Thursday, April 22, 2010

Fried Chicken Gizzards


Whenever I go to the market, I'm always drawn to the offal in the meat section. Nijiya frequently carries liver, chicken hearts, and chicken gizzards, and I've been eyeing the gizzards for quite some time, but with some reservation. You see, I made gizzards a while back in a stir fry, but I wasn't a fan of its chewy texture. So I bought a tray of gizzards this past week with the intention of stewing them--slow cooked for 3 hours to make them tender. It made a delicious broth (with daikon, onions, 1/2 lemon, star anise, cloves, garlic, ginger, goji berries, red and honey dates, and sweet potato). The slow cooking also made the gizzards fork tender. The bad news? They were tasteless. I tried to choke them down with soy sauce, but they really tasted like nothing at all. Yuck.

I thought all was lost and was about to chuck them, but then decided (brilliantly, I might add) to toss them in mochiko flour (sweet rice flour) and then fry them in olive oil. Sprinkle some salt over it, serve with a side of soy sauce. The result? DELICIOUS! Like calamari!

Fried Chicken Gizzards

1 tray chicken gizzards
salt
soy sauce
sweet rice (mochiko) flour
olive oil

Simmer the gizzards in water until fork tender (about 1-2 hours I would imagine, although I did mine for 3 hours). Cut into small pieces and dry. Toss in mochiko flour to coat, then pan fry in a good amount of olive oil for about 3 minutes, turning to make sure that all sides cook. Transfer gizzards to plate covered in paper towel to soak excess oil. Sprinkle with salt and serve with a side of soy sauce to dip in.

Before frying, coated in Mochiko

2 comments:

Scott Manlin said...

I have very good luck cooking chicken gizzards and hearts sous vide for 24 hours (with some aromatics and flavoring in the pouch) and then either quick frying them or sauteing them to crisp and serve. The slow cooking breaks down their chewiness without loss of flavor.

Unknown said...

Well, I had never heard of sous vide but now own a Sous Vide Supreme and am happy with it. Tonight, as my better half sleeps I am looking on the net to find sous vide gizzard recipes! I have never used the sous vide for gizzards so..............all I can do is to tell you how I cook mine. Simply use a pressure cooker and cook for 30 minutes. I wrap mine in foil and make a bag of same and pressure cook away. They will be done and tender when you take them out. Season as desired.