and the meat in pork buns, for that matter) are a hue of red like the lacquer of Chinese wooden furniture. Still, the showy color of the chicken feet mirrors the feel of a dim sum meal: flamboyant and pleasurably excessive."

So, they look like shriveled up old witches feet (or something equally creepy). I'm game.

HowTo: Make Cantonese Chicken's Feet

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken feet (about 1 dozen)
  
• 1/4 cup sugar
  
• 1 1/2 quarts oil
  
• 2-inch piece of fresh ginger
  
• 3 pieces star anise

For the marinade:

• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  
• 3 tablespoons black bean sauce
  
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon Shao-xing rice wine, sake, or vermouth
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
  
• 1 ounce dried red chile pepper, broken up, or 1 jalapeño, sliced

Click through for the full recipe.

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