SCHMALTZ

Ingredients

2.2 lb (1 kg) chicken fat, cubed
Scant 1/2 cup (100 ml) water
2 large Spanish onions diced

Instructions

Place the chicken fat and water in a large pot and bring to a boil.
Cook at a high simmer until all the chicken fat is rendered; the fat will liquefy, and any remaining bits will begin to fry. Once the fat is amber and the chicken bits are crispy, add the onion. Cook until dark brown and crispy.
Strain out the crispy fat and onion (these bits, called gribenes,can be saved and used as crunchy toppings for a variety of dishes). Store the Schmaltz in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 months or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Use it in place of butter or oil to cook practically anything!

Notes

If you can’t find just the breast bones, buy the whole chicken.
Thigh bones cloud the soup, but that doesn’t matter if you care more about flavor than clarity.
Note that we are making a “soup stock,” not a classic stock, and the liquid therefore shouldn’t be too reduced or concentrated.
The ladle method is used to avoid stirring up and clouding the soup.
We’ve tried this recipe with other brands of matzo meal and it hasn’t worked, so we can’t promise anything unless you use Streit’s.
If you try to use a spatula, or wait too long before mixing, it’ll be like mixing cement. As Freya and Abel Cohen’s wise father once said, “If you used matzo ball mix to pave the streets of Montreal, we’d have no potholes.”