Shmaltz

Shmaltz is chicken fat, plain but not-so-simple. Jews today eschew this time-honored ingredient which our Mamelehs and Bubbes incorporated into almost every meal set on their kitchen tables.  Shmaltz has gone the way of other hydrogenated animal fats and has fallen to the same sad status as (gasp!) bacon drippings or Crisco. 

Shmaltz of course is in a class by itself.  My Yiddisha mama would save pieces of chicken skin and fat and when we had enough, she would render the fat by simmering it for hours with a bit of onion and then setting it to cool.  She would then fry the leftover skin into "grivenas", crispy treats that are closest to fried pork rinds if you really insist on finding something similar.

My father would put a shmear of shmaltz on a matzo and sprinkle on a little salt.  Soo yummy!

OK here's my confession.  I still render shmaltz to make grivenas.  I buy a package of chicken necks (lots of skin included) and cut up the neck skin into small pieces.  They go into a Corning wear dish for 15 minutes in the microwave until super-crispy (incredibly easier than hours on the stove top).  Periodically I will stir them to keep them from sticking together.  I drain them well and feed them to hubby along with a prayer that his good heart health holds up.  He smiles and tells me I am a great cook.

The necks themselves, sans fat, make delicious soup. Sadly though, the resulting shmaltz goes down the disposal.  But maybe, just maybe, next time I will sneak a bit on a matzo...

;-)