RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Blanche Nonken Schmaltz for Pie Pastries
I usually just make unflavored rendered chicken fat, and save about a cupful for Thanksgiving dessert. What (I hear you cry) would shmaltz be doing in a dessert?!? Why, pie crust, of course! I rarely make pies, usually only for Thanksgiving. When I do, it's usually an Apple or Peach (frozen from summer) pie. Since T'giving is a meat meal (turkey and all) I figured a couple of years ago, why not give chicken fat a try? I have a Shaker cookbook (recipes from the old American sect of Shakers) that recommends (no outright recipes) that chicken fat makes a tender, fine pie crust with no peer. So I tried it, and the results were superb. Near as I can tell, rendered chicken fat has less saturated fats than Crisco or some other similar product; it's thinner at room temperature, almost half "oil" and half solids, whereas veg. shortening is a solid, waxy lump. Use your usual pie crust recipe, substitute shmaltz (no onion or garlic used in preperation), well chilled, for the shortening. Handle it less, chill before final rolling, and make the crust as quickly as you can. Follow the rest of your pie recipe, and bake at the same temperature. If your kitchen is very warm, chill the pie shell before filling, covering (if done) and baking. --- Blanche Nonken - http://www.bigfoot.com/~momblanche Penn State Master Gardener, County Cooperative Extension Gardening Questions? Just ask. Any opinions expressed herein are my own, unless I borrowed them. Unsolicited commercial email will be ignored, tossed, and/or complained about -- and I won't buy anything from you.
