Thanks to Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster for this guest post. Rabbi Kahn-Troster is Director of Education and Outreach for Rabbis for Human Rights North America.

Last Valentine’s Day, my husband and I fell in love - with duck schmaltz. And duck gribenes. And potatoes fried in—well, perhaps I’d better start at the beginning.

For Valentine’s Day, I decided to try making duck for the first time, using a recipe by Mark Bittman that promised to handle the most challenging aspect of cooking duck: dealing with the fat. Cutting the duck into pieces exposed much of the surface fat, allowing me to remove it and set it aside, free to cook the duck in splatter-free bliss. Until I read the following line in the recipe:

“What’s different in this procedure is that you will also have a cup or more of trimmed duck fat. If you’d like to render it - it’s great for cooking - cut it into pieces and cook it slowly in a skillet until all the fat has liquefied and the bits of skin have become crisp. Drain and eat the crispy bits, and refrigerate the fat; it will keep for weeks.”

Perhaps I had the newly reopened Second Avenue Deli on the brain, but something clicked in my mind. “He’s talking about duck schmaltz! And duck gribenes!” And despite having never tried either—or even conceived of wanting to eat schmaltz before (fat spread on toast? Did they really used to do that)—there was a gleam in my eye. I had to do it. And as I watched the skin crisp up and become super tasty, it occurred to me that what might be even more tasty was to fry potatoes in the schmaltz.

Tasting my schmaltzy potatoes, I understood in a way I never had before as a life-long kosher keeper why the rest of the world fries things in lard. I got it. This was really good. It was a very decadent meal. And it also got me thinking about how the type of kosher meat available has changed even since I was little.

When I was growing up in Toronto, there were all kinds of parts of animals that the butchers carried that you don’t see now: chicken feet, brains, poultry with giblets. You could get poulets (old egg laying hens) for soup. I’m not talking about the distant past —I’m 29 years old! My father used to save the chicken feet from the soup as a treat for me and my twin sister. But now even in the New York area, finding cuts of meat beyond the standard cut-up chicken is hard. What is happening to all of that meat we aren’t using? And why don’t we care?

We’re eating less of the kosher parts of the animal, even if we are eating more kosher meat overall. Chicken breasts may be low in fat and easy to prepare…but they aren’t a very sustainable way of eating meat. It seems that we have forgetten about the parts of the animal that don’t come wrapped in plastic in our grocery stores. We shouldn’t.

Peasant food is not a cuisine that wastes things

When meat was a luxury for our ancestors, they used every part they could - even the bones as the base for soups and stews. Leftovers got stretched with beans and grains. Potatoes fried in fat were tasty—and they were filling. Peasant food is not a cuisine that wastes things—in other words, there is a reason that kishka was made with actual intestines. Maybe it all sounds gross, but at the end of the day I am not sure it is any more “gross” than any other part of the animal that we eat. And as to whether it is healthy—indeed, the duck gribinetz are high (okay, ridiculously high) in fat: treating meat like a luxury item the way our ancestors did means eating it sparingly, which can’t be that bad for you. Perhaps we should aim for the best of all worlds - using meat sparingly and using every last bit. (And accompanying it with fresh fruits and vegetables.)

So, if you eat meat, make it last. Use your leftover meat in a stew. Keep the bones in your freezer and throw them into soup. Save your duck or chicken skin and fat (especially if you make Indian chicken, which is made without the skin) and fry some potatoes in it. Serve it with a salad, and enjoy a filling meal. You can stretch a single chicken or duck through a lot of meals. And sure, why not snack on some duck gribenes? You just might fall in love.

Schmaltzy Potatoes (With thanks to Mark Bittman)
Serves 4-6

Trimmed skin and fat from one duck or large chicken
1 1/2 -2 pounds waxy red or white potatoes, cut into cubes. Peeling optional.
1-2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic or to taste

Put the fat and skin into a medium size saucepan, and heat on low until the fat renders (all the water will have boiled off) and the skin crisps. Remove the skin and drain on paper towels. Set the schmaltz aside. Snack on the skin while making the potatoes.

While the fat renders, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and simmer until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Drain.

Heat about ¼ cup of the fat in a large skillet on medium high for 3-4 minutes. Add the potatoes, plus salt and pepper to taste, and cook for 15-25 minutes until they are browned all over. You’ll want to toss them every so often. Add the garlic 5 minutes before the end of cooking. Add more schmaltz as necessary. The remainder will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

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Photo credit: Cookthink