Chicken gizzard

Gésier de volaille

What it is

Japanese calls it sunagimo, sand gizzard, after the grit the bird swallows and stores there to grind its feed — the muscle is a mill, and it works every hour of the bird’s life. The tough yellow lining peeled out of it is dried and sold in Chinese pharmacies as ji nei jin.

In the kitchen

Split each one, rinse out any grit and peel away the silver lining or it stays leathery. Then commit: two minutes over fierce heat for crunch, or two hours in fat for softness — the middle ground is only chewy.

Goes with

Salt Black pepper Garlic Lemon Shichimi togarashi Parsley Duck fat Toasted sesame oil

Same species

Egg white powder (albumin) Chicken tail (bonjiri) Bresse chicken Capon Chicken Rooster

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