How to make Schmaltz-Rendered Chicken Fat

Rendered Chicken Fat or Schmaltz

This recipe is for making a traditional ingredient of Jewish cooking. It is the eastern european version of lard. Used in seasoning, old timers also spread it on bread.

Remove excess fat from uncooked chicken. If you are preparing chickens you can remove this and store in the freezer until you have a small tupper ware full. It's best to rinse and then dry the fat before freezing.
When you're ready to make your rendered fat, dice it small. Place the pieces into a frying pan with a diced small yellow onion over low heat. Occasionally stir, keep it low so you do not burn it. When onions and fat are browned nicely..not burnt..strain the liquified fat so that the "gribbins" are separated from the fat. Put the fat into a tupperware container and refrigerate for later use or freeze. Real officianados love nibbling on the gribenes. One of my favorite gifts from my son Max is Michale Ruhlman's book, The Book of Schmaltz, love song to a forgotten fat. It is filled with wonderful stories and recipes

Nanny Pearl's Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy

I have been making roast chicken for over 45 years. It has a wonderful crisp skin and is simple to make. The basis for its spice rub is  schmaltz..rendered chicken fat with onions. The schmalz recipe is accessible via the link above and I've posted it separately.

I'm including information you may not see in all recipes, things like how to buy a good chicken. Please don't buy any old supermarket chicken. They are filled with antibiotics and grown in horrid conditions. Aside from how inhumane that is, chickens grown like that taste terrible.  Buy an organic free range chicken. If you can buy it from the farmer who grew it that's best. If not buy it where they sell pasture raised, antibiotic free.

Clean the chicken. Wash in cool water. Dry thoroughly inside and out with an old clean kitchen towel. In order to proceed it cannot be slimy wet. One trick is to put it on a rack uncovered in the refrigerator for a few hours. It will lose any hint of water on its skin and be ready for seasoning. The picture below showin pin feathers remaining on the bird. These can be fluffed upward with the hand and then with a lit wooden match burnt off. Use a needle nose pliers or tweezer to remove the remaining quills you might find around the openings of the bird or on legs or wings.

Once you've cleaned it to your satisfaction check for excessive amounts of fat at the openings and grasping firmly pull away from the bird. Save the fat for making schmaltz. You can accumulate this fat in your freezer and then make the schmaltz and freeze it for when you need it.

This is the basic recipe for Nanny Pearl's spice rub :

One or two tablespoons schmaltz
one tablespoon or less kosher salt
a large garlic clove pressed thru a garlic press
paprika..maybe two or more teaspoons
fresh ground pepper..to taste
two teaspoons flour..or substitute flour for gluten-free results
mix all together with a tiny bit of warm water..1/2 teaspoon or so

When the chicken is dry as you can make it, rub it all over with the rub. I keep surgical gloves around for this but otherwize expect your hands to be a bit garlicy for a few hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the seasoned chicken on a rack, in a pan. If you don't have a roasting pan or a rack placing it into a pre-heated cast iron skillet will also do..breast side up

Cook roughly an hour and a half..testing
to test there are a few ways to test for doneness
press the drumsticks with fingers..are they soft and yielding? Wiggle drumsticks in joints..they should move fairly freely without much resistance. With a pairing knife make a slit where the drumstick meets the body and open and press enough to see if the juices look very bloody or red or clear..a little pink at the joint is desireable..lots of red is not. If you want to be really accurate, you can use a digital meat thermometer. My Son Max who is a butcher prefers his chicken breasts cooked to 145 degrees and the legs to 160.

Cooking Notes:
I prefer some pink left in the joints of the bird. See the photo at the beginning to see the color at the joint of the leg..you could let it cook just slightly more but if you do the breast will likely be dry.

These days I spatchcock and cook the bird in a cast iron skillet.  Spatchcocking is removing the backbone and flattening the bird. It cooks faster that way and more evenly.  To spatchcock the bird. Hold it on a board with its tail on the board and backbone facing you. With a sharp strong knife cut on either side of the backbone and carefully remove it. Turn the chicken breast side up onto the board and press down firmly on the breasts to flatten it. Then season and arrange backbone side down in a pan and continue to cook.

To Make Pan Gravy

Remove the chicken from the pan. Scrape as much of the crusty stuff off the rack and into the pan as you can. Remove most of the grease careful to leave the drippings.
While the pan is warm or room temperature add liquid maybe a cup or so. The liquid can be water, broth or wine/vermouth..white is best or white vermouth if no wine is available or any combination of the above. Using a whisk scratch up the bottom of the pan into the liquid. Gradually strain 2 Tablespoons of flour (I have used rice flour or gluten-free substitutes and it works fine) into the gravy, (use Cup4Cup by Tom Keller or other good gf flour, if you are gluten free). Bean based flour makes bean tasting gravy. A little at a time mix it into the liquid quickly so no lumps occur..then slowly heat to a boil until the desired consistency is reached. If there are resulting lumps you can always strain it out at the end. If you think you need more liquid just whisk it in as you go. I have at times enriched this gravy with boiled liver, neck meat and heart..chopped.

Cooking Notes:
I like to take the liver, heart, neck etc and cover in water adding a cut up carrot, small onion and piece of celery. Cook low heat, skim the scum. Strain and use this as your liquid in the gravy. You can still start it by adding a little wine. 

Listen to Heritage Radio Network

Heritage Radio Network is the source on up to date food and drink. Started by Patrick Martins the founder of Slow Food USA, (which world wide was started in Italy, my favorite place) The station is an online station with a searchable archive of shows/interviews with the most currently important cookers, brewers, food writers, cheese mongers etc. in America. It operates out of two shipping containers in the back yard of Roberta's, a legendary Brooklyn restaurant. I think you are going to love this.

http://www.HeritageRadioNetwork.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/Heritage_Radio

https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRadioNetwork

Grits; With Many Thanks to Miss Edna Lewis and Mr. Scott Peacock

About a month ago, I took a far too brief trip down South for the very first time. I traveled to South Carolina and Georgia. I was after a pair of rare John Vesey chairs that I did not win at auction, darn! Someone else also spotted them!  So I spent the rest of that weekend exploring Southern architecture,  Southern culture and of course the distinctive cuisine.

 Eating gluten-free I am particularly interested in the many other grains that have no gluten.  Southern cooking utilizes both corn and rice and buckwheat. Grits are served all over the South and with just about everything. Down South for three days they were served to me three times. 

For those of you who swear that grits taste akin to cardboard mush, I can attest to having eaten grits that tasted like that. It was not until I was having a late lunch at the bar of a Savannah Georgia restaurant; Vic's on the River,  that I had my first taste of sublime sweet creamy grits. Served as the base of "Wild Georgia Shrimp over Stone-Ground Grits with Tasso Gravy". It was a revelation!  You can make the same dish if you  buy their cookbook. It is published by Billy Bob's, Inc in Savanah and can be purchased by writing to vicsontheriver@aol.com or calling 912-721-1000.

Grits come in different versions; White, Yellow or Mixed. They come regular, instant, quick or Stone-Ground. Here are a couple of resources for great grains and grits;

No discussion of sources would be complete without pointing you in the direction of Anson Mills; a stone-ground producer with a national following. Here is the URL where you can order online some of their renowned artisanal products; http://www.ansonmills.com/

The city of Columbia SC has a great food reputation; Here is the URL for their slow food site which has links many interesting producers from whom you can order quite an array of tasty southern treats. http://www.slowfoodcolumbia.org/

Currently I am working my way through the 2 pound bag of yellow/white grits I purchased down south from Palmetto Farms ; whose URL is http://palmettofarms.com/

Logan Turnpike Mills

1-800-84 Grits

706-745-5735

http://www.loganturnpikemill.com/

J.T. Pollard Milling Company

334-588-3391

My son Max, who takes his food very seriously says my grits are wonderful.

My method for cooking the grits is taken from the wonderful book of southern cooking called; The Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock.  Miss. Lewis, was the doyenne of Southern Cooking.  Mr. Peacock; many decades her junior, met Miss. Lewis  in 1988, while he was the executive chef at the Georgia Governor's Mansion.  They collaborated on her fourth book, became the close friends, colleagues and eventually housemates as Mr. Peacock lived with and tended to Ms. Lewis in the last six years of her life. Miss. Lewis passed away in 2006. To read more about Miss Lewis and also Mr. Peacock, here is her obituary from The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/national/14lewis.html?pagewanted=all

Here is their recipe for making basic grits.

Old-Fashioned Creamy Grits

Makes enough for 4-6

2 Cups water, or more

2 Cups milk, or more

1 Cup stone-ground or regular, (note: I am using stone ground)

Kosher salt

1/4 Cup heavy cream

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Heat the 2 cups of water and milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until just simmering. While the milk is heating, put the grits in a large mixing bowl and cover with cool water.. (If you are using regular girts, skip this step.) Stir the grits assertively so that the chaff floats to the top. Skim the surface carefully, and remove the chaff. Drain the grits in a fine strainer, and stir them into the simmering water and milk. Cook, stirring often, until the grits are tender to the bite and have thickened to the consistency of thick oatmeal. Regular grits are done in about 20 minutes, but stone-ground require an hour or a little more to cook, and you will have to add additional milk and water as needed. As the grits thicken, stir them more often to keep them from sticking and scorching. Season the grits generously with salt, and stir in the cream and butter. Remove from heat, and let rest covered, until serving. Serve hot. 

Note: Leftover grits can be reheated over low heat, stirring in a little hot milk or boiling water as needed to thin.

Mr. Peacock serves grits for breakfast with bacon and eggs or for supper with roast chicken braised lamb or veal shanks or braised beef short ribs or salmon croquettes.

Blogger's note: Grits are simply a soft mush of rich sweet corn. Thus it can be used as you wish and doctored as you wish. I do need to quote Miss. Lewis from her book in response to all the additions people were making to grits, she said; "People should really leave grits alone" In fact these grits are dynamite alone. 

But, being hungry for even more the what ifs start up in my mind. What if I used them to make something like a souffle or a custard or pancakes? Or what if I made them spicy or cheesy? Use your imagination but first..Just eat them plain, because plain may indeed be the best way to enjoy them.  I find these grits keep well in tupperware for at least a week in the refrigerator.

Sunday Lunch with Max

Tuna Salad, Homemade Mayonnaise and Asparagus with Ramps

Today's Sunday Lunch with the Executive Chef; better known as my son Max.
Max started cooking with me when he was a little boy as did his sister Laurel. Now each is an accomplished cook and all grown up and sometimes they cook for me!

So Sunday, Max was our guest chef. Our lunch wass made from what was found in the frig.

Lunch consisted of a tuna salad made with homemade mayonnaise and fresh herbs from the terrace along with asparagus with ramps, parmesan and balsamic vinegar. Max had real bread with his and I had a gluten free Challah from Udi's..it tasted like Challah but the structure was not anything to write home about, still as a gluten free substitute it was fine.

Home made Mayonnaise
ingredients:
1 egg yolk
lemon juice..or vinegar..according to taste..somewhere between 1/2 Tablespoon and half a lemon's worth
1 teaspoon poupon mustard
big pinch salt
2-3 Tablespoons of Canola Oil
Up to 1/4 Cup Fragrant Olive Oil

Method #1 Handwhisked
Whisk together yolk, juice, salt and mustard
Continue whisking adding canola oil by dripping slowly 2-3 Tablespoons in all..the trick is that at the beginning you must add the oil in tiny amounts and emulsify entirely before adding more. Eventually you will be able to add the oil in a steady stream but go slowly or it will never come together. Finally add olive oil; as much as 1/4 cup in a steady stream. You must decide how firm or loose you wish the mayonnaise to be, which will be determined by how much oil is added.

Method #2 Using an Immersion Blender
Place yolk and salt and vinegar/lemon juice and mustard into a ball jar
Gently pour over this all the oil
Placing the immersion blender at the bottom of the jar start it up and it will do all the work for you. Max says it takes 5 minutes and the blender creates a vortex. I have yet to buy one so I am taking his word for it.

Tuna Salad with Herbs

Drain a can of tuna. I like to buy line caught tuna which often comes from the Pacific North West. This is because it is very good quality and likely small fish which are lower in heavy metals than big ones.
Mash it with a fork. Dice some celery. Add chopped chives, chopped parsley and mix with the mayo.

Serve on lettuce or on toast or with a baguette. I used Udi's challah. I also heated a gluten free baguette from Schar; a european company. It did not come out right when I cooked it 5 minutes at 400 as instructed. It turned out a lot better when I left it in the cooling oven for a half hour. So I assume if I left it 10 minutes it might have been fine. It is a little scary that it has a shelf life months long.The texture was great considering that it is made gluten free, although it was  not yeasty like a real bagguette. I can't wait til some local bakery makes fresh gluten free breads. I hear that Le Pain Quotidien is experimenting!

Now for the Asparagus

Asparagus with Ramps

Toss cut up asparagus into a cast iron pan..or another good pan with a Tablespoon or so of good olive oil and the white bulb parts of the ramps. Once they are nicely cooked but still a bit too al dente add the leaf portions of the ramps and toss some more. Dress with a good aged balsamic vinegar and a bit of grated parmesan.

Easy Pecan Meringues

My travels for  a long weekend to South Carolina and Georgia have been inspiring me to try some Southern specialties.
This is probably the easiest meringue recipe I have ever come upon. It takes 6 minutes plus baking time and it's foolproof.
From: Savannah Style; A cookbook by the junior league of Savannah

White Clouds
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Beat egg whites until stiff. Add remaining ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet covered with oiled parchment paper. Bake in a 275 degree oven for 40 to 60 minutes.
Yield 3 dozen
Blogger's note: either my oven is too hot or the meringues brown because of the pecans. What they lack in whiteness they more than make up for in taste and texture. I took them out at 45 minutes. Also; the addition of all the ingredients at once collapsed the whipped meringues somewhat. Not to worry; they still come out fine.
Recipes with only a few ingredients rely heavily on the quality of those ingredients. Always look for the freshest plumpest nuts. Old nuts become rancid..the oils go bad. You can smell the difference. Put nuts into the freezer if you are not going to use them shortly. Always use the best extracts. Often I buy them when I spy them in specialty stores or on trips. A good brand of vanilla is Nielsen-Massey Vanillas. If I am going through West Stockbridge Massachusetts, I always make a stop at Charles H. Baldwin and Sons for extracts tel. 413-232-7785 1 Center Street P.O. Box 372 West Stockbridge Mass. The nuts I used were bought fresh in a quart bag at Hites Barbeque West Columbia South Carolina.

Great Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies for Passover or Anytime

This recipe was originally published by New York Magazine. They are easy to make and delicious.

Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies

• 16 Comments Add Yours

• By Robin Raisfeld & Rob Patronite 
• Published Apr 13, 2008

Illustrations by John Burgoyne (Photo: Kang Kim)

The annual Passover abstention from flour need not be so abstemious, as François Payard demonstrates in this recipe for chewy, gooey chocolate-walnut cookies. Egg whites add a meringuey quality, but fudginess prevails in these jumbo-size beauties, available at Payard’s Upper East Side pâtisserie and featured in his new book, Chocolate Epiphany (Clarkson Potter; $35).

François Payard’s Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies

2 3/4 cups walnut halves
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Spread the walnut halves on a large-rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 9 minutes, until they are golden and fragrant. (1) Let cool slightly, then transfer the walnut halves to a work surface and coarsely chop them. Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and lower temperature to 320. Line two large-rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. (2) In a large bowl, whisk (or combine in an electric mixer on low speed) the confectioners’ sugar with the cocoa powder and salt followed by the chopped walnuts. While whisking (or once you change the speed to medium), add the egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened (do not overbeat or it will stiffen). (3) Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets in 12 evenly spaced mounds, and bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked; shift the pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through to ensure even baking. Slide the parchment paper (with the cookies) onto 2 wire racks. Let cookies cool completely, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Skillet Corn Bread

I'm fascinated by old recipes handed down by one generation to the next; the kind with 5 or so ingredients put together using a simple method resulting in a superb authentic  product.

I found this version for making cornbread, in a wonderful book about American cooking called Serious Pig. Written by John Thorne with Matt Lewis Thorne and published in 1996, by North Point Press, The book is a gem, a compendium of articles written about the joys of American regional cooking and eating.

For clarification, I am posting part of the discussion that goes along with the recipe. This fragrant, crusty cornbread, of only 7 ingredients,  is a breeze to make. My preference for the fat, is to use bacon fat from a good smoky bacon..I keep this rendered fat in a can in the frig after making bacon for breakfast.

Skillet Cornbread
(makes one 8-inch cornbread)

Because the method for baking this cornbread in a cast-iron skillet differs somewhat from the one utilizing a nonstick skillet, first-time bakers using a cast-iron skillet shoulf first read throught the seasoning and baking notes on pages 365-66. Note that the trick is to get the cast-iron skillet very hot before adding the batter. To accomplish this, we put it----with it's fat or oil in the oven when we first turn it on so that they pre-heat together


Bloggers Note: Use the very best stone-ground corn meal you can buy.. Thorne states his preference for white cornmeal and suggests a number of rural suppliers,(write me if you want that list). So far I have only made it with a good yellow stone-ground meal and I've been quite satisfied. I suggest if you do not own an 8-inch cast iron pan you buy a pre-seasoned one from Lodge 
http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-care-seasoned-cast-iron.asp


4 ounces (about one cup) stone-ground  corn meal
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon lard, rendered bacon fat or peanut oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Farenheit
Measure dry ingredients into a bowl and give them a couple of turns with a whisk to mix them thoroughly and break up any lumps. Break the egg into a separate bowl and whisk gently. Add the buttermilk, whisking to blend.
Five minutes before you are ready to bake the cornbread, put the fat (or peanut oil) into an 8-inch ovenproof skillet (heavy-gauge aluminum with a non-stick surface or well-seasoned cast iron) and place in hot oven.
At about the 4-minute mark add the egg and buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients, whisking just to blend. A minute later --- at the 5-minute mark ---take the (HOT!) skillet from the oven and carefully swirl the almost-smoking fat around the bottom and up the sides, making sure to coat any rivets attaching the handle to the pan. If using a nonstick skillet pour the excess fat into the batter ---it will sizzle ---and give it all a quick whisk. Then scrape the batter into the skillet with a rubber spatula.
Return the skillet to the oven and bake the cornbread for about 20 minutes, or until well set and golden brown. Remove from the oven and quickly invert onto a cutting board with a confident flip. Cut into wedges and serve.

Cooks Notes. The amount of salt will depend on the saltiness of the fat you use-- and what the cornbread will be eaten with.


Blogger's Note...there are more notes about adding various other small quantities of flours but I have omitted these as adding other flours does not result in a product that is gluten free. Thorne's eating notes suggest splitting a wedge of hot bread and filling with grated Vermont chedder..which is in fact wonderful served with a salad making a tasty light meal. I also find it good with a good meatsauce or as a starchy side.

Why Wheat Makes You Fat

This is an informative article suggesting that it is wheat that is a big contributor to obesity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/wheat-gluten_b_1274872.html

CookingGoodAndEasy Redux

Greetings friends and cookers,

Almost a year ago, somewhat overwhelmed by the effort of writing this blog. I stopped.

Now after making many new discoveries resulting in a 360 degree change in  my diet, I feel as if I can once again offer some tips and recipes about cooking with little fuss and satisfying results.

 From eating  foods prepared with the least amount of fat, I am now eating more protein and more fats, (coupling higher fat and gluten free eating has dramatically lowered my cholesterol! go figure!). Since good food is good food and not everyone thrives on a particular diet, there will still be gluten in some recipes..just lots less.

 I will be putting up a link to an article about wheat that was published on the Huffington Post, describing the development of our modern day wheat and some theories suggesting that gluten intolerance is a growing problem.

I invite you to be an participant of this blog. Send me recipes, links and information. Each of us has a favorite easy recipe, or a tip to share.  The blog would be so much  richer for your participation!

With all good greetings for the upcoming holidays,

Gail