[Sca-cooks] Schmaltz

[A F Murphy]

I've seen it sold in a plastic tub. So, OK, I live in walking distance
of Yeshiva University... but this wasn't in the Glatt Kosher butcher's,
this was in a supermarket someplace. I wasn't really paying much
attention, I don't use it.

 From what I understand, though, it is used more the way I would use
bacon fat than like lard. Not solid enough for things like pie crust or
cookies, the way lard is. Hydrogenated vegetable shortening made a big
hit in the Kosher community...  made it possible to have all kinds of
pastries with meat dinners! In my bakery, all the cakes are dairy, but
all the pastries are parve.

Anne

Devra at aol.com wrote:

>I suspect that schmaltz isn't used as much as butter because there aren't a lot of convenient commercial sources for it, the way there are with butter.  I have seen it sold in jars (1 C?) in the long past, but can't remember seeing it recently.  You can of course make your own; it just requires some attention to keep the fat from browning.  And it keeps moderately well in the fridge.  It's not that chickens don't have enough fat--you ever pull the loose fat out of a capon/oven stuffer roaster?  Schmaltz was traditionally used to fry things like potato pancakes.
>
>Hard to do reduced cholesterol with it, though.
>Devra
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