{"id":1472151,"date":"2020-05-26T11:35:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T16:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=1472151"},"modified":"2020-05-26T11:35:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T16:35:41","slug":"what-is-schmaltz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/what-is-schmaltz\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Schmaltz and How Can You Use It?"},"content":{"rendered":"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. I'm sure we ate it when we visited for Passover<\/a>, but I didn't know it was there. I just knew that Grandma's cooking was (ahem<\/em>) better than my mother's.\r\n\r\nIt wasn't until I visited a deli in Portland, Oregon as an adult, where I connected with my grandmother's \"liquid gold.\" It was pretty trendy at the time to serve duck fat fries, but I had never had schmaltz potatoes\u2014crispy, pan-fried potatoes cooked in an onion-scented fat. I was hooked; I wanted to cook everything in this incredible substance!\r\n\r\nAs it turns out, everything from traditional Jewish foods<\/a> to mayonnaise<\/a> and cornbread<\/a> taste better when cooked with schmaltz.\r\n

What Is Schmaltz?<\/h2>\r\nSchmaltz 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<\/a>, as meat and dairy can't be eaten together in a single meal.\r\n\r\nMany of today's chefs have discovered this flavorful cooking medium, and it's recently become as popular as lard and duck fat.\r\n

Why Is It Useful?<\/h2>\r\nSchmaltz'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<\/a> soup isn't the same without it, but you can also use it for a variety of other cooking tasks.\r\n

How to Use Schmaltz in Cooking<\/h2>\r\nYou can use schmaltz like any other cooking oil. 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.\r\n\r\nHere are some of our favorite recipes to showcase schmaltz:\r\n