Around the Passover Table (28 page)

Poultry Schmaltz

yield:
About 1 cup

SAVE
bits of fat and skin from chickens, ducks, and geese in the freezer until you have about 2 cups fat and a little skin. Trim away any poultry meat clinging to the fat or skin. Cut into small pieces and place in a heavy saucepan. Add about
¹
⁄
₂
cup water, turn heat to the lowest simmer, and cook slowly, uncovered, until the fat melts and the water is evaporated, 30 to 40 minutes. Add about
¹
⁄
₂
cup finely chopped yellow onion and continue cooking, stirring every once in a while, until the onion and poultry skin (
griebenes
) have become crisp and golden brown (do not let them get too dark or they will taste burnt and bitter). This can take up to 2 hours or more of unattended time, so you might want to double the recipe when you prepare it. (I usually do it when I am performing other slow-moving kitchen chores like making soup or baking.) Strain the fat through a fine-mesh sieve into a glass jar, tamping down on the
griebenes
to extract all the flavorful fat. Store the schmaltz and
griebenes
separately, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

Sour Cream, Yogurt Cream, and
Labneh

Slathered on onion-laced herring, spooned over strawberries, whisked into fruit soup, Jewish food can be extravagant with thick, luscious sour cream.

Delicious? Yes. Fattening? Absolutely. But real sour cream is a sensational splurge.

And there are alternatives.

You
can
substitute reduced-fat sour cream. But personally, I tend to stay away from most such products—either the taste itself is strange or the ingredients list contains too many weird, unwholesome additives. I'd rather eat the real stuff, just less frequently. And between times, I use the Sephardi counterpart made of drained yogurt, sometimes referred to as yogurt cheese, here called yogurt cream.

Many cookbooks claim plain yogurt is a good alternative to sour cream. It is not: it's watery and flat-tasting. But when most of the liquid whey is removed, the sweet, tangy flavors become more concentrated and the yogurt develops more body. Then even plain low-fat and nonfat yogurts can taste rather creamy and make a perfectly acceptable substitute for sour cream where fat is not essential to the dish.

Labneh
, Middle Eastern drained yogurt, usually made from whole milk or cream, is a sensuous treat. The most delicious
labneh
I ever tasted was made by a Palestinian New Yorker, who used equal parts of half-and-half (or light cream) and whole milk. Eating it was bliss. Prepared
labneh
can be bought in Middle Eastern markets, many specialty stores and supermarkets. Substitute it for either sour cream or yogurt cream in any recipe.

For a rich-tasting yogurt cream, use whole-milk yogurt. Or for the best of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi worlds, stir a spoonful or two of sour cream into thick yogurt cream made from whole or low-fat milk.

To prepare yogurt cream:
Line a strainer or colander with uncolored paper towels or a double thickness of cheesecloth. Or place a coffee filter in the drip funnel of a coffeemaker like Melitta or Chemex. Spoon in whole-milk, low-fat, or nonfat yogurt. Set strainer, colander, or funnel over a bowl or cup to catch the liquid whey, and let drain in a cool place until the yogurt is as thick and creamy as desired, from 30 minutes to 2 hours or more. (One quart, 4 cups yogurt, will yield about 2 cups yogurt cream.)

Tangy yogurt cream lends itself to many seasonings: honey or maple syrup and finely chopped dates, vanilla, or fragrant spices for a sweet taste; garlic mashed to a paste with salt, dried mint, fresh dill, etc., for a fresh, savory flavor.

If you allow the yogurt to continue to drain for about 24 hours, it becomes a wonderful soft yogurt cheese. Season the cheese with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil, salt, and either garlic or fresh herbs or both.

Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Beef Stock

yield:
2
¹
⁄
₂
to 3 quarts

By setting aside a cup or two of
clear chicken soup
for the freezer every time i make it, i usually have enough available for most cooking needs. And when i don't, i doctor purchased broth for an excellent
almost homemade
. Using good homemade chicken broth does beef recipes no injustice, in most cases. But there are times when only a full-bodied beef stock will do—for simmering
flanken
, for instance.

This dish call for deep, rich flavors, so first I caramelize the meat, bones, and aromatics. Because I have a very wide, heavy pot (an 8-quart Dutch oven), I can do everything—browning and simmering—in one pot, on top of the stove. A regular stockpot is neither wide nor heavy enough to brown the ingredients well. If you don't have a large enough saucepan or Dutch oven, use a 5- to 6-quart pot for browning, then transfer everything to a stockpot. Either way is simpler and less messy than caramelizing the ingredients by oven-roasting them.

About the bones: while marrow bones are often suggested, I find they can give the stock a slightly greasy quality that can be quite unpleasant in many dishes. Many butchers will not charge for soup bones—knuckle, shank, shoulder, and neck are good choices—if you request them when placing a large meat order. If you buy meat infrequently, request bones whenever you do and store them in the freezer until you are ready to prepare the stock.

1 to 2 tablespoons mild olive or vegetable oil

3 pounds lean stewing beef, such as chuck or neck meat, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces

2 pounds knuckle, shank, shoulder, or neck bones (if bones are very meaty, you can reduce the amount of beef to 2 pounds), trimmed of as much fat as possible

¹
⁄
₂
pound onions, cut into coarse chunks (2 cups)

¹
⁄
₂
pound carrots, scraped and cut into coarse chunks (1
¹
⁄
₂
cups)

1 parsnip, peeled and cut into coarse chunks

3 large garlic cloves, peeled

¹
⁄
₂
cup dry red or white wine

4 quarts cold water (quality is important here, so if you use bottled water for coffee or tea, use it here)

20 peppercorns, crushed

1 teaspoon salt

1 small rutabaga or white turnip, peeled and cut into chunks

3 celery stalks, including leaves if available, coarsely chopped

1 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs

IN
an 8- to 10-quart Dutch oven or heavy saucepan with a lid, heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderately high heat. Working in batches so you don't crowd the pan, lightly brown the meat (don't let it get too crusty), and transfer it to a platter. In the same pan, brown the bones on all sides, then transfer them to the platter. Add another tablespoon of oil, if necessary, and the onions, carrots, parsnip, and garlic. Brown them in the dark meat residue, stirring and scraping them with a wooden spoon as they begin to bronze around the edges, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and stir constantly to scrape up the browned bits. Add 1 quart of the water and boil for 3 minutes, stirring, to pick up any remaining meat and vegetable bits. (If using a smaller pan, transfer everything now to a stockpot.)

ADD
the meat, bones, remaining 3 quarts water, peppercorns, and salt. Turn the heat to medium and bring to a slow bubble, skimming any froth and scum that rise to the surface. When the soup begins to “smile” (tiny bubbles break along the edge of the pot), turn the heat down to very low. Let the soup simmer for about 30 minutes, skimming frequently. Add the rutabaga or turnip, celery, and parsley, and raise the heat slightly to bring it back to a simmer. Let it bubble for a few minutes, then turn the heat down as low as possible, put the lid on, leaving it slightly askew, and continue skimming occasionally. Simmer the soup for at least 2 or 2
¹
⁄
₂
hours longer—3 to 5 is even better. Do
not
let the soup boil. If necessary, use a flame tamer or
blech,
or put it on top of two burner grates stacked together. (Make sure the soup is bubbling, though ever so gently. If there is no movement at all on the surface, the soup will spoil.) Add more salt if you want, but remember this is a stock: the other dishes in which you will use it may be salty enough, and besides, the stock's flavors will become more concentrated when you boil it down.

LET
the soup cool to room temperature in the pot,
uncovered.
(Hot soup in a covered pot may turn sour.)

STRAIN
the cooled soup through a wire-mesh sieve pressing down on all the meat, bones, and vegetables to extract as much of their flavorful juices as you can, then discard the solids. (If desired, you can save the meat and the carrots and dice them finely to serve in the stock. However, most of the flavor will have been extracted from them already.)

REFRIGERATE
the soup, covered, overnight, or until all the fat has congealed on top. Carefully scrape off the fat and discard it. If the soup still seems fatty, line a wire-mesh sieve with a layer of paper towels and pour the soup through into a clean bowl or pot. (If the soup has jelled from chilling, bring it to room temperature first.) If the paper towels become thickly coated with fat, change them once or twice during the process.

STORE
the stock in the refrigerator up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.

Grated Black Radish and Endive Salad in Shallot Vinaigrette

yield:
About 6 servings

¹
⁄
₂
pound black radish (available at many greengrocers, specialty and ethnic markets, and some well-stocked supermarkets)

Coarse kosher salt

¹
⁄
₃
cup finely chopped shallots

About 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

¹
⁄
₄
teaspoon grated lemon zest

About 4 tablespoons best-quality extra virgin olive oil,
Olive Oil Schmaltz
, or
Poultry Schmaltz

Freshly ground black pepper

2 small Belgian endives

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, preferably flat-leaf

PEEL
the radish and grate it coarsely in a food processor or use the large holes of a hand grater. Place in a colander or strainer, sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon salt, and mix well. Weight the radish down with a plate and heavy object like a can of tomatoes, and allow to drain for about 1 hour, stirring it around every 15 to 20 minutes. Squeeze all moisture from the radish, rinse with fresh water, and squeeze thoroughly dry again. (It's easiest to do this using your hands.)

MEANWHILE,
in a small bowl, combine the shallots, lemon juice, zest, and olive oil or schmaltz; season well with salt and pepper. Stir in the grated radish and allow the flavors to unfold and mingle for at least 20 minutes.

CUT
the endives into fine shreds, then toss with the grated radish and shallot mixture. Taste and adjust seasonings (it takes quite a bit of salt), adding more oil or schmaltz and lemon juice as needed. Sprinkle with the parsley. Serve with
Chopped Chicken Liver from the Rue des Rosiers
,
Chopped Chicken Liver with Caramelized Onions
, or
Chopped Eggs and Onions
.