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Schmaltz

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This article is about cooking fat. For the brewery, see Shmaltz Brewing Company.
Schmaltz
Schmaltz derived from geese
TypeSpread, cooking fat
Main ingredientsFat (chicken or goose)
Schmaltz (Chicken)
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy3,767 kJ (900 kcal)
0 g
99.8 g
Saturated30 g
Monounsaturated45 g
Polyunsaturated21 g
0 g
Vitamins and minerals
Other constituentsQuantity
Cholesterol85 mg
Vitamin E2.7 mg
Selenium0.2 mg
Fat percentage can vary.
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults,[1] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies.[2]

Schmaltz (also spelled schmalz or shmalz) is rendered (clarified) chicken or goose fat used for frying or as a spread on bread in Central European cuisine, and in the United States, particularly identified with Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. Rendered waterfowl fat is also used in the cuisine of Southwestern France. As an effect of cross-cultural influences of the Jewish Ashkenazi, Polish, and Ukrainian cuisine, it is also popular in Poland and Ukraine, where rendered fats (including lard) are called smalec, with schmaltz derived from geese being popular as gęsi smalec.

The English term "schmaltz" is derived from Yiddish, and is cognate with the German term Schmalz, meaning "rendered animal fat", regardless of source: both tallow and lard are considered forms of Schmalz in German, as is clarified butter. English usage tends to follow Yiddish, where it means poultry fat.[3][4][5]

Etymology

The term "schmaltz" entered English usage through Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews who used it to refer to kosher poultry fat; the word שמאַלץ shmalts is the Yiddish word for rendered chicken fat.[6] The word is common to the High German languages, including both Yiddish and modern Standard German, and comes from Middle High German smalz,[7] a noun derived from the verb smelzen, meaning "to melt". The verb can be traced back to the Germanic root "smeltan", which survives in the Modern English verb "to smelt".

History

Schmaltz rendered from a chicken or goose was used by northwestern and eastern European Jews who were forbidden by kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) from frying their meats in butter or lard, the common forms of cooking fat in Northern Europe, as butter, being derived from milk, cannot be used with meat under the Jewish prohibition on mixing meat and dairy, and lard is derived from pork, an unkosher meat. Furthermore, tallow derived from beef or mutton would have been uneconomical, particularly given that virtually all suet (the raw material for tallow) is chelev and its consumption is forbidden. Northwestern and Eastern European Jews also could not obtain the kinds of vegetable-derived cooking oils such as olive oil and sesame oil, used in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean (as in Spain and Italy).[8][9][10] Thus Ashkenazi Jews turned to poultry fat as their cooking fat of choice; the overfeeding of geese to produce more fat per bird produced modern Europe's first foie gras as a side effect.[8]

Process

The manufacture of schmaltz involves cutting the fatty tissues of a bird (chicken or goose) into small pieces, melting the fat, and collecting the drippings. Schmaltz may be prepared by a dry process where the pieces are cooked under low heat and stirred, gradually yielding their fat. A wet process also exists whereby the fat is melted by direct steam injection. The rendered schmaltz is then filtered and clarified.

Homemade Jewish-style schmaltz is made by cutting chicken or goose fat into small pieces and melting in a pan over low-to-moderate heat, generally with onions. After the majority of the fat has been extracted, the melted fat is strained through a cheesecloth into a storage container. The remaining dark brown, crispy bits of skin and onion are known in Yiddish as gribenes. Another simple method is as a by-product of the making of chicken soup. After the chicken is simmered in the pot or crock-pot, the broth is chilled so the fat rises to the top and can be skimmed off, at once providing schmaltz to set aside for other uses and a lower-fat soup, which is brought back to heat before serving.

Uses

Schmaltz often has a strong aroma, and therefore is often used for hearty recipes such as stews or roasts. It is also used as a bread spread, where it is sometimes also salted, and generally this is done on whole-grain breads or black breads which have a strong flavor of their own. It can be used in such salads as egg salad and chicken salad as mayonnaise is used, as a fatty addition to such recipes as latkes (potato pancakes) or kugel, or instead of butter when pan-frying potatoes, onions, or other foods.

Vegetarian schmaltz

Various vegetarian (and consequently pareve) versions of schmaltz have been marketed, starting with Nyafat (U.S., Rokeach and Sons, 1924), which is largely coconut oil with some onion flavoring and color. Vegetable shortening is also used as a substitute.[11]

Derived meanings

  • The expression "falling into the schmaltz pot" refers to the concept of having something good happen to you, often by sheer luck (e.g., being born into a rich family). Someone who happens to have good luck is given the reputation of being a schmalz. Consequently, a derived Polish word szmal is a colloquial term for cash, especially in larger amounts.
  • Schmaltz herring means fatty herring and refers to the a stage of development in the life cycle of the herring when the fish contains the most fat.
  • In American English, via Yiddish, schmaltz (adj. schmaltzy) has also an informal meaning of "excessively sentimental or florid music or art" or "maudlin sentimentality", similar to one of the uses of the words "corn" or "corny." Its earliest usage in this sense dates to the mid-1930s.[12][13] In German, schmalzig is also used in the same sense.
  • Schmaltz and Schmalz are rare last names amongst people of German and Austrian descent.[14] Schmaltz was used as a metonymic occupational name for a chandler.[15]

See also

  • Clarified butter, sometimes referred to as “butter schmaltz.”
  • Shmaltz herring, herring caught just before spawning, when the fat (schmaltz) in the fish is at a maximum.

References

  1. ^ United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". FDA. Archived from the original on 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  2. ^ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). ISBN 978-0-309-48834-1. PMID 30844154. Archived from the original on 2024-05-09. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  3. ^ List of English words of Yiddish origin See entry schmaltz in this list
  4. ^ Foster, John (15 November 2012). Writing Skills for Public Relations. Kogan Page. ISBN 978-0749465438. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  5. ^ Ruhlman, Michael; Ruhlman, Donna (13 August 2013). The Book of Schmaltz: Love Song to a Forgotten Fat. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316254083. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  6. ^ "The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 11th ed". Retrieved 9 January 2007.
  7. ^ "American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., 2000". Archived from the original on 12 February 2007. Retrieved 25 January 2007.
  8. ^ a b Ginor, Michael A. (20 August 1999). Foie Gras: A Passion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 9. ISBN 978-0471293187. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  9. ^ Alford, Katherine (1 October 2001). Caviar, Truffles, and Foie Gras: Recipes for Divine Indulgence. Chronicle Books. p. 36. ISBN 978-0811827911. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  10. ^ Lavine, Eileen (1 December 2013). "Foie Gras: The Indelicate Delicacy". Moment Magazine. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  11. ^ "Parev Products Co. v. Rokeach & Sons (36 F.Supp. 686)". 29 January 1941. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  12. ^ Webb, H. Brook (1 October 1937). "The Slang of Jazz". American Speech. 12 (3): 179–184. doi:10.2307/452424.
  13. ^ Steig, J.A. (17 April 1937). "Profiles: Alligators' Idol". The New Yorker. 12 (3): 27–31.
  14. ^ Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press. 2003. ISBN 0-19-508137-4.
  15. ^ "The Schmalz Surname at ancestry.com". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 2010-08-14.

Further reading

  • Michael Ruhlman, Donna Turner Ruhlman, The Book of Schmaltz: Lovesong to a Forgotten Fat, ISBN 978-031-625-408-3, 2013-08-13
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