Eating odd bits

I love eating the weird parts of an animal. As kids and even till now, my twin sister Caryn and I fight over the odd parts of the Singaporean local dish, kway chap - a dish of braised pork, offal, beancurd, and hard-boiled eggs, served with a bowl of flat lasagna-like rice pasta in steaming brown broth. The sweet intestines and large intestines were the main items to claim over with your chopsticks.

We also still fight over the chicken feet my mother uses in her soups. I still use chicken feet in my stocks. Heston Blumenthal has this recipe for a very chickeny chicken stock which uses milk powder and chicken wings. Forget it. Just use as many chicken feet as you can get your hands on - it's way cheaper! When you're done boiling, take them out and dip in soy sauce and pepper. I have my own chicken stock recipe here.

I try to add as many odd bits to my food as possible. The other day we had a BBQ at ours and I couldn't resist buying some beef heart and lungs. I made them satay style on skewers and served them up.

I bought this book called Odd Bits and I'm now reading it. There's also a little bit about the history of eating these parts. They're nothing to be afraid of. Not too long ago, we thought they were as normal as boneless skinless chicken breast wrapped in cling film in a supermarket.

The odd bits are not only nutritious, they're also cheap and good for budget meals. In honour of this book, I'm adding a new tab to by blog. It's called "Odd".

Seriously, try it.


You can learn more about the author, Jennifer McLagan, here.