Schmaltz and Gribenes
MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS
This recipe uses the fat and skin from about 4 chickens. You can save it up in your freezer over the course of time. For even more flavorful schmaltz, add a few cloves of garlic.
4 cups chicken fat and skin, cut into ½-inch pieces or smaller
Kosher salt
Pinch of pepper
1 cup onion rings, about â
-inch thick
1.
Wash fat and skin well in a colander, and pat dry. Place in a heavy skillet, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Cook, uncovered, over low heat (you can turn it up a bit once the fat has begun melting). When the fat starts to melt and get slightly brown, add onions (and garlic cloves if you like), and continue cooking until onions and cracklings are golden brown and crunchy.
3. When partially cooled, strain over a bowl to remove onions and cracklings, and refrigerate them in a covered glass jar. Pour schmaltz into another jar, cover, and refrigerate.
Hon. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani batting 1.000 with a Second Avenue Deli salami at a Central Park softball game.
VEGETABLE STOCK:
Vegetable stock makes a tasty alternative to chicken or beef stock for soups and stews, and if you're kosher, it allows you to use butter instead of oil when preparing roux. Save cooked carrots and beets to serve as vegetable dishes.
Vegetable Stock
MAKES A LITTLE MORE THAN 2 QUARTS
12 cups water
1 large onion, peeled and cut into eighths
1 medium beet, peeled and quartered
2 stalks celery, cut into 3-inch pieces
2 very large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bunch of parsley (about the equivalent of 1 cup)
¼ pound fresh spinach leaves
¼ cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1. Place all ingredients in a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour. Strain out the broth.
A
S
J
EWS
d
ISPERSED
throughout the world, they not only preserved their rich culinary heritage, but also expanded its parameters to include regional persecution engendered an exotic and colorful Jewish cuisine. Its diversity is especially evident in this eclectic chapter, which runs the gamut from our inimitable Jewish deli classicsâlike chopped liver, potato and macaroni salads, and cole slawâto Middle Eastern specialties like hummus/tahini, falafel, and eggplant salad.
Chopped Liver
SERVES
8
Chopped liver, like pâté de foie gras, dates from medieval Strasbourg, where both were originally created from goose livers raised by Jewish poultry breeders. The use of chicken and beef livers was an Eastern European innovation, but it took American ingenuity to bring chopped liver down to its lowest level: as a medium for sculptures of brides and bar mitzvah boys.
1½ pounds beef liver
1 pound chicken liver
Corn oil for drizzling
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons corn oil
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons schmaltz
4 cups coarsely chopped onions
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
1 tablespoon schmaltz
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1. Turn on broiler. Rinse beef and chicken livers thoroughly, and cut away membranes and extra fat. Cut beef liver into 1-inch pieces; chicken livers can remain whole. Place beef and chicken livers in a large baking pan, and drizzle with corn oil (pour oil into a flatware tablespoon and drizzle over livers; 2 tablespoons are ample). Broil 8 to 10 minutes (keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn). Turn liver pieces, and broil for another 5 minutes. Liver should be fully cooked and lightly browned on both sides. Let chill in refrigerator.
2. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons corn oil and the same amount of schmaltz, and sauté onions, stirring occasionally, until well browned. Let chill in refrigerator.
3. In food processor, combine liver, onions, hard-boiled eggs, schmaltz, salt, and pepper, and blend until smooth. You'll have to do it in batches. Chill before serving.
Note:
Though the above is the official Deli version, some people prefer to use only chicken livers. They make a lighter, creamier chopped liver.
PROMOTIONS, PITCHES â¦Â AND PITCHING NO-HITTERS
Please Don't Eat the Art
I
N
1976, A
BE
d
ONATED
350 pounds of chopped liverânot for the bar mitzvah of an indigent thirteen-year-old, but to
New York
magazine designer Milton Glaser's graphic-design studio, Pushpin. Working feverishly in their highly perishable medium (by its second day, the exhibit was deemed “ripe” for destruction), nineteen of the studio's artists put together a show at Manhattan's Greengrass Media Art Gallery called “Man and Liver.” Works included Bill Sloan's
Barbra Streisand 1960âor Cry Me a Liver,
a sexy nude hen-woman by Robert Grossman, and an exquisitely sculpted rooster by Four Seasons chef Seppi Renggli. The winning entry was James Grashow's monumental six-and-a-half-foot-high rendering of King Kong straddling the World Trade Center's twin towers.
Left:
Abe and Pushpin artist Robert Grossman ogling a chopped liver nude hen-woman.
Middle:
Abe with Pushpin founder and artist Seymour Chwast.
Right:
Chopped liver King Kong hovering over Abe and Pushpin artist James Grashow.
