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| Chicken Noodle Soup with Homemade Egg Noodles |
A few
months ago I was at the Asian market in Fort Smith when I saw something that
sent me into a fit of giggles. They sell chicken feet by the five pound bag
labeled “Chicken Paws”. Now, I’m no stranger to the Asian marketplace, been
shopping there for a good 20 years, and I know a good many cultures use chicken
feet in their cuisines; but NEVER had I seen them referred to as “paws”. Then
again, I’ve read enough half-English translations on their food packaging
nothing should surprise me. But why use chicken paws at all?
Well,
tasting is believing. I’ve been butchering chickens pretty heavily for the last
12 years and I’ve always tossed the feet into the gut bucket for the dog or
wildlife to pick out. It’s not that the feet gross me out – the scaly skin
comes off easily enough during scalding and the nails can be easily clipped off
so the feet are very clean when you’re done with them. But it’s always been
another step, something else to do, so I’ve always tossed them aside. What a
waste! Last time I butchered a rooster I tossed the feet in with the soup parts
and what a soup it turned out to be. The feet are the difference between
chicken FLAVORED broth and having to add some chicken granules to the soup to
get a strong chicken flavor. Actually, it’s even better than that. It tastes
almost like adding cream to the soup – it’s that rich.
But even
more importantly, the feet have a very high concentration of gelatin. Gelatin
is very, very good for us. As are most of the parts of an animal we tend to
waste when we purchase meat by the slab or roll. From Sally Fallon’s
“Nourishing Traditions” cookbook:
“A
lamentable outcome of our modern meat processing techniques and our hurry-up,
throwaway lifestyle has been a decline in the use of meat, chicken and fish
stocks. In days gone by, when the butcher sold meat on the bone rather than as
individual filets and whole chickens rather than boneless breasts, our thrifty
ancestors made use of every part of the animal by preparing stock, broth or
bouillon from the bony portions.”
I’ve
been intending to write this article for several months now, but just as I’d
given up the idea for this year due to spring encroaching upon us, I awoke this
morning with a sore throat and the beginnings of a sinus infection. I haven’t
had a cold or respiratory infection in probably 10 years, but the last few
months have been very stressful and I’ve let my body get out of balance. And
then WHAM! We get one last winter storm that sends temps plummeting and the humidity
to dangerous lows.
I have a
theory on why people get respiratory illnesses and it has absolutely nothing to
do with germs (other than allowing them to set up shop). It is a combination of
ambient humidity and physical hydration.
I spent the first 14 years of my life with chronic respiratory
infections and allergies. I grew up in the arid Texas Panhandle with butane and
propane heating. From the time I left that climate and house until 12 years ago
when we moved into another house with propane heat, I had only occasional colds
and infections, and only during the winter when the central heat was cranked
up. Two years into that, I discovered that keeping
a large pot of water simmering on the kitchen stove during the coldest weather
prevented any and all
respiratory problems for two people for some ten years!
Sorry
folks, but you just can’t beat those odds. If you’re a modern-day, allopathic
pill-popper who scurries for the antibiotics at the first sign of a sniffle,
your mind will probably snap shut faster than a Baptist in a Mosque at this
idea. I had a young schoolteacher look down her nose at me one time and say
“The reason I’m sick all the time is because I’m around sick kids all the time.
It’s NOT humidity, they have germs!” Funny, she was sick all the time BEFORE
she became a schoolteacher too….
Fact is,
there was a time in our very recent human past when there was ALWAYS liquid
simmering on the stove or over an open fire during the winter months. It was
called a soup pot or cauldron and it’s where everything that didn’t get eaten
right away ended up. From Edward Harris Heth’s “The Country Kitchen Cook Book”,
first published in 1956:
“From
Ruth Hummock I first learned of the dignity of the soup pot; she and it are
inseparable all winter long. A pot is always on active duty at the rear of her
stove, and into it go many unlikely things. Since her family is large and are
sturdy eaters of meat, there are always big bones left from roasts or boiled
dinners. Into the pot. Scraps of meat, a leftover potato or turnip, a spoonful
of stewed tomatoes. Into the pot. A cupful of leftover sauerkraut, potato
water, a chicken or duck carcass divested of every shred of flesh, a bowl of
unwanted gravy, a neglected prune, a chunk of celery half chewed by one of the
children (Ruth does cut off the tooth
marks) – all go into the ever-simmering pot to make a surprisingly flavorful
and varied broth.”
Many
cultures have long recognized the health benefits of broths and stocks. The Asian cuisines have always included fish
heads in their fish stocks. Now we know that the thyroid glands in the fish
heads may be responsible for the belief that fish head broths contribute to
virility and energy in humans. And of course, in most ancient cultures chicken
soup seemed to be a cure-all for everything from the flu to diphtheria to
arthritis.
And could
it be, just maybe, that in addition to the nourishment and physical hydration
we receive from broths , stocks and soups, the very fact that the pot itself is
giving off humidity in the background may be at least partially responsible for
our immunity to winter colds and infections? I just had a big bowl of
homegrown, homemade chicken noodle soup and I feel better already!
-------------------------
So. Some
things have changed since I blogged last. Awhile ago, a friend posted a link to
Derek Siver’s blog entry titled “Everything
Is My Fault.” I consider Derek to be one of the more enlightened humans
walking this planet today, so I wasn’t surprised when I got a chuckle over the
opening line: “I cut two chapters out of
my book because they were too nasty.”
Yep,
that’s the main reason I haven’t blogged in so long – I couldn’t tell the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth AND BE NICE ABOUT IT AT THE
SAME TIME! I still can’t. Especially when half the county I’m living in now has
heard only half-truths and omissions. But I refuse to sink so low as to air
that dirty laundry any more than it’s already been aired. Most people are not
complete idiots when it comes to hearing both sides in a divorce. Those that take a side usually HAVE to
because they are family or they’re taking pity on an old friend. And there’s
not much you can do about anyone who’s stupid enough to take sides randomly. I
know I won’t ever do that again!
Anyway,
my husband of 15 years and I have split up. He is a wonderful, kind, caring
person and I wish him all the best. I am now living with a new partner on a 7
acre homestead in NE Oklahoma. We have gardens, chickens, etc., and not much
has changed lifestyle-wise. It is too early to announce any future plans, but
I’m very happy here and feel that I made the right decision. There is nothing else I can say about this
situation that is ANYONE else’s business.
I’ve
certainly learned a lot about people the last few months though. Things I
probably already knew but had forgotten.
I have been reminded most especially that there is a BIG difference
between compassion and pity. Compassion and sorrow (feeling sorry for someone)
are emotions one feels through empathy. We recognize that something bad has
happened to a good person (or even to a not-so-good person!) through no fault
of their own. Their spouse or child died, they were in a horrible car wreck,
laid off work, etc. – terrible things
that we recognize could happen to any of us at any time for no reason
whatsoever.
Pity is
another thing altogether. Pity is what you feel for someone who grovels at the
feet of the world, refusing to recognize that ANYTHING comes about by their own
design, whether for good or bad. Not only are they unable to recognize their
own grace and goodness, but whenever something bad happens to them, it’s always
someone else’s fault. They are the kind of people that you cross the street to
avoid rather than hear them tell one more time about how miserable their lives
are and about how they did nothing whatsoever to deserve whatever ill has
befallen them. Of course you can feel compassion for them, but it will do them
no good whatsoever. I believe we often do more harm than good by helping people
wallow in their pity.
And then
there’s religion. I’m probably going to offend some of my readers but maybe
it’s time for that. In all the years
I’ve been involved in social networking (groups, blogs, etc.) I’ve mostly kept
my religious opinions to myself. Most of my online activity has always centered
around homesteading and really, there’s no need to bring religion or politics
into that as so many always insist on doing.
But over
the last year, I’ve been reminded of my true feelings about religion and
especially regarding the Christian faith in general. By and large, most people
on this planet are at least halfway decent folks. But once you throw religion
into that, I think you get a large pool of people with some of the darkest
souls I’ve ever met. They are not all that way. My in-laws are some of the most
wonderful Christians I have ever known, even though they have tunnel vision
just a bit regarding their own beliefs. But almost always, they are kind,
caring, decent, good people. You do not hear them talk unkindly about anyone or
gossip, EVER. On the other side of that equation, I have relatives of my own
that do a very good job of assuring I will NEVER return to organized religion.
And some of the people I’ve met recently in this state are just downright
scary! Or crazy. Who knew ANY state was more fundamentalist than Texas?!
You do
not need religion to embrace your own spirituality. In so many cases, I believe
ORGANIZED religion exists for people who do not like to think for themselves.
Organizations are about people, not God. I’m more convinced than ever before
that churches exist so people can congregate together for acceptance and
approval from each other while denigrating everyone outside their little
sandbox. Or litterbox, as the case may be...
And of
course, I’m really tired of the stones being thrown. For months I’ve
been watching and listening to a woman call another an adulteress and a whore.
Her friends and congregation cheer her on in the most unchristian of ways. They
go on and on about how “karma” will catch up to the woman, and with the man
she’s seeing. However, I happen to know that this particular woman started
living with her most recent husband when he was still married to another.
Wonder if she’s admitted that to the crowd with torches and pitchforks? And if
karma is some universal truth, doesn’t it mean that when something bad happens
to her, she probably deserves it too? Just sayin’.
In any
case, a lot of very painful things have happened in the last year but I believe
life is too damned long to be unhappy. In the end, we can’t save people, we
can’t fix people and we can’t live our lives for them. Most of the time,
selfishness ends up being the only path that makes sense. And anyone who thinks
their own motives aren’t purely selfish is probably in denial.
Thanks
to all who have been supportive of me and my life-changing decisions this last
year. Now, I think it’s time for another bowl of Chicken Paw Soup!
