Just remember that when you render chicken fat and then fry the pieces of chicken skin in it, the heavy odor will permeate your house and there will be a fine layer of chicken fat on the stove top and maybe the splash wall behind the stove.
I do it in the morning of a day when no one else is home and allow myself time to clean everything well and air out the place.
But then, you have deliciousness to add to everything for weeks. Both the schmaltz and the griebens can be frozen and both will store in the fridge for weeks.
Those old grannies could do everything needed to survive, do it well, with grace and flair. Mine could also take a Sunday newspaper, a bolt of cloth, measurements and turn out a 3-piece suit w/2 pairs of pants and with everything done by hand in a day or a day and a half. Take apart a mass-produced suit today and there is barely any fabric and loads of iron-on interfacing. Bubbie used real canvas and horsehair and did padded stitches by hand.
That generation is gone, now. I suppose those of us who remember them will be relearning those skills, if we haven’t retained them.
I already saved my chicken livers and the skin, now I’m going to have to start saving the chicken fat too, so I can try this.
Sounds like your Bubbie was a master seamstress. I used to have a very dear friend from Greece who could sew like that. I never even attempted to make a normal suit, but she did teach me many sewing tricks, and how to make my own patterns.
I did sew an entire and quite authentic Quaker outfit for my daughter when she was in elementary school. (She did a research project for school and had to learn all about how the early Quakers made their clothes including the kind of material they used, the colors of their garments, etc. All the students were allowed to dress in period costumes for their oral presentations. She was estatic when she learned that purple was actually a favorite color for many Quaker women, so of course she had to have her outfit made of purple cloth.) The entire outfit I made included all the garments including the skirt, jacket, hat, and all the muslin undergarments. It was all stitched by hand just as the Quakers would have done.
After making that outfit for my daughter, I can certainly understand how skillful your Bubbie was and appreciate what an expert seamstress she must have been to have been able to make a suit like that!
I live alone. I can do as I damned well please. Make smaltz, bootleg a piglet, put up antennas, and no-one is here to complain. ;)
But thanks for the tip.
/johnny