This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. What Is Schmaltz couscous kosher for passover How Can You Use It? 0AWhat Is Schmaltz and How Can You Use It? It’s poultry fat, also known as liquid gold, and you should definitely be cooking with it.
I didn’t grow up in a household that cooked with schmaltz. My grandmother used it, but my mother didn’t cook many of her childhood meals in our kitchen. I think she was too haunted by memories of dishes like chopped liver and onions! So schmaltz was off the menu, replaced by more modern, American cooking fats like butter and olive oil.
It was pretty trendy at the time to serve duck fat fries, but I had never had schmaltz potatoes—crispy, pan-fried potatoes cooked in an onion-scented fat. I wanted to cook everything in this incredible substance! As it turns out, everything from traditional Jewish foods to mayonnaise and cornbread taste better when cooked with schmaltz. Schmaltz is a common ingredient in Jewish and Eastern European cooking. It’s made by rendering poultry fat, usually chicken, although it’s made with goose fat in some areas.
It’s inexpensive and tastes as rich as butter without containing any dairy. That’s important for anyone keeping to a kosher diet, as meat and dairy can’t be eaten together in a single meal. Many of today’s chefs have discovered this flavorful cooking medium, and it’s recently become as popular as lard and duck fat. Schmaltz’s main appeal is that it contains the same rich flavor of butter while being dairy-free, so eating it doesn’t compromise Jewish kosher dietary laws. Once you start cooking with schmaltz, you’ll understand why this stuff is called liquid gold: It tastes incredible. Matzo ball soup isn’t the same without it, but you can also use it for a variety of other cooking tasks. The only difference is it’s stored in the refrigerator, which makes it solid instead of liquid.
So long as you plan ahead, that’s not a problem. It only takes about 30 seconds to melt schmaltz over high heat on the stovetop. When using schmaltz for baking, add it to a baking sheet while preheating the oven. Traditionally, schmaltz is made by cooking chicken skin and fat, usually with onions. You can buy the skin and fat from the butcher, or save them over time when you buy whole chickens or skin-on chicken thighs.