Last night I had baked chicken thighs. I had one whole thigh, plus the skin off of 2 more, dredged through the pan drippings, of course. Oh law, it was good!

I was drifting off to sleep last night and I was thinking how great it would be if you could buy packages of chicken skin. You could stretch it out on a rack, season it up and bake to a a crispy golden brown. And you might have some beautiful fat below to dredge it through as you eat it.

(I don't like fat at all, do I?)

Oh well. I'm sure they just throw out all that wonderful skin that comes off those breasts and thighs.

I'm with you! I could definitely do chicken skin. The only problem though is that it tends to go soggy after it has been out of the oven, especially on left-overs.

If you have a local butcher, ask if they can save skins for you.

There is NOTHING like chicken skin from a seasoned and roasted chicken. My husband is such a gentleman ad will offer me the "stray" pieces after carving. And then I make sure he gets the "pope's nose"

When I make my stir fry chicken dishes or my curry chicken I normally take the chicken skin off. One time it just popped in my head to save 'em up and fry them, however my intent was to give it to my dogs. I figured it would be some good protein for them. Make their skin and fur glow and everything.

What can I say? Poor doggies. They didn't get any chicken skins 'cause I ate 'em all up.

I've called around to several local butchers...including Whole Foods...and they don't save the skins and wouldn't do it for me. I was SHOCKED, cause I love the skin and would use it too. Tasty, yummy, golden chicken skin...

I may have to go in person and ask.

I made bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts the other night, and I got to eat the skin off my kids' chicken, since they are only 2 and 3, and I still cut up their meat for them!

Mmmmm. We had roast chicken last night and before I put the leftovers in the fridge, I stripped off all the skin from the underside. It was a little soggy, but it tasted so good. It grossed my husband out, though. Lately, I've been buying "ranged" chicken (I think they call it that because even a chicken wouldn't be stupid enough to range freely during a Canadian winter). It's much bigger than a regular chicken (5 lb vs. 2-3), and not only is the flavour better, but it has a much better texture.

I cook up chicken wings just so that I can eat the drippings with a spoon.

I do the same thing with pork chops!!

I eat the fat one night...and reheat the meat the next night!!

THAT is a good idea! I've been grilling my wings. And all that luscious fat going into the grill pan. What a waste! I may start baking them again just b/c of that. Thanks for the idea!

When I roast a chicken, I roast it breast down for about 30 minutes. Then I pull that lovely crispy skin off the back and eat it, then flip it on it's sides then breast up until it was done. It's the only way I can get roasted a chicken that's perfectly brown all over (except for the back, which I had already eaten the skin!). I have a chicken rack-thingy that I cook a roasted chicken on most of the time. But it doesn't make a lot of juice in the pan that way. It's a trade off...lots of yummy pan drippings or crispy skin all over.

I cut the skin right up into my kids meat...I want them to have that fat.

I make chicken quarters often. I cook some with the skin and some without, because DH doesn't eat the skin because he thinks it is unhealthy...so I save his skins. When I have a bunch of skins I render them down and keep the chicken fat to cook with and crisp up the rendered skins in the oven...they are crispy and better than pork rinds.

That sounds wonderful...but EVERYBODY in my house LOVES the skin. Just last night, while our backs were turned for a moment, my 2 oldest kids (7 and 5) picked off and ate the skin off the remaining leg quarter on the serving platter. Those little rats... DH and I were *both* ticked!

Mmmmmm......"schmaltz!"

Schmaltz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Schmaltz or schmalz is rendered pig, chicken, or goose fat used for frying or as a spread on bread, especially in German and Polish cuisine. The brown fatty residue left in the pan after frying bacon is schmalz (although the melted fat that is usually referred to as schmalz has a whitish color).

Schmaltz rendered from a kosher-slaughtered chicken or goose is popular in Jewish cuisine; it was used by Northwestern and Eastern European Jews who were forbidden by dietary laws to fry their meats in butter or lard, the common forms of cooking fat in Europe, and who could not obtain the kinds of cooking oils, such as olive oil and sesame oil, that they had used in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean (as in Spain and Italy); the overfeeding of geese that Jews used to produce more fat per bird produced postclassical Europe's first foie gras as a side effect.[1]

Besides Schweinschmalz (pig-schmalz, i.e. lard) the manufacture of schmalz can involve cutting the fatty tissues of a bird (chicken or goose) into small pieces, melting the fat, and collecting the drippings. Schmaltz may be prepared by a dry process where the pieces are cooked under low heat and stirred, gradually yielding their fat. A wet process also exists whereby the fat is melted by direct steam injection. The rendered schmaltz is then filtered and clarified.

Homemade kosher schmaltz is made by cutting unsmoked chicken or goose fat into small pieces and melting in a pan over low-to-moderate heat, generally with onions. After the majority of the fat has been extracted, the melted fat is strained through a cheesecloth into a storage container. The remaining dark brown, crispy bits of skin and onion are known in Yiddish as gribenes.

Since the rendering process removes water and proteins from the fat, schmaltz does not spoil easily. It can even be used to preserve cooked meats if stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry location. This is similar to the French confit.

Schmaltz often has a strong aroma, and therefore is often used for hearty recipes such as stews or roasts. It is also used as a bread spread, where it is sometimes also salted, and generally this is done on whole-grain breads which have a strong flavor of their own.


Vegetarian Schmaltz

A vegetarian (and consequently pareve) version of schmaltz was first marketed commercially in South Africa by Debra's under the slogan "Even the chicken can't tell the difference". [1]. Other vegetarian brands include Nyafat. The taste and texture is similar to real chicken schmaltz but the saturated fat content is much lower - Debra's Schmaltz, for example, bears the South African Heart Foundation's [2] sign of endorsement.