# I just had my first chicken gizzards! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839 "2018-02-14T18:59:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/1 "2018-02-14T18:59:40Z")
Even though in from the south (Texas) I’ve never had them. I’ve had hearts. I’ve had livers. Both of which I love but never gizzards. They were good! A little chewy but flavor wise, yummy. Anyone else tried them? ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/2 "2018-02-14T19:29:06Z")
Yup. My Mom used to fix them all the time and I loved them. Like you noticed, they’re a bit chewy. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/3 "2018-02-14T19:29:43Z")
Oh, yeah. Chopped chicken gizzards cooked in chicken stock with onions, garlic, celery, carrot, parsley, and rice. With a bay leaf. Cook for a long time; the gizzards get more tender and the rice explodes and gets soft. Like a Central European congee. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/4 "2018-02-14T19:32:04Z")
Also delicious in dirty rice. I usually leave out the livers and double the gizzards. > **[Dirty rice](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_rice)** > > Dirty rice is a traditional Louisiana Creole dish made from white rice which gets a "dirty" color from being cooked with small pieces of pork, beef or chicken, green bell pepper, celery, and onion, and spiced with cayenne and black pepper. Parsley and chopped green onions are common garnishes. Dirty rice is most common in the Creole regions of southern Louisiana; however, it can also be found in other areas of the American South and referenced as "chicken and rice," "Cajun rice," or "rice The e... ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/5 "2018-02-14T19:33:24Z")
If they don’t serve chicken gizzards in Heaven, I don’t wanna go !! ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/6 "2018-02-14T19:40:26Z")
I didn’t eat them until I met my wife. Now I’m a fan, as long as they’re cooked as follows: Boil/simmer for ~45 minutes so they’re not so damn chewy Season and saute/fry for ~10 minutes until they’re a bit crispy on the edges ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/7 "2018-02-14T20:02:47Z")
I am told they are kind of chewy. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/8 "2018-02-15T00:45:46Z")
Cooked over a camp fire with a sprinkle of salt is a pretty good way to go. Chinese cuisine has dozens of also tasty ways to prepare gizzards. Tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/9 "2018-02-15T00:56:07Z")
So you specifically take gizzards camping to cook? > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Also delicious in dirty rice. I usually leave out the livers and double the gizzards. > > [Dirty rice - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_rice) That looks absolutely delish! ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/10 "2018-02-15T01:01:07Z")
Money was tight when I was younger, and my mother often had to make do when cooking for our large family. I always loved her stew made with gizzards (although siblings referred to it as “chicken crap stew”) I especially loved the _pupiks_, or “chicken belly buttons” - chewy and yummy! Fast forward to age 20 or so, in my own apt and food shopping for myself. There was a package of _pupiks_ - but wait, they were obviously mislabeled - chicken hearts?? What?? Clearly a mistake, they were belly buttons! Then, the horrifying realization that (of course) chickens don’t have belly buttons! :smack: Why yes, I _am_ a bit slow… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/11 "2018-02-15T02:04:16Z")
I don’t eat organ meats of any kind. Nope, not me. But, I have cooked them for Mr.Wrekker. He also likes gas station gizzards and livers. They always smell like filthy cooking oil. My Daddy used to scramble eggs on Sunday breakfast and he always added pig brains and yellow food color. We would’ve all died if we knew it. Yuk! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/12 "2018-02-15T02:18:34Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I don’t eat organ meats of any kind. Nope, not me. But, I have cooked them for Mr.Wrekker. He also likes gas station gizzards and livers. They always smell like filthy cooking oil. My Daddy used to scramble eggs on Sunday breakfast and he always added pig brains and yellow food color. We would’ve all died if we knew it. Yuk! You would think we were in Mississippi. Guys, chickens swallow gravel to their gizzards, and use them to grind up the roaches and caterpillars they eat. “Yuk” indeed. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/13 "2018-02-15T02:21:26Z")
When I was a kid, we had one whole chicken per week. Everything but the head and feathers. My job was pulling all the organs out through the ass. My second favorite part was the gizzards. First was the feet. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/14 "2018-02-15T02:31:23Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > That looks absolutely delish! Oh, baby. I first tasted dirty rice in N’Awlins in the 1980s, at a restaurant set in an old residential home up north, near the levee. Roast duck over dirty rice, with the duck fat dripping down into it. I remember thinking “If I offer to give the duck back to the cook, will he give me more of this rice?” Definitely add ground pork in addition to the gizzards. Use Paul Prudhomme’s recipe, which can probably be located on the internets depending on the skill of his estate’s copyright lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/15 "2018-02-15T02:32:33Z")
That made it a bit more un-appetizing. I am with you there Carni, chickens are pretty nasty anyway, I don’t like to think what they eat. Especially those organic/free range yard birds. You know they will cannibalize their best friend. Filthy animals. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/16 "2018-02-15T02:57:53Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > So you specifically take gizzards camping to cook? Hell yes. That was the way I wuz raised, and I’m passing the tradition on to my kids. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/17 "2018-02-15T03:02:28Z")
When I was the meat & poultry buyer at the Park Slope Food Coop, I found it interesting that our vegetarian/vegan members were more grossed out by the raw chickens than by the bloody hunks of beef or lamb or veal or pork. The birds looked more like they did when they still strode the earth, but the ribeye steak and the loin lamb chop didn’t remind them so much of the living cow or sheep. I used to buy organic chickens from a Buddhist farmer who left the heads and feet on when he brought them to us. The screams of the wimpy shoppers were simply delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/18 "2018-02-15T06:11:41Z")
That’s why all those vegans say the wouldn’t eat anything that had a face. I am planning on rethinking my diet. Soon, one day soon. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/19 "2018-02-15T13:17:36Z")
Here in France we mostly do them (and duck gizzards) \*confit \*in duck or goose grease ; then when you want to serve them you either serve cold in salad or pan fry 'em as a side dish. And I agree they’re fantastic. Like candy, only made out of meat. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839/20 "2018-02-15T13:35:30Z")
Boiled, fried or pickled. I love turkey gizzards, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-had-my-first-chicken-gizzards/808839.md?page=2)