Joey Green's Mad Scientist

Rubber Chicken Bone

What You Need

Uncooked chicken bone or wishbone
Clean, empty glass jar with lid
White vinegar

What to Do
Clean the bone thoroughly and let dry overnight. Place the bone in the jar and add enough vinegar to cover the bone. Secure the lid and let the jar stand undisturbed for seven days.

What Happens
The bone becomes soft and rubbery. It can be twisted, and, in some cases, tied in a knot.

Why It Works
The vinegar (acetic acid) dissolves the calcium from the bone, leaving it soft and bendable.

Bizarre Facts

The Etruscans (the people of ancient Northern Italy) originated the superstition of having two people each make a wish and tug on the opposite ends of the dried V-shaped clavicle of a fowl. The person who breaks off the larger piece of the "wishbone" allegedly has his or her wish come true. Etymologists claim this custom gave birth to the expression "get a lucky break."
Boneyard is slang for "cemetery."
Before double murderer Robert Harris was executed in California in 1992, his last meal included a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Colonel Sanders told the New York Times that the eleven herbs and spices in Kentucky Fried Chicken "stand on everybody's shelf." In reality, there are only four ingredients, none of which are herbs: flour, salt, monosodium glutamate, and black pepper.

The Funky Chicken
Colonel Harland Sanders, who, at the age of seventy, founded Kentucky Fried Chicken, talked his wife into hiring his mistress as their live-in housekeeper, according to the Colonel's daughter, Margaret Sanders, in her book, The Colonel's Secret: Eleven Secret Herbs and a Spicy Daughter. Sanders later divorced his wife, married his mistress, and took both women with him to Washington, D.C., to attend a presidential inauguration.
Previous | Next