It’s been a minute. My intention was to post once a week. Apparently not so much. I have been quite busy doing all sorts of preserving and other preserving.
Today’s project was rendering schmaltz. Do you know what that is? It’s rendered chicken fat that is the secret ingredient in Jewish Penicillin, aka Chicken Soup. But it can be used for so much more than that. It’s good for roasting vegetables or for sautéing vegetables for just about anything. It’s a healthy fat that adds so much flavor. Last summer when we butchered our meat chickens (Sent them to Freezer Camp for my more sensitive readers), I saved the excess fat around the opening into the abdominal cavities and froze it. Over the next few months I added to it. This week I thawed it and chopped it into very small pieces and heated it in a frying pan on low. Chicken fat melts quite quickly, so it didn’t take very long for it to be done. I did let it cook long enough for the cracklings to brown up a bit. (Although they are tasty, I opted to give them to the chickens and the dog. But now that I think about it, next time I think I will save them to sprinkle on the top of things. Sort of like bacon bits.)
Also this week Fred Meyer had roasts on sale BOGO free. Perfect for making chili. I ended up only using one of the roasts for the chili and froze the other one. I cut the beef into chunks, removing most of the fat (which I also rendered down into tallow for cooking and pie crusts), before browning it with onion and garlic. Then a few cans of fire-roasted tomatoes (I can’t manage to grow enough tomatoes to save them for winter.) and some tomato sauce. Seasoned with chili powder, cumin, and chipotle powder. It made enough for dinner for two nights (delicious!) and three quarts. I did have a bit of trouble with the canning. Only one of them sealed, and there was some serious siphoning. I had forgot to debubble (which I rarely remember), so the next day I took care to debubble, rewiped the now dirty rims with white vinegar, and put on new lids. This time everything sealed, so we will have some easy meals on the shelf. Not that we will actually use them. I INTEND to use them, but then Dan decides to do something with the eggs or the left-overs and there they sit. But someday…
Tonight I’m cooking a pork loin in the Ninja Foodii. I seared it in some lard I had previously rendered. For the liquid, I’m using corn cob broth I made and canned this summer.
I got the “recipe” from the YouTube channel “Becoming a Farm Girl.” I can’t find the link right now, but if you know how to make bone broth, you can make corn cob broth. First save your corn cobs from when you have corn on the cob in the summer. Don’t worry about the germs people might have left. You’ll be cooking it hot enough to totally take care of it. If it bothers you, you cut the corn off the cob; it will remove that concern. Just as you would roast bones before making the broth, you roast the cobs. Rub with heat safe oil (I use avocado.) and roast at 450 degrees until they are browned and smell lovely. Then place in stock pot and cover with water. Simmer for a few hours, then strain the cobs out. Pour the broth into jars, and can according to broth guidelines. It’s a lovely brown broth that smells divine.
In addition to using it as the cooking liquid, I used it instead of water to cook rice. It came out a lovely golden color with a good, but not quite recognizable flavor. I also caramelized onions which left a fair bit of fond on the bottom of the pan. I added just a touch of corn cob broth to deglaze and get all that yummy goodness. It’s an inexpensive way to use scraps to add flavor and nutrition to your meals.
Also I was gifted a handful of winter tomatoes. If you know tomatoes, you know that they are NOT winter vegetables. (Or fruit for you botanists out there.) They just do not have much flavor. But I hate throwing things out, so I sliced them up and dehydrated them. That concentrated the flavor. I put them in a recycled jar and am storing them for recipes that call for sun-dried tomatoes (which are rarely actually dried in the sun!). Can’t wait to put them to use.
I hope you have enjoyed my way of using bits and bobs in my kitchen. I enjoy using them. I feel very accomplished and frugal. Cheers!
The Haphazard Homesteader 