Easy Homemade Chicken Schmaltz

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Easy Homemade Chicken Schmaltz is rendered chicken fat, a staple in traditional, kosher, and Jewish cooking.

It is simple to make, and it’s completely natural.

It can be used plain, with only the one ingredient, or you can make it flavored by seasoning it with onions, garlic, salt, and/or herbs.

In cooking, schmaltz is used for everything from frying to roasting.

And it’s often used as a seasoned spread for crackers and bread.

Schmaltz is rendered (melted) chicken or goose fat that was used as a grease by Eastern European Jews, as they could not use lard (from pigs) and they couldn’t use butter with meat (mixing meat and milk).

Schmaltz was introduced to the US by Eastern European Yiddish-speaking Jews when they ran from European anti-Semitism and immigrated to the US, bringing their cuisine with them.

The term “schmaltz” is derived from the German verb meaning “to melt” and is used in Yiddish as well.

Today, the term is commonly used in English when referring to chicken fat as it relates to cooking. However, schmaltz came to refer to drippy, over-the-top dramatization of events in shows or mushy sentimentality.

Today, schmaltz is used much less in cooking but is still best to enhance some dishes, as it adds a little extra delicious greasiness to recipes that need it.

I personally use schmaltz with Homemade Chicken Shawarma and Homemade Turkey Shawarma, because, when making these at home, fat is missing, so the schmaltz helps.

Schmaltz, especially flavored, is used by some people as a spread on bread or crackers.

Chicken schmaltz is simple to make but does take a little time on the stove. And it can last in the refrigerator for quite a while (I’ve kept it for months).

A byproduct of the fat-rendering product is “gribenes,” which are the crispy pieces of chicken skin left after the melting process. My grandmother used to take gribenes and chop it in when she made chopped liver.

Useful cooking terms:

What does it mean to render fat?

Rendering fat is the process of slowly melting raw animal fat and separating the liquid fat from the solid.

What does it mean when recipes say “to taste” about an ingredient?

When recipes say “to taste,” it means that you can put in as little or as much as you like to your own taste. Some recipes have many ingredients that a cook can adjust to their own taste when cooking (not so much when baking, though).

The best way to calculate what your taste is with a recipe that you are not yet familiar with is to first taste the dish and then add the “to taste” ingredient GRADUALLY, a little at a time—a splash of this or a pinch of that—until the dish is just the way you like it.

Make sure to stir the ingredient after each time you add it so that the flavor will distribute evenly and become part of the dish. Then taste again. Repeat until you reach your personal preference.

Note: If you plan on using the recipe again, it is highly recommended to make a note of what and how much you added so that you can refer to it next time.

What does it mean when a recipe says that an ingredient is “optional”?

If an ingredient is “optional,” it means that you can add it in or not based on your own preference. An optional ingredient can be flavor-related (i.e., salty, sweet, spicy, etc.), appearance-related (garnish), or even something like nuts or chocolate chips in baking.

What does “savory” mean?

“Savory” refers to foods that are not sweet, such as foods that taste salty, spicy, or herbal.

What cooking measurement expressions mean:

Drop – ¹/₆₄ teaspoon (or less—it’s however a literal drop comes out)

Smidgen – ¹/₃₂ teaspoon

Pinch – ¹⁄₁₆ teaspoon (what you can grab between your finger and thumb)

Dash – ⅛ teaspoon (what comes out when you shake out of a shaker or bottle)

Tad – ¼ teaspoon

Dollop—a glob on a spoon (like with mayonnaise or ice cream)

Scant—a scant cup is almost a cup, just below the line.

Heaping—above the line of the spoon (teaspoon, tablespoon)

Schmaltz with onion:

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken skin and fat
1 medium-large onion
1 tablespoon water to prevent fat from initially sticking to pan
salt to taste (if you are going to use as a spread)

Instructions:

1. Chop chicken skin and fat into small pieces. pieces.
2. Also, chop onion into small pieces.
3. Add the skin, fat, and water to a frying pan that has not been heated and place it on medium heat.
4. Cook on medium heat until the skin begins to turn a golden brown and then add the chopped onion.
5. Fry, stirring frequently until the onion has lightly browned (approximately 10 minutes or so).
6. Remove from heat and strain mixture into a container to separate skin and onion pieces from the schmaltz.
7. Let cool.

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Easy Homemade Chicken Schmaltz

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Easy homemade rendered chicken fat with only the one ingredient, but you can season as you like. It's great for Jewish cooking or spreading on bread or crackers.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 2 minutes

Total Time 2 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound chicken skin with fat
• 1 tablespoon water to prevent fat from initially sticking to pan
• salt, granulated garlic, onion powder, herbs (if you are going to use as a spread—all optional and all to taste)

Instructions

1. Chop chicken skin and fat into small. pieces.
2. Also, chop onion into small pieces.
3. Add the skin, fat, and water to a frying pan that has not been heated and place on medium heat.
4. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the skin begins to turn a golden brown.
5. Remove from heat and strain mixture into a container to separate skin from the schmaltz.
6. Let cool.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 257Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 47mgSodium: 37mgCarbohydrates: 0gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 12g

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