Author Topic: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me  (Read 209633 times)

Sandy

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1630 on: July 14, 2012, 08:57:08 PM »
 :D

There's got to be a pig prayer out there somewhere. Thanks for telling me what the mystery was.

oneaprilday

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1631 on: July 14, 2012, 09:47:32 PM »
I'm surprised no one has asked me what's in the mason jar. When I first started living with my wife, she was all freaked out about it.

I thought it was cornstarch and water and now I am curious.
I was going to guess schmaltz.  Have you ever heard of/used that? It's rendered chicken fat, and I've never dared to try it, but my New York Cookbook (by Molly O'Neill) champions it for all kinds of uses, including what you describe but also for "spreading on a slice of fresh rye bread with a sprinkling of salt."  :o

Antares

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1632 on: July 15, 2012, 12:11:25 AM »
I'm surprised no one has asked me what's in the mason jar. When I first started living with my wife, she was all freaked out about it.

I thought it was cornstarch and water and now I am curious.
I was going to guess schmaltz.  Have you ever heard of/used that? It's rendered chicken fat, and I've never dared to try it, but my New York Cookbook (by Molly O'Neill) champions it for all kinds of uses, including what you describe but also for "spreading on a slice of fresh rye bread with a sprinkling of salt."  :o

I never knew there was a name for it, but yes, I do use chicken fat and also turkey, duck and goose fat too. When I buy either whole chickens or parts and I'm going to make chicken salad, I skin the chicken and trim as much of the fat off as I can. I then put the skins and trimmings on sizzle platters and broil them on the lowest level of my broiler. As the fat starts to render out of the skin, I drain it into jars and when the skins are golden brown on both sides, and there's no more fat left, I let the cooked skins cool and give my dogs a treat. They go absolutely crazy over it.

I've never had it on bread, but it's one of my secret ingredients in my chicken salad, and everyone who's tasted it, can't figure out why it tastes so good. When I tell them, they give me a strange look, but then accept it because it is so flavorful. Another use is when you want to make an amazing chicken gravy. Instead of making a roux with butter, you use the chicken fat instead, and it adds much richer flavor to the gravy. I do the same thing with my turkey gravy at Thanksgiving. It's become so popular with my family and friends, that I make a quadruple batch and give everyone a pint to take home with them.

But the king of fowl fats is goose and duck. One dish my grandmother use to make and was an absolute favorite of mine was Duck Rillettes. It's made from slow simmered duck meat and duck fat and eaten cold on toast. I would take this to school and the other kids would look at me like I was completely insane. But it was soooooooooooooo good! I could eat duck almost every night and probably never get sick of it.
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oneaprilday

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1633 on: July 15, 2012, 12:47:05 AM »
It's nice to hear from someone who's actually tried it and uses it regularly, especially someone like you, chef that you are. You are talking me into the idea with all your talk of sizzles and richness and flavor! 

I rarely have/cook goose and duck, and it sounds so delicious the way you describe it; it's kind of hard to find in grocery stores here, isn't it? I don't know that I've ever seen it where I shop.

Antares

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1634 on: July 19, 2012, 09:57:24 AM »
One glaring weakness in my culinary experience is desserts. When I was younger, I had an arrogance that felt that if you were still hungry after my main course, I had failed. Thus, I never really learned or focused on this part of cooking. In the last few years, I have tried to right this wrong, and have been dabbling every so often in the pastry arts. This week, sweet cherries have been on sale here, so I decided to give a fresh cherry pie a go. So far, so good, it looks like it's coming out OK.
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Antares

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1635 on: July 19, 2012, 11:15:09 AM »
Here's the result. Don't know what it tastes like yet, it needs to cool for a while. I can't wait to serve this with some vanilla ice cream.



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ses

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1636 on: July 19, 2012, 11:33:26 AM »
looks delicious!
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Sandy

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1637 on: July 19, 2012, 11:52:06 AM »
Of all the pies in all the world, you baked cherry! It's beautiful Antares.

mañana

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1638 on: July 19, 2012, 03:43:27 PM »
There's no deceit in the cauliflower.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: What's for Dinner... and did you make enough for me
« Reply #1639 on: July 19, 2012, 03:44:31 PM »
My mouth is watering, yum yum.