Schmaltz, I'm Bringing it Back.

I recently caught a good deal on some nice poultry and I decided to use some of the fat to make one of the old staple lipids of Jewish cuisine which is, of course, schmaltz (rendered chicken fat). It is one of the great tragedies of our modern calorie conscious food ideology that many of the delicious uses of fat of times gone past have fallen by the wayside. How many of us when roasting a chicken or duck simply pour the fat down the drain? This would have been unthinkable in our not so distant past when we did not have the luxury of wasting calories. This is aside from the fact that we are discarding a delicious substance with many culinary applications. I understand that saturated animal fats are dangerous to ones health and waistline if indulged in to excess, but you are not going to convince me that a little delicious schmaltz is wrong. You need to fortify yourself for these cool New York winters.

I started with two nice medium size chickens-



By the way, I really will never understand why people buy skinless, boneless chicken breasts. I got both of these whole chickens for under 7 dollars. That would probably only get you about 4 boneless breasts anyways and you would not have all the fat, bones, giblets, and other pieces to do so many nice things with. I had it in mind to make a couple soups and stews out of the meat from these chickens, not to roast them. This means that I skinned them and removed any visible fat before butchering the chickens into their component parts. I left the skin on the wings and legs. I salted these heavily and put them in the fridge in preparation for making a nice amount of chicken confit later. For more on the confit process see here - Duck Confit. I will be using much the same process, but in this case I have accumulated near enough chicken fat to omit the lard.



From the rest of the carcasses I was left with a nice heap of skin and fat.



Should I throw this away? Oh, no no. This is the perfect opportunity to make up a nice batch of schmaltz. There are many ways to render poultry fat, but I prefer to boil it.



You chop the skin into nice small pieces and then submerge it in water and bring to a boil. The water will eventually evaporate and the fat will render. You will be left with a delicious amount of liquid yellow chicken fat. I strain it through some muslin to get a nice clarity.



Now, this has a lot of good poultry flavor on its own and if you are planning on using it for confit purposes, this is as far as you may want to go. I am looking to make some nice flavorful schmaltz to use as an ingredient in other dishes so I want to add a little more seasoning. Some time earlier I had made a simple roast chicken, just salt and pepper and into the oven. When this was done I poured that fat through some muslin and reserved. This fat has some nice roasted, seasoned flavor and a couple table spoons of this will do for a cup of raw chicken fat. I like to pour it into small mason jars to store in the refrigerator.



The finished schmaltz has a delicious poultry flavor and will add a little something to a variety of dishes. Fry up some homefries in it, use it to cook an egg, add a little to savory crusts, etc... My favorite way to eat the stuff is both simple and decadent. Toast up a nice piece of your favorite, hearty, whole wheat bread and smear it with a small amount of the schmaltz.



This is simple and delicious. So come on folks, don't waste all of that delicious fat! Don't be scared of a little schmaltz, make up a batch and you will not regret it.

Packaged Indian Products, Part 1: Curried Red Lentils (Mr. Dave Cooks Vegan)

I am a big fan of Indian food. However, I pretty much only get it at restaurants or grab it takeout. I used to really like Gandhi down on Lark and Central, they even delivered! Shalimar on Central Ave. (and the one in Troy) are good as well. Most of my attempts at Indian home cooking have been fairly retched. I come from an Anglo/Irish food culture where seasonings in excess of salt, pepper, and butter throw me for a loop. The nuanced spicing of Indian cuisine is pretty much beyond me. One of the benefits of the recent influx of South Asians into the Capital Region is the appearance of prepackaged Indian foods in most local super markets. I am not really big on pre-made meals, but I will grab them if they are healthful versions of something I probably would not make myself. Because of this I have accumulated quite a collection of the stuff in my cabinets. I've got some naan and dhosi mixes (flat breads), some curry paste, spice mixtures, and some foil-pouched vegetarian curries (chickpeas, lentils, spinach, etc...). I decided to give the curry paste a whirl first, I have had some pretty Israeli red lentils (daal) lying around for a while just waiting to be curried.



This stuff is "Tiger Tiger" brand "Madras Curry Paste". I have had varying successes with curry pastes, so I was a little suspicious of this stuff. But I have to say, it had a very nice, spicy-curry smell to it when I popped the top. I started by soaking the red lentils for about 8 hours.



When they are done soaking you are going to want to wash them very well. Lentils need to be thoroughly rinsed, a lot of that funky lentil taste you get sometimes is from poorly washed lentils. I threw these in the oven with enough water to cover, a sliced onion, and 3 split green chilis (no seeds).



Into the oven at 350 went the lentils until cooked very well, you don't really want them to maintain too much lentil integrity. I like them broken down into a thick mush.



I then fished out the chilis and chopped them up along with some onion, garlic, and ginger. I kind of made a paste out of the finely chopped garlic and ginger with the back of my knife.



The veg gets sauteed until cooked through. I added about 3 nice spoonfuls of the curry paste and let this cook a little to release some nice flavor.



The next step is to add a can of tomatoes. I crush them up with my hands in a mixing bowl first. I like to cook a lot of the moisture out of the tomatoes, so I let this go until the consistency is kind of paste like.



The next step is to dump the drained lentils in with about a cup of their cooking liquid. I put this on low heat and let it cook down for about a half hour.



There you go, a nice and simple vegetarian dish. Very healthy and high in fiber, not to mention packed with spicy goodness. I usually eat this by scooping it out of a bowl with some naan or pitas, but it is equally good ladled over rice.

Curry Paste Verdict: The Tiger Tiger brand stuff had some very nice flavor to it. The lentils came out tasting like the curried daals that I have tried in restaurants so I believe it is at least pseudo-authentic. This curry paste is not as potent as some others that I have tried. The three spoonfuls I began with did not add as much flavor as I thought they would. I ended up throwing some more paste in towards the end of the cooking. All in all, about half the jar went into this one curry. At five dollars American a shot, the stuff was a little on the expensive side. It was pretty tasty in the end though, so I am not complaining.

Candy Corn Jone's Soda Review. Blech....Needs Whiskey.

So I was at Target the other day and these little guys caught my eye. It is "Candy Corn" soda care of the Jone's Soda Company rolled out just in time for Halloween. Now, I myself, am completely over the whole Jone's soda thing. I remember when they first came out and had some decent flavors sweetened with real sugar. All in all a pretty decent change of pace from main stream soda. Then they went mad with the holiday sets and the gravy soda and all that nonsense. Now it seems that Jone's is kind of a house soda brand at Target stores. I am a huge candy corn fan so I decided to give this stuff a whirl. It came in a small can with either wolfman or angry Chewbacca on it.



I cracked the can and poured it into a glass. I decided that I would try the stuff at room temperature first to really get a handle on the flavor. The first thing I noticed is that the stuff is a bright yellow color. I was expecting orange for some reason, isn't orange the color most associated with candy corns? This stuff looked like the first piss you take after a night of hard drinking.



I was hoping that the soda would be like drinking liquid candy corns. I figured that the relatively uncomplicated flavors of candy corn would be easily replicated in soda form. I was kind of disappointed by the actual flavor of the Jones soda version. The flavor was overwhelmingly of butterscotch, the cheap kind that comes in squirt bottles at topping bars in ice cream joints. There were also some serious vanilla undertones going on. Almost like a butterscotch cream soda. In any event, very un-candy corn like. I instantly thought that this stuff might make a decent cocktail. I threw some nice Irish whiskey in there with some ice.



This was pretty good, kind of like one of those "Buttery Nip" shots girls used to drink in college. I don't think I will be buying this stuff again, I am not a big soda drinker anyways and this stuff is not that impressive. Kids would probably get a kick out of it though, maybe I will throw a can at a trick-or-treater on Friday, kidding, kidding.

Homage to Stewart's Shops. (Stewart's Egg Nog Pie Recipe too)

I have spoke of my love for Stewart's Shops before, but I thought that I would devote a little more time evangelizing about the deep feelings I have for these stores. If you do not know, Stewart's Shops are a chain of indigenous convenience markets of Upstate New York. I work in Troy, so I can drive easily to 3 different stores within about 5 minutes. My favorite is the one on Hoosick Street. You get a nice mix of construction workers getting eggwiches and meth addicts eating candy hangin' out around 0730 when I am usually there. Also, there will invariably be a cute old person eating a hard roll with coffee and reading the Times Union at one of the couple booths. This is the kind of old timey, upstate New York, river-town Americana that I eat up with a spoon. This is aside from the fact that the place is dirt cheap, locally owned and operated, and produces its own in-store brands. The signs and adverts are delightfully dated and campy looking which only adds to the general charm of the place.

I love the beginning of the holiday season, it is when you begin to see signs at Stewart's heralding the return of Nog!



I am eggnog mad and this stuff does not disappoint! Stewart's eggnog, simply stated, kicks some serious ass. It is thick, creamy, sweet, and deliciously eggy. The quality of Stewart's milk products is generally high and this stuff is no different. They use real cream and egg yolks and although the flavor is a little on the cloyingly sweet side, it somehow comforts me and makes me smile.



People watching their weights break out your shot glasses, because this stuff packs a caloric wallop and should be enjoyed in moderation. I suck down a whole bottle when I buy it without guilt, but each small bottle contains 960 delicious calories! There are other delicious, thick and creamy dairy treats available year round. My other favorite is the Vanilla Dairy Shake.



It cracks me up how all of their Stewart's brand drinks are called "Refreshers." I would not call the eggnog or dairy shake especially refreshing, it is more like eating a meal when you drink one of these bad boys. A new "refresher" that they came out with recently that is in fact very refreshing is the snazzily monikered Green Buzz.



This is Stewart's attempt to delve into the energy drink market and I find it endearing. No fancy packaging or slick marketing here. The same old packaging and label is used and I love it and have bought 2 every day for a week.

Stewart's prides itself in their milk. It is from actual New York dairies (New York is the best dairyland in the country, pipe down Wisconsin) and is renown for tastiness, as Stewart's is not afraid to remind you.



They also have a milk card wherein you get a free gallon after you purchase several other gallons of milk. You can't go wrong with bonus milk.



Are you a member of the Milk Club? Afraid of losing your milk card? No worries, Stewart's has thought of this already-



Keep your card right there, next to the condoms.

Now on to the eggwich. I eat at least 2 or 3 eggwiches every work week. I go for the hard roll with bacon, egg, and cheese. The bacon is that weird stuff they somehow form into a circle whilst maintaining the wrinkly nature of the bacon. I don't know what kind of mad bacon scientists Stewart's has, but they do it somehow. The hard rolls are soft inside and delightfully chewy outside and you can't beat the price with a stick.



If I am not eating an eggwich for my breakfast, I generally go for a hard roll with either butter or peanut butter. They come pre-made with a little sticker telling what is inside and the butter/peanut butter to bread ratio is usually perfect. Although, I will have to say that the recent addition of rolls with both peanut butter and butter at the same time are a little to decadent for my tastes, I simply can't live at that speed. The toasting station is another good option, various breakfast items are labeled "Toast Me" and you can help yourself to jelly, butter, cream cheese, etc...



Where else can you get all of these culinary delights and some prepaid airtime too?



One last thing that made me smile was their "Pay at the Pump" campaign. A couple months ago you started seeing signs wildly proclaiming that you could now pay at the pump (exclamation point, exclamation point) at Stewart's as if this was one of the latest innovations in gas dispensing science. They are probably the last gas pushers around to jump on this band wagon, but this is what I like about Stewart's. They cling to the old ways and refuse to change into some slick operation. This is why they maintain my (and countless others) fierce loyalty, I can't walk into one of these places without being punched in the stomach by a sense of nostalgia. Memories of childhood ice cream dishes (I loved the toppings bar, marshmallow sauce...mmm...) and visions of much younger versions of myself and my parents rush into my brain.



Ok, now for the recipe. This is a down and dirty, no frills recipe that is perfect for the fall season. First, rustle up a pie crust. I make my own (pate brisee), but a store bought crust will do perfectly fine in this case. The 'Nilla wafer ones they sell now might even be superior to the buttery crust I usually make by default for pie.



Next, take one bottle of Stewart's eggnog and whisk in 6 egg yolks. That is it folks, that is the filling. Simple, delicious and smacking of comforting holiday flavors.



If you are using a homemade crust you are going to want to blind bake it for a while before you pour in the filling. Then the whole thing goes in the oven at 350 for around 30-40 minute or until golden brown.



There you have it, a nice, simple Stewart's eggnog pie. This benefits from a night in the fridge before serving. If you want to gild the lily a little, throw some cool whip on top too.

RFS on the Interwebs

It looks like my experiments in baconology have inspired a couple blog posts. First, I am honored to be mentioned on the venerable Royal Bacon Society. This is an excellent bacon resource of the highest caliber. Also, a nice post on the aptly named Skulls and Bacon (half the posts are about skulls, half about bacon. Truth in advertising) was penned in my honor. It is nice to see that the RFS (ridiculous food society) is being enjoyed by fellow blog people out there in the cold, cruel world. It gives me a warm fuzzy to think that my puttering around in the kitchen, taking pictures with my iPhone isn't all for naught.

Mr. Dave's Sausages Made-O'- Bacon Project. The Goods are Cooked.

Well here it is folks, the fruition of the bacon project that I started last night. My Sausages Made out of Bacon are cooked and some were eaten and it was good.



It was kind of a misadventure getting those little bad boys cooked (I will detail the cooking process below), but the end product was a delicious breakfast sarnie to top all other breakfast sarnies. Runny egg, cheese, toast, and bacon sausage came together in a savory harmony.



I had foreseen some problems in the cooking of these sausages and this was the case. The Bacon Sausages have a very high fat content as you can tell by their delicious, fatty, white color. When the fat is heated it will begin to melt, this could cause some malformed sausages. I wanted to avoid this.



My first attempt was to simply fry a couple up in a skillet.



The sausage shape was preserved well, but I found that the outside would burn much faster than the insides would cook. A raw, fatty center does not make for tasty Bacon Sausage. My next attempt was to poach the sausages before frying.



This did not work out well, there was some expansion and casings were ruptured. This did not make for attractive Bacon Sausage. It was on my third attempt that I achieved success. I packed several links into a small baking dish and pierced them with a sharp knife.



Into a 400 degree oven they went for about 20 minutes. I drained them, flipped them and put them in for another 20 minutes. They came out fairly browned and tasty looking.



Upon biting into one I discovered that, good as they were, they did not have the level of crisposity that I desired. I solved this problem by slicing them length wise, almost in half, and then frying their undersides in skillet.



This being done, I was left with a plate of concentrated bacon flavor. The flavor was smokey and salty and the texture was firmer than I expected, actually much like a normal breakfast sausage. I think using the bread as binder was a good idea (I used rye bread, if you don't like rye flavor I would go with white instead) it really gave a nice texture.



The next logical step, of course, was to make an egg and cheese with this new form of breakfast meat. I started by frying some bread in the bacony skillet.



Next came an egg cooked over easy, I am mad about runny yolks.



Throw in a slice of good ol' American cheese (quiet down you cheese snobs, this stuff is perfect for breakfast sandwiches) and you have a simple, culinary gem.



Over all this was a success. The bacon sausages were really very good, I had expected them to be good in concept but poor in execution. I could tinker with some of the ratios, perhaps add some fresh pork. I would definitely soak the salt pork, or go with fresh pork belly for that matter, as the final product was very salty. I would also use white bread and nix the white wine next time. The rye/wine flavors were barely noticeable, but I think if you are going to make Bacon Sausage you want the bacon to be the unrivaled star. But I encourage anyone out there to take this concept and run with it, I am sure there are more innovative people out there than me.