Excuse me, there is a toenail in my soup
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382412)
Rockingham, Australia
February 3, 2019 9:26pm CST
Shavkat (@Shavkat) wrote recently about trying strange foods. I’ll put the link at the bottom. In his comment, he said he had to close his eyes to try to eat a chicken foot that was served with soup.
My mother loved chicken feet. When I was young we would occasionally dress chickens and them. To ‘dress’ means to kill, pluck and take the innards out. You end up with a whole chicken ready to bake or whatever. And while do they call it dress I wonder? Surely it’s more like ‘undress’.
Anyway one customer used to like to be given the chicken feet and she’d make soup from them. She liked to eat the feet too. We had to scald the feet, rub off the scales then pop off each toe-nail. Anyone feeling ill yet?
So one day the lady told Mum that she had served up the soup to her husband and he had found a toenail floating in it. Luckily she was able to laugh about it.
The photo is of a handsome Polish rooster that was running round at the zoo we visited recently. He is quite old as he had quite lethal-looking spurs on his legs. Can you see one of them?
It is inevitable that when we travel to another country or other countries, a host will accommodate us. He or she will do his or her best to provide things that...
28 people like this
32 responses
@marguicha (230365)
• Chile
4 Feb 19
Chicken legs are sold here and are a good and inexpensive protein. One of my friend´s mother made a very elegant dish with them boiling them and taking the bones out. It was called galantine and it was served for visitors.
4 people like this
@marguicha (230365)
• Chile
4 Feb 19
@JudyEv It is a jelly made with the big amounts of collagen that feet have. Feet are boiled until bones can be taken out easily. Then, with the meat and the broth you make it and place it in the fridge. When it cools, it jellies. Check in the web. I make this with cow´s feet. Easier but not so delicious.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 19
@marguicha It's really gelatine in its natural state, isn't it?
@wolfgirl569 (135944)
• Marion, Ohio
4 Feb 19
I dont think I would want to eat it.
3 people like this
@RasmaSandra (98072)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
4 Feb 19
That rooster is still handsome. No, I could not and would not want to eat chicken feet but I know that they do make soup with them. My mom always made the very best chicken soup with chicken wings.
3 people like this
@RasmaSandra (98072)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
6 Feb 19
@JudyEv Yes, from time to time. I love making the soup with chicken wings. Sometimes when the chicken broth is ready I add some spinach which I love and I always eat the chicken wings separately along with the soup.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (118793)
• Anniston, Alabama
4 Feb 19
In the smaller grocers they sell chciken feet but I am not brave enough to cook and eat them.
3 people like this
@acelawrites (19272)
• Philippines
4 Feb 19
It's funny why they call it "dress" when we really undress the chicken! The rooster looks beautiful!
3 people like this
@kobesbuddy (78833)
• East Tawas, Michigan
4 Feb 19
What a beautiful rooster, he's handsome! Yes, we've dressed(undressed) chicken, many times on Grandma's farm. The feet, as you explained, were cleaned, skinned, and the toenails removed. The broth from boiled chicken feet is very rich and used for making gravy. I love boiled chicken feet, but there are a lot of bones to eat around! I haven't had them, in many years.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 19
@kobesbuddy Has Jay ever had them? Perhaps you could try them again one day.
1 person likes this
@kobesbuddy (78833)
• East Tawas, Michigan
5 Feb 19
@JudyEv As kids, we loved them!
1 person likes this
@amitkokiladitya (171988)
• Agra, India
5 Feb 19
Omg..really. is the incident true
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 19
@amitkokiladitya And you probably wouldn't have been the only one. 
1 person likes this
@amitkokiladitya (171988)
• Agra, India
5 Feb 19
@JudyEv don't mind me saying but I guess I would have vomited
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 19
@Janet357 I don't know that we have very many exotic foods at all but when we in the Flinders Ranges area of South Australia, we had camel sausage, kangaroo pieces and emu pate. That is about as exotic as we get. And there was goat's cheese.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (153529)
• India
4 Feb 19
Preiti's staple diet is chicken feet. They are pressure cooked and served with soup and rice.
Chicken feet soup is good for humans too They take care of our joints.
2 people like this
@allknowing (153529)
• India
4 Feb 19
@JudyEv You are right there. I had it for a while and then got bored but it tastes good Many cook those chicken feet
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (24028)
• United Kingdom
4 Feb 19
I am afraid I only eat the white meat and nothing near the bone!
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (24028)
• United Kingdom
4 Feb 19
@JudyEv My grandparents had their own butchers shop and they used to make all kinds of things out of offal, tongues and brains none of which would pass my delicate lips I can tell you! 
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Feb 19
@garymarsh6 A lot of it is what you're brought up with, isn't it? It either turns you off for life or you embrace it. I used to watch Dad kill and butcher sheep then later I killed and dressed chickens. I wouldn't want to do it now but at the time it was all part of the routine.
@moffittjc (128840)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Feb 19
How do you eat the feet? Aren't they hard, like a beak or something?
2 people like this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
4 Feb 19
When I was traveling overseas a lot, I often ended up getting food that well, wasn't something I had tasted before. Some was good, some was bad.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 19
@DocAndersen It's good to try local cuisines though isn't it?
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
5 Feb 19
@JudyEv I did acquire far too many favorites. :-)
1 person likes this
@florelway (23339)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
4 Feb 19
Some herbalist here recommends eating of chicken feet to those suffering from arthritis because chicken feet contains collagen which are good for the lining of the joints.
2 people like this
@florelway (23339)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
5 Feb 19
@JudyEv 
and they replaces the brittle lining of the joints, that is what the herbalist said.
and they replaces the brittle lining of the joints, that is what the herbalist said.1 person likes this
@Nana49 (3399)
• United States
5 Feb 19
I grew up on a farm so i know all about the chickens
My granny had a chopping block out back and she would take the chicken ring its neck and chop its head off and then take it to the kitchen she had a gas stove she would pluck all the feathers off and what she called singe the chicken over the gas burners getting all the little hairs off .. It smelled horrible .and needles to say i never ate it .the smell would make me sick let alone if i watched her kill it ..it never bothered her but it did me .. But she did make the best home made biscuits in the world ...lol and biscuits and Gravy yum .. Lol
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Feb 19
Your story sounds much like mine although we didn't ring its neck first. And we rolled up a 'torch' of newspaper, lit it with a match and singed the hairs off with that. None of it put me off eating chicken though.
