Book : The Book of Schmaltz - Love Song to a Forgotten Fat
Susan Jung
By Michael Ruhlman
This isn't a book for the type of person who orders chicken breast with the skin removed, or salad with the dressing on the side. As you can tell from the title, it's about schmaltz.
Cooking chicken fat and skin slowly with chopped onion results in two things: a clear, flavourful, pale golden fat (schmaltz) and gribenes (the solid bits that are strained out, and which are delicious eaten out of hand).
Long a staple in Jewish cuisine, schmaltz fell out of favour due to modern dietary concerns, including the belief that fat is always fattening and high in cholesterol.
The book's author, Michael Ruhlman, and his teacher in all things schmaltz, Lois Baron - Ruhlman's 78-year-old neighbour in Cleveland, in the United States - don't say it should be consumed in excess, only that it's fine as part of a normal, balanced diet.
But what to do with the schmaltz, once you've made it? Ruhlman gives traditional and contemporary recipes that incorporate it, such as chopped liver; classic chicken soup with matzo balls; egg and gribenes spread; potato kugel; chicken rillettes; scones with roasted red pepper and parmigiano-reggiano; and oatmeal cookies with dried cherries.
