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Griechenschmaltz

by Susan Nagel
(Houston, TX)


My husband would always buy this at one of the stalls in the WeinachtsMarkt when we lived in Augsburg in the 70's and 80's. Personally I always thought it was disgusting LOL but he absolutely loved it. Usually I was at the kartoffelpuffer stand loading up on groups of 3 mit apfelmuss. Those were the days!

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Hallo Susan,

You have me on this one! I've never heard of "Griechenschmaltz".

Schmaltz is rendered goose, chicken, or pork fat. It is used for frying and adding flavour to the dish. AND, it is used as a spread for bread (instead of butter).

I recall my Mutti making schmaltz. She would use pork fat and we'd love to eat the 'cracklings' after. Sometimes she would fry onions with the fat to flavour it. Often, she'd leave the bits of cracklings and onions in the schmaltz. Delicious on bread.

My Vati used to sprinkle celery salt over the schmaltz on his home-made rye bread. I loved that and do that to this day.

I have a German Deli close to where I live in Ontario and often buy the schmaltz to use for frying. It reminds me a bit of using bacon fat which adds great flavour to whatever I'm cooking.

However, the term Griechenschmaltz is new. I'm hoping some of our readers recognize this and enlighten us in it.

Blessings,
Gerhild

Comments for Griechenschmaltz

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Jun 25, 2021
 Memories
by: Susan

I lost my mom a few weeks ago and she used to make smalz with bacon in it. I wish I would have asked her how to make it. It brings back a lot of memories
Nov 16, 2020
 Raw bacon
by: Anonymous

An old guy that I knew once told me that he would put bacon in the freezer for a month, then it was safe to eat without cooking. I didn’t understand why one might eat it that way. His sister told me that it had a close resemblance to the home cured ham that he had grown up eating.
Dec 08, 2016
 Griebenschmaltz
by: Anonymous

Griebenschmaltz, not 100% of the spelling, is what I found in supermarkets in Germany. If I recall it was like more than 90% pork fat, salted and contained bits of apple. There may have been a few varieties. It came in a small tub and one brand was not refrigerated. Price was less than 2 euros, maybe closer to 1 euro.

I spreaded it on bread and it was ok. It was kind of like bacon grease. I would like to try the chicken or goose fat variety. Although now I use
pure chicken fat that came from cooking chicken to spread on bread. It's quite good!
Apr 12, 2013
 Raw Bacon Memories
by: Gerhild

Somehow thinking about Griebenschmaltz reminded me of my Mutti sending me to school with bacon sandwiches. Not nicely cooked and crispy bacon, but raw bacon!

I must admit it sounded odd, but it was very German. With nicely smoked thick cut bacon cut into small pieces on a piece of fresh bread, it tasted yummy.

I just learned quickly not to tell my classmates what I had for lunch. I really didn't like being made fun of :-)
Jan 27, 2013
 Griechenschmaltz
by: Anne Cummings-Levasier

Griebenschmalz, exactly!!! Oh I remember this. Just think about a nice slice of real german bread, maybe even still warm a bit and the schmalz is almost melting and you bite in it and have the texture of the grieben ( fat and skin pieces ). Einfach koestlich :)
Jan 26, 2013
 Griebenschmaltz
by: Gerhild

Susan, I think we figured it out. How nice it is to have the Quick German Recipes Facebook page where one of our readers, Renate, called it by it's name "Griebenschmaltz".

That brought back memories of what my Mutti called it. The Grieben are the bits of cracklings that are in the Schmaltz.

Puzzle solved :-)

Thanks, Susan, for bringing back these memories to me.

Blessings,
Gerhild

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