Offal, including chicken heart, gizzard, neck, and liver, can be tasty and nutritious when cooked properly. It can be fried, sauteed, or boiled to make sauces and broths for soups and stews. Frozen offal should be thawed completely before cooking.
While many people are skilled at preparing much chicken, not everyone is sure what to do when it’s time to cook the offal. As a collective term for chicken heart, chicken gizzard and chicken neck, the offal is sometimes discarded. However, there are ways to cook offal that will be both tasty and nutritious. Here are some ideas on how to work with offal rather than tossing it aside.
Along with the poultry organs of the heart, neck and gizzard, chicken liver is often considered part of the offal family. Often liver can be easily prepared by washing and then frying the liver until done. Just as with other forms of liver, chicken liver can also be sauteed in an onion mixture, which will enhance the taste. Another option is to pound and fry chicken liver, giving it a crunchy texture that will turn this member of the offal family into a simple yet tasty appetizer.
Chicken gizzards are another example of an offal that often turns into a mealtime favorite. In the southern part of the United States, chicken gizzards are almost considered a delicacy. Again, simply dipping the gizzards in egg batter, coating them in flour, and dropping them into a deep fryer will result in crunchy morsels that are considered an ideal lunch or dinner treat. When many people think of cooking offal, gizzards are the first of the bunch they think of preparing.
Gizzards, necks, and hearts are often sold in small packets together at meat markets and some meat departments in major supermarkets. They can be cut into fine pieces and used to flavor homemade sauces. In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to cook offal and also mince it in addition to packaged gravy, allowing the gravy to simmer for a while and pick up the flavor from the offal. Additionally, offal can also be boiled along with herbs and spices to make a tasty broth for use in soups and stews. If nothing else, it is possible to cook offal and use it that way.
As with any type of meat, it’s a good idea to keep offal frozen until it’s needed for food preparation. Also, it is important to cook the offal after it has completely thawed. The offal can be thawed at room temperature, just like any part of the chicken, or it can be thawed at a low setting on a microwave oven. Because of the relatively small size of the pieces, it usually doesn’t take long for frozen offal to be pliable enough to be chopped up for use. While offal may not be the most desirable portions of chicken, they are actually usable in a number of recipes.
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