Chicken Necks

A friend of mine writes a weekly humor column for the Delaware Valley News and this week's topic was "Fun Things to Do with Turkey Giblets" or something like that. I wrote back to him, telling him that I actually made soup out of the giblets (works with chicken as well as turkey) and actually (true confession coming up) EAT THE NECK! His response was "Gross!"

Well, OBVIOUSLY he has never tasted giblet and neck soup! Plus, I grew up in a house where it was considered a sin to waste anything resembling food. So as not to deprive the rest of you folks of the opportunity to enjoy said recipe, here it is:

You will need:

Medium-sized saucepan
giblets and neck from a turkey or chicken
(leave the fat on the neck for flavor; it gets removed later)
5 carrots, peeled and chopped
5 stalks of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, peeled
1/4 cup of barley
dill or parsley to taste
1 can of chicken broth
1 cup of water
salt and pepper (optional)

Remove the plastic bag of "innards" from your turkey or chicken. Wash everything off thoroughly in cold water. In a medium saucepan, add innards (giblets and neck), carrots, celery, onion, barley, and dill and/or parsley. Pour in contents of broth; add water.

Bring everything to a boil and then turn down heat to a simmer. Cook for about a half hour. When you can push a fork through the carrots, it's done.

Remove skin from neck before eating. I should also mention that some people just use the giblets for flavoring and then discard them or feed them to the dog; that's up to you. I also don't add salt to my food, just pepper, but you may want to.

Bon appetit!