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Since they've thoroughly explored every nook and cranny of the pig, it seems reasonable to expect offal-loving chefs to turn their attentions to the chicken.
This theory is most assuredly not shared, however, by the lovely lady who mans the phones at Blue Plate Roadside Cafe, a retro Southern comfort food joint in Sandy Springs, Ga.
"Gizzards?" she blurts when we inquire if they're on the menu. She sounds as though we've chased down an obviously lousy tip: "No, no, no, not gizzards, never."
Many savvy Southern eaters are still saying no to gizzards, a humble food that's retained its stigma -- it is, after all, the tough, lower stomach pouch of the bird -- despite a wonderfully chewy, fatty flavor. But a few brave chefs are quietly sneaking gizzards onto their menus, elevating a poultry part oft dismissed as a poor man's food to a starring role.
"I was looking for something different that maybe people hadn't tried," says Evan McDaniel, chef de cuisine at Watts Grocery in Durham, N.C., where he serves gizzards poached and fried. "I think a lot of people were surprised to find them pretty tasty."
A dislike for gizzards is perhaps a Western or middlebrow affectation, since they are routinely devoured at high-end Japanese restaurants and at many a homey Southern fried chicken shop. While Bojangles' has inexplicably gotten out of the gizzards game, those who were college students in the 1980s fondly recall the chain's $1.99 all-you-can-eat Gizzard Tuesdays.
Perhaps because eaters outside the South don't necessarily associate gizzards with poverty, the dish has recently had a good run in the Midwest, where Minneapolis chef (and James Beard Award nominee) Isaac Becker last fall added a $6 sautéed gizzard app to 112 Eatery's menu. (He did admit to the Star-Tribune that "it's a hard sell.")
The region's also home to the nation's undisputed gizzard capital: Joe's Gizzard City, a family-owned eatery in Potterville, Mich. that sells more than 300 pounds of the stuff per week. Joe's got its start in the 1960s as a chicken dinner restaurant, but, as owner Joe Bristol recalls, "We had a few regulars who'd had a couple beers too many, and we'd throw gizzards at them to sober them up. We got to be known as the gizzard place."
"There's only three types of people who don't like our gizzards," he continues. "People who had a childhood trauma with gizzards, white meat eaters and people from the Deep South, who like their gizzards chewy, like their grandmothers made them." While Joe himself has no preference for either style, he remarks, "it's like the difference between filet mignon and beef jerky."
Regardless of your gizzardly feelings, Bristol would love for you to mark your calendar for the 10th annual Gizzard Fest next month. From June 12-14, the town of Potterville will celebrate gizzards with bagpiping, bellydancing, lawn mower racing and competitive gizzard eating. Sounds like a recipe for fun that few highfalutin chefs could top.
Ever eaten gizzards? Hit the comments; let us know.
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5-29-2009 @4:53PM christopher said... We used to cook them in a thai kitchen and they were fantastic (for us, not customers). Garlic, chilies, basil, loads of chopped gizzards. mmmmm...rich people and poor people really know how to eat; sucks if you're stuck in the middle with chicken breast as your only option.
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5-29-2009 @5:06PM mamajane.123 said... Of course we ate gizzards, plus liver & hearts when our mother made fried chicken! Very plain, no breading, just seasoned with s & p & fried in probably Crisco. We loved them all --
Marijane, in Texas
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5-29-2009 @5:15PM Kathryn said... When I lived in Bolivia, we used to buy "menudencia" (giblets and feet) for making soup. Given a choice between feet, liver, heart, or gizzards, I definitely prefer gizzards!
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5-29-2009 @10:22PM BraH said... Gizzards make for a cheap lunch. There's a gas station down the street from my shop that sells fried chicken, 8 gizzards for 99 cents, 20 for $2.
They're too damned chewy to pay any more than that for them.
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5-30-2009 @2:56AM Simes said... Ahhh...I've fond memories of this often overlooked delicacy. Let's see, I've had gizzards mixed with chicken livers and hearts adobo, straight up fried gizzards, and my favorite: skewered gizzards broiled over charcoal basted with chili-citrus-soy sauce reduction. Yessir, us Pinoys know and love the gizzard.
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5-30-2009 @10:08AM Gobo said... My dad always relished the giblets and would carve me off part of the liver, the gizzard, and the heart. I always liked the gizzard, not so much the strong-flavored liver or chewy heart.
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5-30-2009 @11:09AM Bill said... I love gizzards so much, I created a Facebook fan site for my favorite gizzard establishment and I"m got over 1700 fans on it now. I would eat them every day if it wouldn't kill me in short time. There's a hot sauce that I use to help them go down smoother.
God love gizzrards!
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5-30-2009 @11:13AM Bill said... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kansas-City-KS/Go-Chicken-Go/45905210344?ref=ts
It's very tongue in cheek and I created it more as a joke than anything, but it has quite the following now. I do updates a couple times a week and that draws around 40 new fans a day.
Sorry for the double post, but I couldn't resist.
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5-30-2009 @12:43PM Megan said... Count me among the Southerners who do not eat gizzards, liver, etc. It's not because of any association with povery for me; they just never sounded appealing.
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5-31-2009 @2:34PM Gobo said... Megan: I suggest trying them.
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6-02-2009 @3:34PM playswithfood said... In my Jewish household growing up, my sister and dad would fight over who got the "poopick" after holiday chicken soup was made. Little did they know it was chicken stomach! A long simmer in the soup pot apparently made it very tender and tasty (I never indulged - can't say it makes me hungry).
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6-04-2009 @8:18AM hyperangel85 said... I used to eat gizzards all the time growing up. In Portuguese culture, gizzards is just amother food item, along with tripe, chicken feet, and pig tails!
My mom would cook gizzards and hearts as a stew or chop them up and add them to the turkey stuffing :)
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6-04-2009 @8:15AM Hank said... Gizzards are definitely an aqcuired taste and the preparation makes all of the difference. I can't get enough of the gizzards from Lee's famous Recipe Fried Chicken but on the other hand I've spit out gizzards from other places and thrown them in the trash. Try Lee's...you'll love them! Tender and flavorful, but make sure they're freshly cooked!
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6-08-2009 @5:03PM IceGirl28 said... Gizzards! Are you kidding? I've got some in the freezer just waiting to be cooked, Southern style! You can get a pack in the store for less than $3 - is that a great deal or what?! Although I've given up eating anything fried, the one exception to that rule is the occasional chicken gizzard! My Mom used to boil them, along with turkey necks (in separate pots), and put them in her holiday gravy (made from scratch in a process that began with browning the "rue" - see Louisiana cooking for that one!), a recipe my sister and I still carry on today. One caveat: gizzards need to be cleaned well so I suggest not eating them from just anybody. Other than that, don't knock 'em till you try them - gizzards are great :-)!
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6-08-2009 @7:42PM Terri said... To "plays-with-food" - YUMMMM....pupicks!
But I always was told that name applied to what would be the 'rear end' of the chicken - that little twinned piece of fatty meat on bone that sticks out where the tail would be.
Also - I was hoping that I could find RECIPES here for preparing gizzards - I LOVE them too!
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6-09-2009 @6:25PM Teresa said... Simmer gizzards over night with enough water to cover. Remove gizzards, lightly flour, add salt and pepper to taste and fry to golden brown. Thicken the broth with flour and milk, add salt and pepper. Serve over hot biscuits. Gizzards are FANTASTIC this way. Tender, with great flavor and the gravy will be the best chicken gravy you've ever had!!! I grew up eating this for breakfast and I'm from the Virginia Appalachian mountains.
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6-14-2009 @11:09AM Tucson Joe said... Lucky Wishbone a local chain in Tucson has been selling them for over 35 years.They are the greatest i try and have an order at least once a month. They are parboiled then dipped in a batter and then deep fried,very fatty but YUMMMM.
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10-04-2009 @3:15PM Tonya said... Gizzards are great. They are cheap and delicious. The only problem I've had with them is figuring out how to make them tender. I'm going to try some of other peoples suggestions. Thank you.
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