Badisches Griebenschmalz

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 2 to 3 litre saucepan or Dutch oven
• •Sharp knife or food processor
• •Wooden spoon
• •Clean glass jars or small stoneware crock with lid

Instructions

1. 1

   Dice the fat

   Chill the pork fat until firm, then cut it into even 5mm dice. Cold fat cuts cleanly; warm fat smears under the knife and gives you uneven pieces, which means some brown before the rest has given up its fat. Keep the rind. It belongs in beans, cabbage, or soup. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

   Ask the butcher for fresh unsmoked back fat, not bacon. Bacon is already salted and smoked, and then you're cooking the butcher's seasoning instead of your own.
2. 2

   Start low

   Put the diced fat and the water in a heavy pot and set it over low heat. The water protects the dry bottom of the pot until the first fat melts, then it boils away. Start too hot and the outside browns while fat is still trapped inside the dice, and that is how you get bitter Schmalz.

3. 3

   Render slowly

   Cook gently for 40 to 50 minutes, stirring often, until the fat is clear and the Grieben have shrunk to small pale-golden pieces. Keep the bubbling steady, never fierce. Runter mit der Temperatur if the bits darken quickly, because scorched pork fat carries its bitterness through the whole jar.

4. 4

   Add apple and onion

   Stir in the onion, apple, bay leaf, marjoram, and caraway if using. Cook 10 to 15 minutes more, until the onion is golden, the apple has collapsed, and the bubbles turn small and quiet. Their water has to cook out, because water shortens the keeping time and softens the Grieben you worked to crisp.

5. 5

   Season while cooling

   Remove the bay leaf and take the pot off the heat. Let the fat stand 5 minutes, then stir in the salt and pepper. Taste it on a piece of bread, not from a spoon, because this is eaten cold on bread and cold fat mutes salt. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss.

6. 6

   Set the Schmalz

   Spoon the warm Schmalz into clean jars or a small crock and stir every 10 minutes as it cools and turns cloudy. This is not fussing. If you leave it alone while hot, the Grieben sink to the bottom and the top sets plain. Cover once it reaches room temperature, then refrigerate until firm.

7. 7

   Serve on bread

   Spread it thick on Bauernbrot and serve with pickled cucumbers or radishes. The bread needs a dark crust and a little sourness, because the fat wants something to push against. Soft white bread gives up before the first bite. Schön ist, was schmeckt.

Chef Tips

• •Cut the fat small and even. Size is technique here: large pieces brown outside while the middle stays full of fat, and tiny ragged bits burn before the pot is ready.
• •If you use a food processor, chill the fat hard first and pulse it briefly. A machine is a useful shortcut only while the fat stays cold; once it smears, stop and use the knife.
• •Do not cover the jars while the Schmalz is hot. Condensation drops water back onto the fat, and water is exactly what you cooked out for flavour and keeping.
• •Because this version has onion and apple, keep it in the refrigerator and eat it within 10 days. Plain rendered lard keeps longer; this is a spread for bread, not a pantry brick.
• •A glass of dry Baden Gutedel or a young white wine belongs beside it. Beer works too, but this is Baden wine country first.

Advance Preparation

• •Make it one or two days ahead. The onion, apple, and pork fat settle into each other overnight, and the spread slices cleanly from the jar.
• •For longer keeping, freeze it in small jars for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and stir once before serving if the Grieben have settled.
• •Dice the fat up to a day ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Cold, dry fat renders cleaner than fat left warm on the counter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 30g)