Gimme That Gizzard
I grew up in New England and lobster was $1.99 a pound in the fall and chowder and beans were a religion. And then I moved and I brought clam chowder for lunch and some kid in the lunchroom told me it looked like his cat’s puke. I cried and didn’t eat my lunch and after school in a hunger-induced delirium I set his house on fire and strung his cat up on the street lamp post. Just kidding, turned out he was a liar and didn’t even own a cat.
As I got older, Mr. Imaginary Cat Dude became just one of many people who felt the need to inform me that what I ate was disgusting because Some People couldn’t handle the smell of kimchi and fermented tofu, and needed to explicitly demonstrate their coping skill deficits. Then, 2019 rolls around, and some tatted-up white hipster with a man bun and flowers in his beard tells the world that “cooking saved my life!” and introduces everyone to his discovery of Asian food which will be “the next big thing!” Suddenly, there’s mint in the Mapo Tofu and Bao with microscopic slivers of smoked duck that cost $10 a pop, and they judge you for not having a Japanese whisky with your crab fried rice because everyone forgot about the war and that it wasn’t a friendly pairing back in the day.
Well, grandma didn’t forget about the war, because her house got burnt down three times. And in those dire times, she ate what she could find. Some of those dishes survived and thrived and Mr. Imaginary Cat Dude can’t even imagine the animal parts I’m about to stuff into my mouth hole and thoroughly enjoy. These are the recipes Hipster Chef with his “fusion” restaurant could never sell to the masses, so you might as well make it at home because otherwise you aren’t getting any. You know it’s real because we don’t call it Chinese food, we just call it food. I present to you Stir-Fried Chicken Gizzards.
Stir-Fried Chicken Gizzards
Ingredients:
1lb chicken gizzards – our supermarket sells them frozen, you might have to go to an Asian store.
½ cup water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp corn starch
¼ c Shaoxing cooking wine
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp ginger, cut into thin strips
2 stalks green onions, cut into 2cm lengths
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 Thai bird chilies or any spicy chili pepper – optional, adjust according to your heat level
Slice chicken gizzards into approximately 1cm strips; usually this is about 4 pieces per gizzard
In a small bowl, mix together corn starch, water, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, and sugar. Set aside.
In a wok or deep saute pan, bring to a boil 2 cups of water. Add chicken gizzards and blanche for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In the same wok, heat vegetable oil with ginger, garlic, and chilies until they just start to sizzle and become fragrant.
Add chicken gizzards and stir fry on high heat until no pink remains, about 5 minutes. Add salt.
Pour in the corn starch mixture and stir. This should form a thickened sauce fairly quickly.
As soon as the sauce thickens, add in the green onions, and cook for an additional minute until the green onions just begin to wilt.
Serve hot with whatever type of rice is your fancy and whatever sides you got handy, I don’t judge. We had jasmine rice and some stir fried bok choy because you’ve got to stay regular.
