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Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Ah, the gizzard. One of the more unloved giblets, gizzards are dense nuggets of deep burgundy meat. That’s right, I said meat. Even though a gizzard is an internal organ, it is made of muscle, just like the breast or thigh meat. You just have to get to it first.
Most gizzards are sold partially cleaned — you normally only need to remove the silverskin membrane on either side of the meat nugget before you put them in the pot or fry them up. But what if you get a whole gizzard? It happens a lot in Asian markets, and it is how they come out of the bird. Cleaning a gizzard is a necessary skill both for hunters and for those interested in nose-to-tail eating.
Fortunately, it is easy, especially on video. Yep, video. I’ve taken the plunge, and started a YouTube channel and will be posting how-to videos for some fo the more esoteric things I do here at Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.
Why start with a gizzard? Well, I have lots in the freezer, and I had my mind set on a very special gizzard dish I wanted to do that involved cabbage flowers (More on that later). To make that dish, I needed to clean a bunch of gizzards first, so I asked my friend Andrew Nixon to shoot the video.
As you can see, Andrew can shoot video way better than I can. Enjoy, and stay tuned for what I did with all these gizzards…
SOME GIZZARD RECIPES
- Gizzard Confit with Wild Mushrooms
- Gizzard Paprikash, from Paprika
- Gizzard Salad, from We Are Never Full
- Manchurian Gizzards with Quinoa, from Cooking Up A Storm
Thank you for this video. Last year I harvested my first broilers that I raised myself. After cleaning out the inside cavity I got rid of all of the gizzards. I hated doing it and I still feel horrible about it. Now that I’ve seen your video, this year I’m definitely saving them all. Another great post!
Awesome. I am now inspired.
will try this the next time I get my hands on a gizzard.
Very cool – thanks, Hank!
Hey Hank, I don’t do what you do at all.
#1, I slice through around the sack and pull the halves open and peel that sucker out, full of grit. It usually comes out very cleanly.
#2, I LIKE the edges — no trimming there.
And #3, the silverskin? Well, I suppose I could be a little more anal about that.
PAD: People are different.
Sharon
Very nice first video Hank. Keep them coming.
Hank,
I noticed that you are freezing your gizzards whole. Do you prefer that rather than doing an initial cleaning—get the grit out, maybe peel out the membrane—before freezing? I’m wondering if keeping them whole may actually reduce freezer burn, and you can pretty much ignore the contents as the interior is protected by the koilin lining which gets removed anyway.
Diana: Glad I can help! Properly cooked, i like gizzards a lot, so anything I can do to encourage others to eat them is a good thing, IMHO.
Sharon: I figured there’d be more than one way to skin a gizzard. You like the edges? I find them a littel gooshy for me.
Adam: I like to clean before freezing, but I am usually so tired after hunting I vacuum-seal them whole. They store pretty well that way. If you vac-seal the gizzards, they don’t get freezer burn. So yeah, in a perfect world I would clean, then freeze. But freezing whole works almost as well.
My husband does like Sharon mention, peels the gritty part out with his thumbs. He’s really quick about it. I have not mastered the trick yet, but as I’m processing about 25 birds in a couple of weeks, I expect I’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.
I use thumbs too, but you gotta cut that silverskin off! For storage, I vacuum-seal, but in a pinch I do what my father in law does. After a sea duck hunt he’ll clean the birds and toss the gizzards in a container with water to freeze for future use.
Nice work on the video Hank…I’ll be sure to pass along to the offal haters I hunt with. Looking forward to more.
B
Great video!
We process our homegrown chickens ourselves. For the gizzards, we slice around the circumference of the gizzard about halfway, and then open it like a book. The grinding plate peels out in one piece, just using your fingers to separate it from the muscle.
You’re right – there’s more than one way to skin a gizzard!
Nathan
How do I love gizzards, let me count the ways. Only I’ve never cleaned my own. The video was great, keep them coming.
Fantastic quality on your video! Well done!
I am just waiting for a longer video that shows you actually cooking.
Have you ever thought about showing you in the field hunting the game, then prepping the meat, then cooking? This would be awesome to watch!
Hank: well done. I agree with others: the quality of the video is great. Can’t wait for more instructional videos from you.
“Trim to get just the meat.” So many people don’t understand all the different parts of the meat. Chris Cosentino’s vid about butchering a beef heart is also well worth watching. See: http://www.offalgood.com/videos/how-to-butcher-a-beef-heart Thanks, Hank. This is really useful.
Thank you for the informative video. I hunt wild turkey and their gizzards are huge! Like others I also saved the giblets from my homegrown chickens. (woohoo!, its a new revolution!) I will stop throwing them in the soup pot now and try some of your recipes.
I love this web site. We eat meat from the field and forage for other goodies from nature and this site inspires me. Nothing says satisfaction like taking your own food from harvest to platter. And doing it beautifully is an art.
Wow Hank, That is a mighty big gizzard in your hand. Can you tell me what bird it came from??
Jeni: It’s from a snow goose.
I might have to get some turkey gizzards and try your cleaning method. It would open up the possibility of using the meat in other recipes if it were all meat. As is, I normally buy chicken gizzards and leave the edges and silverskin on…using them for stewing (with carrots, onions, potatoes, and a spicy seasoning) or frying.
Though that yellow stuff (what you called a grinder plate, I believe) is something else. I’ve rushed and not inspected and removed this portion in store bought/prepped gizzards and gotten a cruel surprise when I took a bite. Pure bile. Absolutely disgusting. I’ve heard some cultures actually drink or flavor their food with bile, but I can’t see it. It’s vile.
[...] 1. Trim and peel the Duck Gizzards. Here is how. [...]
hi,
That was a great video. I wanted to add however that they do not come so clean in the supermarket. In fact, they come with all of the silver skin and even the inside of the stomach lining which is in fact much tougher than the outter silver skin. I just got done cleaning a bunch of it and was hoping that you would have demonstrated cleaning off that too. Anyway, that was pretty good