This is the sort of post that makes my friend Lisa email me at 6am to complain – she doesn’t like being confronted with offal dishes first thing in the morning. Nevertheless, I thought some of you might find this interesting.
I grew up eating chicken gizzards, or giblets as they’re known here, so when I read Chicago John’s post about his traditional family risotto, it brought back happy taste memories of these chewy, tasty morsels.
I rang my mother to ask her how to prepare them (apparently they’re quite a palaver to clean) and because she loves me, she came over a few days later with two boxes of carefully washed and trimmed pieces. I was too grateful to ask if they were free range, but somehow I doubt it – these are an extremely cheap chicken byproduct and therefore unlikely to be higher welfare…
For the uninitiated, gizzards (known here as giblets) are idiosyncratic to animals without teeth – they’re a specialised stomach with thick muscled walls which chickens (in this case) use to grind up the food that they swallow whole. You can see the muscles a bit better when the organ is cooked. Ok, so I think it’s fascinating, but I’m guessing a whole lot of you have stopped reading by now…
Inspired by John’s recipe, I turned a handful of rehydrated wild mushrooms, thin slices of boiled giblets, homemade chicken stock and some Carnoroli rice into a wild mushroom gizotto. It was finished with a little Pecorino cheese and cracked black pepper, and made a lovely dinner. For me.
Not surprisingly, my three men refused flat out to even try this dish. They might have had a taste if I hadn’t rabbited on about how the organs work, and how earthworms and alligators have them as well. Offal is a hard sell here at the best of times, let alone one that has a rubbery texture. So for them, I made the instant meat pie I blogged about a few weeks ago – I defrosted a container of short ribs ragu, threw in some leftover roast pork and a handful of frozen peas, then added a pastry topping to it. They loved it!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I don’t eat offal at all, however was willing for whatever reason to try giblets – we also call them giblets but alas I didn’t like the texture. I will say though that my dad would be first in the queue to try your gizotto.
:-) Mandy xo
Mandy, my mother used to boil them up in soup, and I remember loving them when I grew up. Back then, the butcher used to give them to her for free! :)
Will definitely keep this on file for when my mother visits. We’re both offal aficionados. Thank you for posting this!
I hope you enjoy it – it really is John’s recipe, so please make sure to pop over to his blog for the original:
http://fromthebartolinikitchens.com/2013/08/14/the-bartolini-family-risotto/
I love gizzards. My brother and I used to fight for the gizzard when Mom roasted a chicken, err, chook. ( I have a new SIL from Australia so learning lots of new words. ;-) ). I may just havie to try this as I also love risotto. Believe it or not, it’s often what I make when I don’t want to cook. Looks yummy!
Mo
Hahaha…yes, “chook”, it’s a decidedly Aus/NZ term! And I can understand risotto being a default meal when cooking feels like a chore – it’s easy AND delicious and comforting, all at the same time! :)
Your boys really need to man up, offal is a delicacy is many places. Back in the Old Country (i.e. Sicily) Palermitani queue round the block for the street food known Pani ca Meusa (boiled spleen)Yum Yum http://www.anissas.com/pani-ca-meusa-or-sicilian-spleen-sandwiches/
Yep. Tony, not a chance. :D
Lovely! I’ve been complaining for years that we no longer get the giblets in with our chickens. I suppose folk are squeamish about them but, if you don’t want to eat them, they make good stock.
Even most butchers nowadays buy in their chickens ‘oven ready’.
We can get chicken livers but they charge quite highly for them ~ and they used to come free with the chicken. *frowns*.
That looks lovely to me.
Pat, I’ve just read a lovely soup recipe to make with giblets, I’ll have to try that – it uses them to flavour the stock as well! I still have one box in the freezer to play with. :)
I definitely think it’s fascinating and it’s SO frugal – but, I’m not sure about whether I want to use them in anything other than gravy/stock. They do come with the chickens we buy though. Maybe I’ll have to bite the… giblet.
Nick, there’s a challenge in that, isn’t there? Being super frugal and eating all the icky bits – I quite like tripe too, but Pete won’t even let it into the house because of the smell as it cooks! :D
I despise tripe :D
This one is not for me Celia. I would be looking for my share of the pie :)
There would be a slice here for you anytime, Glenda.. :D
Growing up quite poor, my mom would fry chicken gizzards and hearts because they were indeed cheap and filling, especially fried (I’m guessing everything is better fried). I enjoyed them quite a bit then, but haven’t cooked them myself. Surprised your men wouldn’t even try them … good thing you had a back up. ;)
Judy, my sons are actually reasonably adventurous, but Pete doesn’t like anything gamey. In this case though, I think I went on and on about them too much before serving – I was really interested in how the organ worked! :D
I remember cleaning the giblets to get them ready for eating every time we butchered chickens. The girls would keep the livers as well as the feet! Not a fan of them myself….they’re very rubbery! I always gave them to the boys to eat…they loved them. I would prefer the pie. It looks delicious. lol! Interesting post. Ours were also cooked with rice but not as a rissoto
Manuela, at least you tried them! There’s something quite different between trying and not liking, and not trying because of squeamishness. Good for you! :)
We used to call the neck, liver, and heart – that came inside the chicken in a small plastic bag – the giblets. Sadly chickens seem to come without them now – although I’d never touch a non-organic liver now. I’d never heard of these organs until I read this post Celia. Fascinating stuff. I’m not squeamish about offal – just find some of the texture a bit challenging. I do think we should respect animals by eating all of the carcass. Great post.
Sally, thank you! I think it is a texture thing for so many people – I know friends who will happily eat pate, but won’t go near fried liver! Hugh FW is always going on about using as much of the carcass as we can, and I agree with him (and you) completely.
never had a giblet, but grew up eating liver! your warning at the first of this post made me smile.
also, found out via tableofcolors.com that you host an ‘in my kitchen’ series! coincidentally, today i wrote about what’s in my kitchen. so fun to read others’!
m.
Thanks for stopping by! Your “room” series looks interesting! I grew up on liver too – don’t find it nearly as much these days, and when we do, it’s often overcooked!
I too grew up eating gizzard, but have not gizzard for a long time…this risotto looks delicious, like the different textures in this risotto.
Hope you are having a great week :D
Juliana, hope you have a great weekend! :) How did your mum prepare the gizzards/giblets? Mine used to just boil them, or put them in a soup.
I’m a fairly recent convert to eating meat again (since we kept pigs bizarrely!) and haven’t tried offal yet, although I did make liver pate and loved it straight after we got the pigs back. But I think if we’re going to eat animals (I’ll only eat ones that I know have had a good life, plenty of space and a good diet) we should do justice to them and eat everything – so good for you, eating gizzards and writing about it. It looks as if you’ve made something very tasty with them too.
Andrea, these days we have the option (thankfully!) of choosing to eat higher welfare animals (and we’re usually hard line about it, but I made the exception here since mum had gone to so much effort), but for some reason the offal doesn’t seem to be available. I’ve never seen free range chicken livers or giblets for sale, or found grassfed cow’s liver. I hope they all make a come back!
The recipe looks delicious thank you; a lovely combination giblets and wild mushrooms in a risotto definitely on the list for next week. I had a similar experience 30 years ago when I crumbed lamb brains and served them up as an entree for my 3 (primary school) sons & my new husband who was enchanted with my cooking. They were all sitting about saying yum yum and so on until I stupidly asked them to guess what they were eating. Big mistake. My new husband poked suspiciously at his dinners for a long time after and the three sons threatened mutiny if I ever tried to serve them offal ever again. The only thing I do with offal now is grind up a bit of liver into the spag bol sauce (made in bulk and stored in preserving jars) – it does add a good rich flavour but well disguised by the red wine and tomatoes and they are none the wiser. SandyT
Sandy, that’s too funny! And you’re brave, even I wouldn’t be game to serve them lamb’s brains – although I grew up on it and adored it! :)
You crack me up Celia! Love the title… I’ve never tried something like this before, but yours is looking good! xo
Em, it was funny! Not the first time they’ve said no, by the way, there was the stinky kangaroo mince incident, and shhh…don’t mention the apricot lamb… ;-)
Love giblets/gizzards and when the time comes around for us to dispatch our chickens which we breed for eating, I save them all up – next time I’ll be making this gorgeous dish!
Chica, do have a look at Chicago John’s traditional family recipe when the time comes, it’s a winner! :)
http://fromthebartolinikitchens.com/2013/08/14/the-bartolini-family-risotto/
Dear Celia ! I love your gizzardstory!! I have eaten my whole life soft cooked gizzards on bread, in soups, in pasteries and I am now 76 years old !!! From that delicious bouillon of these gizzards first my mother and then memyself made the most delicious soupes and souces !! Here in west europe gizzards were eaten very much in W.W.II so the childeren were costomised by eating them and I was one of them So I still pick some times a bag of gizzards at the market and make me a nice pan of gizzardsoupe.
You are my nicest cookblogger of all the bloggers I have looked after !!!!!!!
Much dear greetings from Hannie Poll – Westervoort – The Netherlands
Hannie, I so love getting your comments, thank you! I recently read about a Hungarian style noodle soup made with gizzards, I’m hoping to try that next with my remaining box. I’ve never had gizzards cooked until they’re soft – we’ve always eaten them a little rubbery. I’ll try cooking them longer next time. x
Wonderful – I haven’t had giblets for years and funny how many men don’t like to eat offal! My partner won’t come at any of it and I love it having grown up in a mixed Aussie/Hungarian household. I’d love to try your gizotto but unfortunately can’t eat rice anymore due to insulin problems :-( but giblets go well in chicken soup with chicken necks and lots of yummy veg – next challenge is to find a good source.
Sue, I think that will be the thing for me too. I was very grateful to mum for her delivery, but I’d REALLY prefer to eat free range chooks. I’m going to have to go searching!
You’re so good to cook different meals for different preferences. And how good if you mum to whizz over with not only the essential ingredient but the cleaned essential ingredient. I did laugh at the name of this dish! xx
Charlie, I didn’t actually PLAN to cook another meal, but when Pete announced he wasn’t going near the offal, I had to find something poste-haste! :)
Well I did keep reading but love you as I do I don’t think I’ll be trying this one Celia! I did learn something new though thank you!
It’s ok darling, my men love me too, and they wouldn’t have a bar of this. :D I’m glad you found it interesting though!
I would definitely give this a try but I know my husband would do what your boys did too. I’ve never had a problem with the gizzards because my mother always used them, the heart & liver from the chicken and turkey in the stuffing. Of course she grew up on a farm in upstate Maine on the Canadian border and they did not waste anything that they grew or raised.
Di, I wondered if they were used in stuffing! I’m sure they must have added enormous flavour to the bird!
I still do it that way myself & the stuffing is incredible but the flavor is probably mostly from the liver. I also add crumbled bacon & of course have never told my husband or daughter exactly what they’re eating but they sure do love it.
Love the name of your dish Celia, and love that your mum came to the rescue! I think you should sneak some of the gizzards into your pie filling and don’t tell the boys until the next day :) xox
Becca, you’re absolutely right of course, but what would be the point of that? I wanted the giblets to be the star. And they were. But only for me. ;-)
Wow! Loved John’s and do love your blog! [Where do you access carnoloni: that is the most diffiuclt of the three for me to get!] . . . Giblets have such a depth of flavour in a multitude of dishes and a delightful ‘chewiness’! And they are el cheapo :) ! Make great soup also!! OK: my very fave meat is honeycomb tripe in red wine N French style ~ learned to cook that at age 10!! Absolutely luvve sweetbreads, brains [yes, I know cholesterol!], kidneys etc . . . not much hope is there presenting those at ‘breakfast time’ :) ! Your menfolk: ‘oh, just some good, lean beef I picked up on special’ ;) !
Eha, most Italian delis stock the carnaroli these days – we like it more than arborio! :)
You’ve done my family’s recipe proud, Celia. Your opening photo could just as easily been taken in my Zia’s kitchen and she’ll be thrilled to see that you’ve prepared and enjoyed our risotto. Your Mum sounds wonderful, coming over to lend a hand like that. It’s too bad that you couldn’t get the men in your house to give it a try. They’re too old to fall for the “Dried Mushroom” trick. Thank you for presenting our recipe and for your kind words while doing so.
John, your comment makes me SO happy, thank you! It was a lovely recipe, and it was a treat to revisit giblets again after so many years! :)
I’m not sure I would cook Gizotto but I’d definitely give eating it a try, and I was entertained hugely by this post :) Especially the raw and cooked giblets pics – the magic of cooking that turned something that looks so inedible into a dish that looks so delectable.
ED, I love that you thought the cooked giblets on a plate looked edible – they’re a bit funny looking, but such an interesting part of the bird – it took me years to understand what they were for!
Your poor men don’t realize what they’re missing. I’m surprised the delicious aromas didn’t suck them in. I usually sneak the gizzard out of the soup pot before anyone else can get it. I’ve just finished butchering four rooster and we’re having the the livers tonight with rice. Yum!
Liz, yum indeed, I adore chicken livers! Might need to hint to my mum about those too.. :)
Your pie looks gorgeous but, no thanks!
There are no gizzards in the pie, Christine! :D
Oops, sorry Celia. That will teach me to read more carefully! Yes I would definitely eat the pie.
It’s the texture I can’t get past. I’m a failure at giblets. :(
You’re never a failure at anything darling! Not everyone likes everything! :)
You had me chuckling at the title of the post, Celia, but you lost me at the second and third pictures. My dad always gleefully took the bowl of boiled giblets from my mom, when she had some after making a chicken when we were kids. However, us kids were so grossed out by what we knew was in the bowl, to even look at it.
I think I’d definitely give your dish a taste if you made it for me, since I know you’re such an incredibly good cook, but I KNOW I could not touch those things to prepare them. Your mum was sooo nice to bring over all those gizzards for you. Maybe the boys will try it some time??
Sorry hon, I tried to give you warning in the first para! :) I’m sure I could sneak it past the boys if I tried, but there’s not really any point in that, I don’t think. :)
LOL! You are so gutsy, Celia! I made some delicious liver and onions the other day and decided not to blog about it because of the negative reaction a lot of people have toward offal. I fix gizzards and hearts for my husband as a treat – as he loves them- but it took years for me to understand that he REALLY loved them just boiled up and lightly salted. I used to clean them meticulously, cut off a lot of the cartilage, chop them up small and put them into scrambled eggs with carmelized onions. He complained saying he just wanted the gizzards plain.
My boys wouldn’t eat them- and I needed the eggs and onions to make the palatable for me!
I think I would like this recipe as well- but it is easier to just boil them and pour them into a bowl for Frank.
Great post!!!!
Heidi, I’ve just read the most fabulous Hungarian soup recipe which I think your Frank would love – I’m going to scan a copy and email it to you! xx
I also grew up eating gizzards in China, and love it too! On the weekend, I bought the cookbook “Odd bits: How to cook the rest of the animal”, so we’ll see if I can, um, surprise any friends!
Also wanted to say, I made your cookie slices. They were fantastic. We ate them all before I took photos, oops.
Saucy, that sounds like a really fun book! And thank you for trying out the cookie slice – so glad you enjoyed it!
i believe wholeheartedly in the ‘nose to tail’ philosophy but just can’t do it..and it’s not just squeamishness, although i have to admit it is an issue too, it’s the taste and texture i don’t like..i remember being given a delicious looking bowl of soup at my first greek easter but one taste was enough because the smell literally took my breath away..in a bad way..the soup was mayeritsa which contains lamb liver and other internal organs..a squeamish moment i remember was the sight of my sister in law and her friend fighting over the ‘best bits’ of a boiled sheep’s head..i was 6 months pregnant at the time..i lost weight on that visit because all i could eat was salad and bread..
Jane, the Greeks take offal to a whole other level – I’m not sure I can face some of the Greek delicacies either! :) Good on you for trying though! :)
Oh my heavens yes, but offal does evoke strong responses from diners. Il quinto quarto – the fifth cut. Kudos to you for making this, serving it and writing about it!! Complimenti!
Adri, thank you! It was fun to experiment, even though I’m not sure it will make a regular appearance here given the rest of the family’s response! :)
More early morning or late night offal dishes please, I love it when people’s mothers appear on the blogs. (launches into story and slight digression, please forgive me in advance) I always thought that giblets was a sort of group word for the neck, stomach, gizzard, heart, organs of the chicken, at least that is what you used to get in the little bag stuffed into the chicken when you bought it at the butchers in ye olde days past pre the European Union and regulations about organ meat and BSE and all that stuff, but that is probably just here in the UK. Miss the kidney that used to be attached to pork chops too, and the fat… My mother, she who loathed cooking with a passion, loved offal, used to say it was ‘offally good for you’. (By the way, Heidi we had liver and onions only this week with mashed potato and green beans, fabulous food!)
Jo, I think you’re right – giblets IS the group word, and gizzard is the specific organ, but in my family, these were always known as giblets. Chicken livers were something different again, and I ADORED those – mum used to boil them up in soups and I’d be naughty and try to pick them all out for myself. I think your mum must have known what she was talking about! :)
Oh Joanna- I love the way liver and onions taste when you make it at home- lightly floured and cooked just right and slathered with sweet grilled onions- I made mashed potatoes and green beans with ours too! But it just didn’t seem to be blogging material! :)
My father loved to cook giblets, unfortunately I am not into it. Would try you risotto if I did not have to cook it.
Norma, it’s certainly not for everyone. I’d cut you a large slice of pie! :)
I used to buy giblets for making stock but they aren’t available now. They give wonderful oomph to stock, growing up we ate an offal lot of offal (sorry) because it was cheap and nutritious and in my early married life I cooked stuffed, slow cooked lambs’ hearts and lamb tongues. I remember hearing Simon Bryant saying “if you’re going to ‘do’ the animal, then don’t waste any of it”. I agree with that entirely. Just a few months ago I asked at a local butchers’ for a lamb shoulder and he said “oh no, you don’t get those now”. I looked at him with some bemusement and thought, but didn’t say’ “lambs don’t have them anymore???”.
Jan, we can still buy shoulder here, but you raise a really good point and I was saying this to Andrea above – the move towards higher welfare meat is a wonderful thing, but in the process, so many of the cheaper cuts and offal have disappeared – I think that with the lack of enthusiasm for them, and the premium that free range/organic now commands, butchers don’t go out of their way to stock them. I tried to find free range pork leaf fat for making lard, and was told that the butchers never get it these days. Like you, I wondered where on earth it goes – the rumour was that it was exported!
Celia, I love your clever title! While I never developed a taste for gizzards, I do simmer them in a small saucepan along with the heart, liver, neck, tail, etc. while the chicken roasts. If there isn’t enough “juice” from the chicken to make gravy, I add the “mock stock” to it and it’s delicious. (The solids go to the critters on our bluff; I’ve tried to like ’em, I really have.) Around “these here parts” (hee hee), folks make whole meals out of gizzards (deep fried) or add them to stuffing or make giblet gravy. I can handle the stuffing, but the rest… let’s just say I love making stock. Thanks for the education!
Deep fried gizzards! That’s a new one to me Kim! I’m sure they’d make great stock!
Celia, I love chicken stomach! Brings so many happy childhood memories of my mum cooking “rosol” which is polish chicken soup normally served every Sunday for lunch. And there would always be chicken stomach cooking in the broth which I was lucky enough to have together with chicken heart. Yuuuuummmmyyyy :-)
Ania, chicken hearts! I adored those – I haven’t had one in years! Thanks for the reminder, I must go looking for those as well!