Stir-Fried Chicken Gizzards

Having grown up with hearts, liver, and gizzards, I hold the opinion that organ meat is seriously underrated in the American diet. Maybe the thought of eating organ makes you uneasy, but the way I look at it, as long as we're eating the meat of the animal, why not make full use of all its edible parts? If we can accept giblet gravy, let us embrace all the delicious things a life can offer.

Enter: chicken gizzards. They're the muscular stomach of the bird where food is ground down for digestion, which means they are an excellent choice of lean protein. Low in fat and high in vitamins and minerals, gizzards are an overlooked ingredient! 

Due to how muscular they are, gizzards can often become tough and undesirably chewy. My mom likes to cook them in a slow, long braise, flavored with little beyond ginger, soy sauce, and salt. Here, I go for a faster alternative, by slicing them super thin and cooking a small amount on a relatively large surface area. While they're still textured and even crunchy, they're not difficult to eat, and the flavor pay-off with the garlic and light char is top-notch.

The most labor intensive part of cooking gizzard is cleaning them. If you're lucky and you can get your hands on fully-cleaned gizzards, grab 'em! If not, you're going to have to use a sharp knife to trim off the tough silver skin, extraneous connective tissues, especially that crinkly yellow inner lining, which can be bitter in taste if left on. 

Once you've given this a try, let us know how you liked it! If you have other ways of cooking gizzards, drop those down below in the comments too!