SC - for bread-smearing

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Woeller D wrote:

> Where would one >get< duck fat? And how is this spread kept/preserved?
> Is it only eaten when prepared fresh?  Must it be kept under
> refridgeration?  Can it be canned? Frozen? Any other details?

Duck fat comes from ducks. When you are roasting a duck, the raw bird
has big lumps of fat inside and under its apron (the abdominal flap the
entrails were removed from, or will be, if you have to butcher it
yourself), and also under the skin near the head end of the body cavity.
You can just pull this out, and render it as you might pork fat, and
then add any fat from the pan drippings to that.

It keeps quite well in a glass jar in the fridge, more or less like
bacon fat. I suspect canning it in a jar might result in rancidity, but
you can get it in actual tin cans, usually imported from places like
Poland and Hungary. Goose fat, too. 

Hands down, my all-time favorite is the mixed fat known as Graisse
Normande. It's a mix of goose, duck, pork, beef, and sometimes mutton
fats, rendered down with onions and some herbs. This is used for all
sorts of culinary purposes in Normandy, as well as on bread. I don't
know if it's period, but I don't see why it couldn't come under the
heading of "white grese". (Except it's usually yellowish.)

There's a restaurant in New York called Sammy's Roumanian Steak House
(commonly called Sammy's Roumanian) that has got to be the cholesterol
capital of the world. They are the inventor of the Roumanian Steak (more
or less a garlicky London Broil made from skirt steak, a.k.a. fajita
meat) which proliferates in diner menus all over the East Coast, and
probably elsewhere. They fry EVERYTHING in chicken fat rendered with
onions, and put a little bowl of it on the table to go with your rye
bread.

I guess regulars die young but happy.

Adamantius (who's quite fond of real extra virgin olive oil and coarse
salt on fresh, hot, crusty bread) 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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