March 12, 2013
Author: Gloria Kobrin
My first memory of Schmaltz is my Great Uncle Bob entering our apartment almost every Friday night and exclaiming: Gloria, bring me some Schmaltz! I would happily go scampering off to the kitchen and take out rye bread, schmaltz and salt. I spread a thick layer of schmaltz on the rye bread, sprinkled it with salt and presented it proudly to my most favorite Great Uncle. So unhealthy you’re thinking. Definitely, but Great Uncle Bob lived to the ripe old age of 95.
Ingredients:
Fat from 1 large chicken
Optional: 1 small onion-peeled, halved and thinly sliced
Equipment
Small saucepan with cover
Strainer
Preparation:
1. Put the fat in saucepan with just a splash of water. Place it over low heat and cover pan. Let fat cook about 15 minutes or until it has completely melted. Add sliced onions at this point and let them fry in the fat. The onions are delicious and the fat is flavored by them. Strain the fat into a heat proof jar and cool completely until you can refrigerate it. The fat will congeal and can be used as a solid for meat sandwiches or as a liquid for frying. If the onions are not polished off right out of the pan, they are delicious sprinkled over meat or potatoes-or even vegetables.
Yield: ½-1 cup