By Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Rating
- 4(182)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Schmaltz is rendered poultry fat, in this case made from chicken, while gribenes are its crispy, crackling-like byproduct that comes from bits of chicken skin. The key to this recipe is to go low and slow: You want the fat to cook gently and thoroughly so it renders completely without burning. Some would argue that the onion is mandatory and not optional, but if you plan to use the schmaltz for very delicate recipes, or sweet recipes (chilled schmaltz works wonderfully as the fat in pastry dough), feel free to leave it out. Your schmaltz won’t have as deep a flavor, but it will be more versatile. Schmaltz will last for at least a week in the refrigerator and up to six months in the freezer. If your butcher won’t sell it to you, the best way to obtain chicken skin and fat is to collect trimmings in the freezer every time you buy a whole bird. Or you can strip the skin and fat from chicken thighs and save the skinless meat to use in other recipes.
Featured in: Schmaltz Finds a New, Younger Audience
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Ingredients
Yield:½ cup schmaltz, 2 cups gribenes
- ¾pound chicken skin and fat, diced (use scissors, or freeze then dice with a knife)
- ¾teaspoon kosher salt
- ½medium onion, peeled and cut into ¼-inch slices (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
253 calories; 25 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 11 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 153 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, toss chicken skin and fat with salt and 1 tablespoon water and spread out in one layer. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, until fat starts to render and skin begins to turn golden at the edges.
Step
2
Add onions and cook 45 to 60 minutes longer, tossing occasionally, until chicken skin and onions are crispy and richly browned, but not burned.
Step
3
Strain through a sieve. Reserve the schmaltz. If you want the gribenes to be crispier, return to the skillet and cook over high heat until done to taste. Drain gribenes on a paper-towel-lined plate.
- If you’d rather make the schmaltz in the oven (less splatter), skip the water, spread salted skin and fat on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes. Add onion after 15 minutes. The timing will be about the same for both methods.
Ratings
4
out of 5
182
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Pat Yankitis
You missed one ingredient - blood from the scraped knuckles from the potato grater
Figaro
This is a quintessential Yiddish thing. My mom used to render fat and we'd share the grebenes; later I would buy chickens on sale for .49 /lb and strip out all the fat and excess skin. We'd all fight over the pile. Now it's hard to find skin or fat; but chicken backs and necks work; strip them and use remainder for stock. Now, at 74, I mostly buy it in jars from Amazon. Melissa's instruction are accurate; onion is great but add sliced apple too.
Karolyn Schalk
The oven version seems to turn out crispier gribenes. I also like that there's less spatter so easier clean-up.
Alan
Unless you have live-in kitchen staff, go with the oven method. So much easier and neater; works just as well. (I hope my cardiologist doesn't see this.)
Johanna
Had the butchers save me chicken skin, then made a lot at once. Used up the crispy skin by now, but I still have a jar of useful luscious chicken fat in my fridge.
HouseSparrow
This came out great! Very authentic. While the gribenes were great, for me the gem will always be that ramekin full of incredible chicken fat you get at the end.
S
You can also make schmaltz in the microwave. Especially good for when you just have a small amount. Just do it in a Pyrex measuring cup. That’s how I have always done it, but now I will try the oven method because I have a lot.
S
Sorry for all the notes, but schmaltz is a highly emotional subject!When we were kids, and our mother or grandmother would make schmaltz, there would just be a small custard cup of gribines (which, for some reason, my family pronounces “greevin”),and we kids could each only have a little bit because it had to be saved for Dad!If my brother and cousins see this, they will know who wrote it…
Linda & Walter
Made this a few days - very good. Had some leftover gribenes and put it on some leftover cheese pizza and baked it in the microwave for a few minutes. Nice combination and the gribenes crisped up nicely. Not kosher (meat and dairy) but tasted good.
Renata
At my local Farmer's Market there is a woman that sells pasture raised chicken. She is more than happy to save me the skins when they process their birds for sale. I was just gifted a 2 lb package. She much rather have me use it than to throw in in her compost. I feel incredibly fortunate.
Heather
How should I adapt this for the slow cooker? Or will that be too low and slow?
Tyne Tyson
Could I use chicken feet in this as well?
John H
I just made a bunch of chicken stock from collected bits of trimmings, carcasses & skin.Is there a way to make schmaltz with the fat that I skimmed off the top? After reading a few recipes it seems there's a need for some onion and the skin needs to render down, in a frying pan, to gribenes.It sounds really good but is there something I can do constructive with all the fat that I removed?
Laura M
You can use that fat just like you would the schmaltz from this recipe! I do it all the time, and it's nice and savory, just like the one from the pan.
Jonathan
I made schmaltz and gribenes yesterday using the oven method. I can't yet speak for the schmaltz, which is resting comfortably in my refrigerator, but gosh that gribenes was delicious. It's the first time I ever tried it, and it brought to life the stories my mother used to tell about how my grandfather used to love the gribenes that my grandma made.
Equilibrist
I think I’m doing something wrong. I usually make stock with skin-on chicken, and skim and save the fat to cook. But today I wanted to make just schmaltz and gribenes, so I laboriously skinned 15 drumsticks and have been cooking them as directed for almost an hour and a half. The6 have crisped up but haven’t rendered significant fat. Help?
R. Hutcheson
9-24-19: Great, although I burned it a bit.
Gail
onion is great but add sliced apple too/The oven version seems to turn out crispier gribenes. I also like that there's less spatter so easier clean-up.
Bruce J
My paternal grandmother would make mashed potatoes with the schmaltz, gribenes and onions, a tradition I strive to maintain.
Sonia
This recipe always comes out so well each time I make it! Tried mixing chicken skin with some quail skin too. And I use a splatter guard on the stove top so that helps with the oil splatters.
Figaro
This is a quintessential Yiddish thing. My mom used to render fat and we'd share the grebenes; later I would buy chickens on sale for .49 /lb and strip out all the fat and excess skin. We'd all fight over the pile. Now it's hard to find skin or fat; but chicken backs and necks work; strip them and use remainder for stock. Now, at 74, I mostly buy it in jars from Amazon. Melissa's instruction are accurate; onion is great but add sliced apple too.
Maria
Why stop with there! I like to Add fresh garlic and dry thai chili to the storage container. The heat from the schmaltz will release all flavor. I use it part of it for refried beans :D so tasty.
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