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Schmalz & Gribenes: A Kitchen Experiment in Using Every Bit

Schmalz? Gribenes? Sound like characters in a cartoon strip from the turn of the LAST century, don’t they? In this case, though, they refer to two products from one of the most maligned chicken parts in our health-conscious world: the chicken skin. Schmalz is the liquid or semi-solid rendered fat, and gribenes is the crispy bits of skin left after rendering fat from skin (think: chicken equivalent of pork rinds). Why on earth would any one want to make these, much less eat them? Because they taste so-o-o good… Bad for you, absolutely. Delicious, undeniable.

We first sampled Schmalz when we lived in Germany, where it might be brought to the table as an alternative to butter for bread, or purchased as an open-faced sandwich snack. In Germany, though, most of the Schmalz we saw was made from pork lard, rather than from chicken — it was white and firm, and very bland on its own though it was most often flavored with herbs, onion and salt. I was never crazy about Schmalz in the 7 years we lived there.

Chicken schmalz, though, is a different animal. Golden yellow and fragrant, it makes a nice little smackerel on crusty bread, preferably sprinkled with its fraternal twin, gribenes. Schmalz can also be used as a condiment — I read that some delis offer schmalz on roast beef sandwiches! And gribenes can be used to garnish pasta, potatoes, salads — pretty much anything to which you want to add a little crunch. Other types of schmalz can be made from goose or duck fat.

Undertaking this process was more about finding useful purpose for things we would otherwise throw away than as a call to endanger heart health. I decided to try my hand at making schmalz when I ended up with a tray of a dozen kosher chicken thighs. Normally when we buy large quantities of meat, I divide them into smaller freezer packs, trimmed and ready for use later.

In this case I de-boned some of the thighs, and removed all backbones still attached to the thigh bones — those made a quick chicken broth that can be used for soup or for cooking. I also trimmed away the excess fat and most of the skin. Rather than throw out the skin as I usually did, I cut it up (kitchen shears worked much better than my knife) and threw it and the trimmed fat into a cast iron pan set on medium low.

To start, I did not add any seasoning. I wanted to keep some plain schmalz to use as a cooking medium, the same as we have a jar of ghee for certain types of South Asian cooking. As the fat began to render and liquefy, I removed enough to fill a half-pint jar to keep for cooking. I then added a quarter of a small onion, finely diced, to the pan and about a quarter teaspoon of sea salt. The pan continued cooking on medium low until the skin reached the desired browning and crispness. This took about 40 minutes total rendering/browning time.

I considered this finished.

After decanting the seasoned liquid schmalz into 2 containers (top and bottom right), I added some of the onions and gribenes to each container. The remaining gribenes were kept separate — they can be re-crisped before using. The clear gold jar is the unseasoned schmalz for cooking.

In the remaining fat in the pan, I browned a few skinless thighs for dinner, then deglazed the pan with some of the broth on the back burner. To be honest, I was so focused on the fat products that I hadn’t made an actual plan for the thighs themselves, so I put them and the deglazing liquid in the slow cooker with onions, garlic and bay leaves, as well as a cinnamon stick and cumin and caraway seeds with a vague notion of later adding chickpeas and dried apricots for a North African style stew. After cleaning up, I sat down for a break and to catch up with some favorite blogs when I came across an inspired touch from Rowena @Rubber Slippers in Italy. She shared a recipe for an African beef stew with a peanut butter sauce called Mafé, and there was something about the peanut butter that sounded really good to me. I immediately added some butternut squash, the chickpeas and the remainder of our jar of peanut butter — about a 1/3 cup, to the slow cooker. Rowena used different seasonings so I wasn’t sure how this would turn out, but in fact we really liked the final combination. Don’t you love when inspiration smacks you on the head like that?! (Thanks, Rowena!)

The schmalz for snacking will look like this before and after the fat cools. In the photo on the right, the gribenes was toasted in a toaster oven, where they “popped” and became even more like pork rinds in texture — airy and very crispy. I’m thinking they would be great mixed in with some popcorn too…

In keeping with my resolve to bake bread at home, I opted to make my own light rye bread to go with the schmalz and gribenes. I count kneading bread as exercise to justify these calories. LOL. No, really….

I limited myself to a single slice of bread as a snack. It was hard. Very hard.


From this kitchen experiment, we also got that African (via Lecco, Italy) chicken stew
with butternut and chickpeas in peanut butter sauce, and…


From the chicken broth we got a soup with Cinderella squash, lacinato kale, meatballs
and whole wheat shells for a second dinner the following night.
All in all, a very satisfying experiment!

February 8, 2011

Chawan Mushi: Comfort in a Cup

 

Today the high temperature here will be 26 deg. Fahrenheit. It sounds even colder in Celsius: -3 deg.Brrrrrrrrr…

When the weather outside is frightful, it’s nice to have a little something extra to warm you up on the inside. We’ve been getting some harsh winds and cold temps (but little snow) so yes, we’ve had our share of soups, teas, hot cereal and Glühwein this winter. But if you’re looking for a different kind of warming cup to chase away the chill, how about a savory steamed custard?

Chawan Mushi is a Japanese cold-weather classic: delicate egg custard in a light sea-scented broth with hidden treasures, no less — sake-marinated chicken and/or shrimp, pretty pink or red fishcake fans, shiitake mushroom, maybe even a gingko nut or fresh watercress or mitsuba. Despite the fact that my mother is Okinawan (or maybe because she was Okinawan?), she did not often make this when we were growing up. In fact, I don’t remember ever having one of these until I was in college! One taste, though, and it was love at first slurp.

For me, the anticipation of breaking the surface of chawan mushi is very much akin to that delightful moment just as your spoon cracks the glass of burnt sugar crowning a creme brulee. Despite the great anticipation, you almost see your spoon go into slow motion as it nears the egg surface. Then the spoon is under, and a rush of clear sweet dashi broth fills the gash. Your spoon returns with a piece of treasure: will it be a boozy piece of chicken, a shrimp butterfly, or a ginko nut? No matter which, you are the winner!

Chawan Mushi translates as “teacup steam” — a clue as to how it’s prepared and served. Although special lidded cups have evolved specifically to serve chawan mushi, any tall heat-proof cup that will hold at least 4 fluid ounces (120ml) will make do in a pinch. For the first batch, I even used another type of steamed-egg vessel as a pretty chawan mushi cup — an English egg coddler! I’ve always admired porcelain coddlers, though I’ve never had an actual coddled egg (basically, a seasoned soft “boiled” egg cooked with steam). I found this one in a second-hand shop and now it can do double-duty for this too! The coddler was a little small, which meant less custard once the yummy fillings were placed on the bottom. But that only means you might have to eat two!

Sometimes, we cooks can be intimidated about trying something in the kitchen that seems exotic to us, or even something that we just haven’t done before. (I know I can be.) In truth, making chawan mushi is a lot like making that other great egg custard, the quiche. If you can make quiche, you can make this — and you don’t have to make a pie crust! In both cases, the standard of perfection is the quiver — that precise moment when the egg just sets and is cooked through, but is still a delicate, jiggly mass on the verge of collapse. The key to cooking in both cases is lower, even heat so the center has a chance to set before the edges turn to rubber.

Since I only had the memory of mom’s chawan mushi as a guide but no recipe, I turned to the Interwebs to look for those tried and true home-tested recipes for which I’ve come to rely on my fellow bloggers. I’ve tried making chawan mushi using a recipe from a book before, but I know there are so many more out there!

Many that I saw did not marinate the meats before cooking, and I have a clear memory of sake-flavored cubes of chicken and shrimp draped in eggy goodness (also flavored with sake). In the end, I went with Francis’ recipe from hisyoutube video series, “Cooking with Dog,” which he hosts and narrates. For those who have yet to discover Francis’ innovative instructional videos, this is what you need to know: Francis IS the Dog! A grey poodle, I think. And in his perfect, accented English he talks viewers through step-by-step directions for making several dozen popular Japanese dishes while they are demonstrated and prepared by the unnamed human sous chef to his left. Firmly putting aside hygiene concerns about a dog in the kitchen, you can’t help but be entertained by this unlikely duo — and if you’re not careful you’ll also actually learn to make these Japanese favorites! I adapted Francis’ recipe (below) for quantity and filling ingredients, but here for your viewing pleasure and edification is Francis and Friend on making chawan mushi:

So if you’ve no place to go, let it snow, let it snow! You can stay home and comfort yourself up with a (tea)cup of warm egg-y goodness. Me, I’ll be practicing until we get the Quiver.

CHAWAN MUSHI
(adapted from Francis’ recipe in above video)
Serves 4 persons
Let me make this clear: this is not a dessert. Chawan mushi would make a decadent brunch entree — a change-up from Eggs Benedict, for sure. It would also make a unique, light starter for a winter dinner menu. In either case, serve with your favorite bubbly.

For the Fillings:
½ boneless, skinless chicken thigh, cut into 8 pieces
4 small raw shrimp, preferably with tails on (it’s just for show, but I like seeing the tails above the custard)
2 tsp mirin, divided
(or 2 tsp sake + 1/2 tsp raw sugar, stir to dissolve sugar, then divide)
1 tsp shoyu (soy sauce), divided
4 ginko nuts, if using
(we didn’t have any so I used fresh baby corn instead)
1 fresh shiitake or black mushroom, cut into quarters or sixths (whatever will fit your cup)

In 2 small bowls, place 1 tsp mirin and ½ tsp shoyu in each bowl. Put chicken pieces in one bowl, and shrimp in the other. Stir to coat meat/shrimp well. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Prepare your steamer. If you’re using a towel on your lid, as shown in Francis’ video, a simple rubber band will help keep the ends of the towel away from the heat source. Not as much of a problem if you’re using a flat-top cooking surface, but for gas and even conventional electric stoves a towel can become a fire hazard.

Set your steaming vessel over high heat to get it going, then turn down to medium and keep it at that heat.

Place the bowl with the chicken and marinade in the steamer and cook for 8-10 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken pieces. Remove and set aside.

Place 2 pieces of chicken, 1 shrimp (raw), gingko (if using) and a piece of mushroom on the bottom of each cup. Set aside while you prepare the custard.


(If this serves 4, how come there are only 3 cups?
Because I took a cue from Judy at Bebe Love Okazu
to make one super-size cup — it was actually a bowl —
of all the left-overs for one lucky someone**)

For the Custard:
2 cups (500ml) warm water (or homemade katsuo dashi broth, then skip the hon dashi)
1½ tsp hon dashi (powdered bonito broth)
1 TBL sake
1 tsp shoyu
½ tsp sea salt
3 large eggs

Mitsuba leaves to garnish (this is the traditional garnish, these photos show flat-leaf parsley)

The type of soy sauce called for in this recipe, usukuchi, is not what we know in the West as “light soy sauce”, which is low-sodium soy sauce. Since we didn’t have usukuchi and I was using the stronger, sweeter regular shoyu, I increased the amount of sake, cut down the amount of regular shoyu and included some sea salt, which I would have left out completely if using usukuchi.

Add hon dashi to warm water and stir to dissolve, add sake, shoyu and salt.

Beat together 3 eggs. Strain through a medium fine strainer to remove the stringy bits (the chalaza) and any large bits of egg white. Add seasoned dashi liquid to eggs and stir gently to combine, try not to get too many bubbles on the egg surface. If you like, you can remove bubbles with a teaspoon before proceeding.


With a small ladle (a Chinese soup spoon works well for this), carefully spoon custard over filling ingredients in the cup. Some ingredients may start to float if you add too much custard. I only add enough to just cover the shrimp meat so the fillings don’t come to the surface. Again, if there are any bubbles on the egg surface, you can “scoop” them out with a spoon — bubbles on the surface will pop during steaming and leave an undesirable pock mark on your custard.

Place your cups in the steamer. Cover and allow to steam for 10-20 minutes, or until custard is just set. You can check by gently separating one edge of the custard from the cup: if it fills with clear liquid, the custard is ready to eat, otherwise steam a little longer.

Remove carefully from steamer, and top with mitsuba, or other green for garnish. Cover and bring to table. Best eaten while hot!

The first batch in these photos did not meet the “Quiver Standard” to which all chawan mushi must be held. It tasted good, but there was no quiver. I want the quiver, darn it! Of course, this means I will have to do this again. Probably more than once. (I’ll update this with a photo of the Quiver when I get it right.)

**This was what was in the bonus bowl… You’ll have to ask T. how it tasted!!

 

January 21, 2011

Blueberries of Happiness

Recently my entire family came for a visit here to Maryland — that’s my dad, two brothers, two sisters-in-law, a niece and two nephews. One family, my brother’s family on Guam, I had not seen in over 4 years. And T had not seen them since they came to our wedding in Germany, and that was in 1997! There were also a few first meetings, as the cousins had never met each other, and T had not met his nephew from Guam.

It was a wild ride because not only were we still staying in a hotel, but while they were here we finally saw it: our elusive holy grail — the house we were going to buy. Yes, it was kind of a crazy week. We put in an offer on the house 2 days into their visit, which also happened to be my sister-in-law’s birthday. Mind you, this was the 4th offer we’ve made on a house, so we were both jaded and exhausted by the whole process. And for 3 of the 5 days of this visit, everyone wanted to spend their time in DC visiting the Smithsonians, touring the monuments, you know the drill… but at a pace too strenuous for our 83-year-old dad. T and I stayed with Dad, who was here last year and had done the tourist circuit at his own pace already, and instead showed him around the neighborhoods and towns where we were house-hunting.

Finally the word came down from our realtor: the house was ours. You would think there’d be joy in Mudville that night, but I was more in shock than anything. Six long months… over. At last. Assuming everything is copacetic with the inspections, etc. Wow. I call my sister-in-law our good luck charm now since our successful bid was made on her birthday! But the next day was the last full day of everyone’s visit, so it was a little sad, too.

For their last day we wanted a day of more low-key adventures that our Guam family did not have the opportunities to enjoy at home: picking blueberries and fishing for trout and bass in the country, away from the hectic pace of Downtown.


Picking a papaya or mangoes from a tree was old hat to the folks from Guam,
but berries and apples…. now THAT was exotic!


It was a warm day, but fortunately it wasn’t during
the record-breaking heatwave we had here this summer.


With 5 buckets and 9 pickers, we ended up with way too many berries!


A natural athlete, our niece brought her athletic grace to this new sport too.


It’s neither a trout nor a bass, but this little sunfish did spawn two new sport fishermen!


Then just like that, they were all gone! And even after everyone took a share for their respective plane trips home, we were left with 5-6 lbs. of blueberries. We gobbled many handfuls straight from the colander, and in cereal, yogurt and pancakes. Some were shared around the hotel (you get to know people after 4 months…). Soon, the berries were gone, too. (The photos are just food porn and only representative of ways to use blueberries, they weren’t taken while we at the hotel!)

I so enjoyed spending that almost full day with the family together, and hope it won’t be another four years before we see everyone again. In 21 days we will be closing escrow on a house (*knock on wood*), so we hope everyone returns soon to spend time in the house their good luck helped us find!

 

August 6, 2010

Stuffed Shiitake Medaillons

This quick starter was devised as a way to finish the extra filling we had after making Watercress Dumplings. It is inspired by one of my favorite dim sum entrees, stuffed shiitake mushrooms. In this case, I re-hydrated dried shiitake mushrooms, and filled them with the meat filling we already had, surrounded them with broth and sake, and baked them for 25 minutes. Before serving, they were glazed with a spicy hoisin mixture and sprinkled with green onions. Voila! An easy first course or appetizer, or even a light lunch or dinner when paired with rice and a light soup such as miso soup.

STUFFED SHIITAKE MEDAILLONS
Serves 4 persons as a first course, 2 as a main course

10 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated (For directions, see Braised Shiitake Mushrooms)
1/4 Quantity of Watercress-Pork Filling for Dumplings
2 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup sake
2 stalks scallions, washed and trimmed and sliced
3 TBL hoisin sauce
1-2 tsp sriracha (Thai hot red pepper sauce, preferably the Huy Foo Foods brand from Rosemead, CA — look for the rooster)
1 tsp mirin (seasoned sake)
1/2 tsp raw sugar

Combine hoisin, sriracha, mirin and sugar. Set aside.

Pre-heat oven or toaster oven to 350F.

Gently squeeze shiitake dry and trim stems. Fill mushroom caps with 1-2 tsp of Dumpling Filling, depending on size of cap. Place caps in 2 qt/L baking dish, or other oven-proof dish that will snugly hold all the caps in a single layer. Brush filling with sesame oil. Pour broth and sake around caps, if needed add water or other liquid so that it comes half way up the caps. Bake in pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes or until filling is cooked through.

Brush or spoon hoisin mixture over filling, and return to oven for 3-5 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with green onions before serving.

May 3, 2009

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