How to Make Grattons, Schmaltz and Gribenes

My romantic old darling brought me home a duck last night and I am making many plans for it because he says I can eat it all myself!!  I'm not much of a meat eater but I do love a duck! 

I have decided to confit the legs (plus another two I have in the freezer) and roast or pan fry the breasts in a couple of wonderful ways and I also might make some duck soup of the Chinese persuasion or maybe ... ooh I don't know, more about the results of these plans later including how to confit duck legs.  However the idea of confitting sent my mind running along skin and fat in general and duck and chicken skin and fat in particular. 

Of course it goes without saying that  all leftover duck fat resulting from roasting a duck should be set aside in the fridge and used to roast potatoes which will then be remarkably delicious. 

Bits of leftover chicken skin can just be popped into a hot oven till crisp and served as a nibble or garnish.

Grattons

These are diced duck skin with any adhering fat which have been fried (boiled in oil according to one Gascon recipe I recently read) till crisp, then seasoned and served as a snack or garnish.  I have often done a similar thing when serving duck breasts in a restaurant situation - I remove the skin, toss with salt and pepper and olive oil, spread them on a baking tray and cook in the always on hot oven till crisp.  They make a fine crunchy contrast to the tender breast meat.

Schmaltz

This is a Yiddish term for rendered chicken fat (pronounced שמאַלץ according to Wikipedia!) and is essential in many kosher dishes such as chopped liver and matzo balls or sometimes just eaten on toast instead of butter.  As with duck fat a small amount can result from roasting a chicken, especially a fatty one, but it is easy and well worthwhile to make it on purpose too.  Gather together, in the freezer is fine, enough fatty chicken skin to make the job worthwhile and then ...

~   Chop the skin and fat in 10mm or so pieces.

~   Spread over the bottom of a preferably non-stick frying pan, cover and cook over gentle heat for 10-15 minutes until the fat starts to render out and pool in the pan.

~   Remover the lid, turn up the heat to medium and continue cooking till there is plenty of melted fat at the skin is curly and starting to turn brown, maybe another 15 minutes.

~   Turn off the heat and allow to cool a little then strain through a metal seive - the melted fat is the schmaltz; cool to room temperature and then store in the fridge till needed.

~   Don't throw away the skin - now is the time to make ...

Gribenes

~   Return the skin to the still oily pan and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring till it starts browning again.

~   Add about and equal quantity of thinly sliced onion and cook together till all are crisp and golden.

~   Season with salt and pepper

~   Using a slotted spoon carefully lift the gribenes from any malted fat in the pan then spread them out on a piece of kitchen roll to drain and cool.

~   Add any remaining fat in the pan to the cooling schmaltz, it will taste even better than before.

In other news ...

1.   If these are just a few of the suggestions I can think of for leftover skin and fat don't you wonder what ideas I have for the other 450 potential leftovers in my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers?

Phurejas - delicious precursors of modern potatoes!

I recently bought a bag of delicious Mayan Gold potatoes because it says on the packet they are ...

 “prized for their rich flavour and buttery flesh.  An exceptionally smooth potato” 

I roasted some in goose fat and they were a resounding success and yesterday I sautéed them and I have rarely had better – they were ultra creamy inside and uber crunchy outside.  What more could I want?

It turns out that these potatoes are not exactly potatoes - they are phurejas!  

Phurejas 

These are the modern potato’s precursor from which our potatoes evolved.   Because they are not as dense as modern potatoes they cook quicker (I thought they did! – lucky I was on the ball actually) and also they are useful if you are on a diet as with their lovely colour and flavour you can fool yourself that they already have butter in them.

These somewhat pointy “potatoes” with their seriously yellow flesh are, I think, the nicest I have ever tasted (so far).

Today, for lunch, I made my standard Chicken, Leek & Potato Soup using them and it was better than ever even though I have since read that they are not suitable for boiling.

Spread the word of these delicious potatoes -
pin this image.

Yesterday we went to Barter Books in Alnwick and I want to give it a mention because it is FABULOUS if you like books, being one of the largest second hand bookshops in Britain or Europe or the World or somewhere like that.

Apart from its obvious attractions there is a large model railway running around the top of the book shelves in one of the rooms, open fireplaces, a café, interesting quotes scattered about the place and IT IS HUGE taking up, a large part of Alnwick Station.  It is one of the many pleasures of being Up North.