The other day, I e-mailed a chef friend to ask if he could get me some rendered goose or duck fat, so I could make a batch of rillettes. The meat (I was planning to make the rillettes with duck legs, although you can use rabbit or pork) is submerged in fat and very slowly cooked.
Rendered fat from geese and duck – a by-product of the foie gras-making process (for which the animals are fattened) – is ridiculously expensive in Hong Kong; a small jar costs about HK$75, and I would need at least 10, making what was once an economical way of preserving meat into something quite costly. Restaurants buy their goose fat in large tins from importers at much cheaper prices. My friend replied saying he’d ordered a large quantity of fresh goose fat for me from his butcher in Central.
It hadn’t occurred to me until then that I could render my own. After all, I make my own lard. All types of rendered fat use basically the same process, whether the fat comes from beef, poultry or pigs.
To make your own, cut the fresh fat into 3cm chunks – the smaller the pieces, the quicker it renders (although it still takes quite a lot of time). Put the fat in a pan (enamelled cast-iron is ideal for this) and add water to a depth of about 5mm or less – the exact amount doesn’t matter; you need water to start the cooking process. Put the pan over a medium flame and as soon as the water starts to boil, lower the flame. Cook very slowly for several hours, stirring occasionally. The fat will slowly render out of the connective tissue, which will start to shrink. Don’t cook it too fast or the fat will fry rather than melt.
After all the fat is rendered out, strain it through a fine sieve placed over a bowl. Pour the fat into containers and refrigerate it.
In Jewish cuisine, chicken fat is used to make schmaltz. The fat is rendered with chopped onion, which adds flavour. It’s delicious but I prefer plain fat because it’s more versatile.