Schmaltz

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

Chremsels

March 12, 2013

Author: Gloria Kobrin

My Mother made chremsels for Passover every year that I can remember. When my husband and I started taking our family away for Passover, she used to freeze a few for me to eat when we got back. My mother hates to cook; but for some reason this was a recipe to which she was committed.

Warning: these chremsels are not crepe like or even pancake like. They are dense and relatively heavy but full of flavor. This recipe has been handed down from my Great Great Great Grandmother Ida who was born in Russia. I’ve adjusted it a bit-but have retained the integrity of the original recipe.

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

8 ounces water

4 tablespoons melted schmaltz plus ½ cup schmaltz for frying

3 cups matzah meal

Equipment

1 medium mixing bowl

1 skillet

1 cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

Preparation:

1. Beat eggs in mixing bowl. Add sugar, salt, melted fat and water. Mix well. Stir in matzah meal. My forebears say that the consistency should be “thick-but not too thick-like mustard”. Chill mixture for one hour.

2. Preheat oven to: 350 F.

3. Place two tablespoons schmaltz in skillet over medium heat. Wait until fat starts to sizzle a bit and then drop chremsel batter into fat with a wooden spoon. Scrape all the batter off the spoon and then flatten chremsels a bit with a metal spatula. Fry about two minutes on one side and then flip chremsels to the other side. Make sure chremsels are golden brown on each side even if you have to turn them again. As chremsels are browned, place them on parchment paper.

4. Place browned chremsels in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Note: My family eats them plain. My husband’s family eats them with white horseradish.

Yield: 24

Posted in Appetizers

Tags: Chremsels, eggs, Gloria Kobrin, matzah meal, matzah, Passover, salt, schmaltz, sugar, water