What A Schmaltz!

What is Schmaltz? It's chicken fat and it's good stuff for cooking and baking. 

Why schmaltz? Because it's a fun word, and my Zia Silvia never taught me the Italian word for chicken fat. Why not butter or vegetable oil or lard or that butter-flavored shortening that comes in the big can?

Butter is wonderful. It's just that some of us cannot eat it because of that inconvenient problem, lactose intolerance. It also can be rather expensive.

Vegetable oil is great, particularly olive oil or canola oil. But some baked goods need a solid fat; oil simply does not produce a flaky pastry.

Natural lard is also fine, but it can be difficult to find. The lard product sold in most stores is partially hydrogenated, which means it has been altered on a molecular level. The same is true for margarine and vegetable based shortenings, whether the old fashioned white shortening or the more recent butter-flavored shortening. Any partially hydrogenated oil, fat or shortening should be avoided. Which brings us to an entirely natural, non-hydrogenated fat: schmaltz.

Rendering schmaltz, or chicken fat, is something that happens any time we stew a chicken. In addition to schmaltz, we end up with chicken broth and cooked meat, all of which are very useful to have around.

Start with a whole stewing chicken, or cut up parts, with all the skin and bones. Inexpensive bony pieces like wings, backs and necks are fine. Do NOT cut away those large clumps of white fat, throw it all in the pot.

Wash the chicken and/or parts well, then cover with cold water in a large pot. The chicken will probably float, which is fine. Add a heaping teaspoonful of salt, and a good splash (up to a quarter cup) of cider vinegar, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a slow simmer and use a big metal spoon to skim off the foam on top of the broth. Let it stew in its own juices until the meat falls off the bones - at least three to four hours. You can also do all this in a large slow-cooker while you're off doing something more interesting.

Other stuff added to the stew pot is entirely optional, including the Simon & Garfunkel herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Ground herbs can be tossed loose in the broth, or use fresh whole herbs tied up in a coffee filter. For even more flavor, include some whole peppercorns, allspice berries, whole cloves and a couple of bay leaves. Use whole herbs when cooking in a slow cooker. And if there's a partial bottle of white wine left over from the other evening, that goes in, too. 

Vegetables can also be added. The usual things are garlic, onions, carrots, celery and celery tops, plus any root vegetables. I avoid the coles: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, as their flavors get too strong. But now the pot is turning into soup; none of these are necessary if you are just interested in broth and schmaltz.

So let's say the chicken has been simmering away in the slow cooker or in the stew pot all afternoon, and now you come back and find your kitchen smelling like some gramma's farm house in a winter fairy tale. The meat is falling off the bones and the broth has a nice shiny layer of grease floating on top.

Lift the chicken, or more likely, scoop the chicken pieces, bones, herb bundle, veggies and scraps onto a platter. Let the broth cool a few minutes - you don't want to be pouring anything while it's still boiling - then pour it through a strainer into a refrigerator container. Tomorrow you can spoon the solidified fat (schmaltz) from the top of the broth into another container. If you're really dedicated, you could melt the fat and strain it again, but hey, life is short and there are other things to do.

Back up, we still have that stuff we scooped out of the broth. Can't leave it sitting on the counter. Take out the larger pieces of meat: breasts, thighs and maybe parts of the drumsticks, and seal them into plastic bags, to be frozen and used later in curries, salads, soups and any other dishes calling for cooked chicken.

That leaves a big pile of bones, skin, scraps of meat, onions, herbs and miscellaneous stuff sitting in a mess on the platter. Kitchen tradition dictates sorting carefully through these scraps for bits of nourishing meat, separating out hunks of skin and gristle for the dog, and saving anything that might be borderline edible. But I'm going to suggest something rather different. Brace yourself, this could be a shock . . .

Throw it all away. Seriously, the flavor and nutrients are all in the broth, and your time is more valuable that a few boiled scraps. You've saved the good stuff, so toss the rest.

All done. The stew pot, platter, ladle and spoons go into the dishwasher, and you have lovely cooked chicken, broth and schmaltz stored in the freezer and fridg. Life is good. Now, what sort of pastry shall we make with that schmaltz?

copyright Starr Luteri, 2009