As previously mentioned, I like to buy whole chickens, break them down my self, and use the carcasses to make homemade stock. However, this means I also have a ton of chicken skin saved up as well. I had 3 quart bags filled with skin and decided something needed to be done.

Unfortunately, the only thing I can really think to do with lots of chicken skin is to render out the fat, otherwise known as schmaltz. Making schmaltz is pretty easy, just combine the skin with some water to start the rendering process and continue to cook until the fat is all rendered out. I chopped the skin into smaller pieces to aid the rendering and was the most time consuming part. Optionally, you can add some diced onion near the end to add some flavor. I ended up getting 1.5 pints of schmaltz from all that skin.

The first thing I made was confit garlic. I packed a bunch of garlic cloves in a mason jar with the schmaltz and cooked it with an immersion circulator (sous vide) at 190F until lightly golden brown (about 6 hours). The garlic cloves turn jammy and can be used as a savory spread. I took it to a family gathering and added it to mashed potatos.

The next thing I made was Matzo Ball Soup with some homemade stock and off the shelf matzo meal. The schmaltz is added to the matzo balls for tenderness and flavor. It reminded me of a chicken noodle soup with dumplings instead of noodles. I also added extra dill because it's one of my favorite herbs.

I had a work retreat this week. The second half of the day was a fun activity where we made our own cutting boards at a woodworking studio. It was a lot of fun as my whole team is made of creative people. I also used to do a lot of woodworking when I was younger and it was nice to return to that.

We made some standard edge grain cutting boards that you might see sold by an artist at a Farmer's market. The one thing that really surprised me was that during gluing the boards were only clamped for 30 minutes. The leader of the class made the process really time efficient.

Afterward, a lady came and taught us how to make a charcuterie arangement on the boards we just made. It was a fun time of drinking and making food art. However, my salami rose looked more like a sombrero, so I decorated it as such.

This weekend I got a bunch of friends together to make chili crisp with me because they all love it and I'm tired of doing it all in my own. It presented a couple challenges though. First, I decided to make a double recipe and split it three ways. There are lot's of respiratory irritants (chili powder and sliced shallots) in this recipe so there was constant coughing, sneezing, and crying (In retrospect, not the best idea to do with friends). We were also cooking at my friend's house rather than my kitchen. This was only a minor challenge in that I was in charge but unfamiliar with the equipment which led to some last second scrambling. And lastly, we started at 8PM which was a big mistake. We didn't finish until 11:30PM.

It was still a lot of fun and we all got something to show for it.

I was sick last week which prompted me to take stock of my tea collection. I noticed that I had a bunch of raspberry hibiscus tea that had been just sitting around for a long time. I didn't like it enough to drink 20 cups in quick succession, so I decided to experiment with it. After some reading, I landed on the idea of making jam. I bought some commercial pectin expecting to use the manufacturer's recipe, but the amount of sugar required (7 cups!) was terrifying. So, I read a bunch of articles on natural jam making.

The main issue is that raspberries are a low pectin fruit, which means I would have a difficult time gettinga properly set jam. I also learned that citrus fruits are critical in jam making both for the acid balancing sweetness and for the large amounts of pectin in their rinds. In the end I made about a quart of raspberry hibiscus tea, boiled that down for a while, added a pound of frozen raspberries, the juice and rind of a lemon cut into strips, and sugar equal to 60% of the weight of fruit. I continued to cook the jam with the intention of hitting 220°F, the temparature at which certain pectins need to reach to form a gel. However, I pulled my jam while still at 212°F because it was already a thick jammy texture in the pot and I was afraid of burning it.

The final product tastes a bit more of hibiscus than raspberry and has a hint of bitterness from the lemon rinds. I think it's quite a good combination. The texture is perfect as well, and I was really glad that I could avoid the commercial pectin.

Eating jam by itself is a bit crazy so I combined it with my favorite way to make cheesecake, Immersion Circulator Mini Cheesecakes. The method produces perfectly portioned little mason jars of very light, airy cheesecake. I don't make the Graham cracker crumble in the recipe, instead using the crackers to scoop the cheesecake out of the jars. It's less work and more fun. At the very end of mixing, I added some jam and mixed it just enough to provide some streaks.

This was a fun project to use up some of my pantry items so they aren't wasting space or being thrown out. The commercial pectin has a recipe for "freezer jelly" where you just mix the pectin and fruit juice and leave it to set in the freezer. I want to try this with some other teas that I have lying around.

My roommate recently watched J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's video on buttermilk brined fried ckicken which is adapted from his book.

He offered to cook everything if I broke down the whole chicken. I really enjoy breaking down whole chickens so that I can save the carcass for stock. I even asked for a nice boning knife one Christmas solely for processing whole chicken and fish. There is one oddity in this recipe in which you leave the plate attached, but cut the breast in half the short way resulting in 4 square-ish pieces. In my case, the tenderloin separated from the breast and the plate which made it very awkward to fry. We ended up with a couple tenderloin nuggets because of this.

I also made yogurt biscuits with the leftover buttermilk. Ironically, this recipe was originally developed to replace buttermilk with yogurt. My biscuits came out a bit dense. I imagine that the pH balance was off due to the buttermilk which affected the rise.

The chicken was pretty good, but we found that the second fry didn't add much more value for the extra time and effort. It's only worth it if you are obsessed with crispiness.

I'm visiting my family this weekend. I made a couple gifts for some of them and I felt like I needed to make enough for all of them. I've also been obsessed with the chili crisp recipe by Sohla El-Waylly during her time at Serious Eats.

It's a wonderful combination of fried shallots and garlic for crunch, dried chilis for heat, and Asian spices (most notably Szechuan peppercorns) for aroma. I've been trading it with my friends for some of their food products, such as ground deer meat and homemade Dongo. So, I thought sharing my obsession would be the perfect gift for the rest of my family.

Unfortunately, I didn't start the process until 8PM which was a poor decision. I finished cooking and cleaning around midnight. I would highly recommend getting others to help make this recipe. In fact, make it a party, make a big batch, and send everyone home with their own. Deseeding the chilis takes the most time. The Arbol chilis in particular are the most annoying due to their small size and large quantity. Frying the shallots also takes some time and practice. It requires constant stirring and attention because they soggy to crisp in less than a minute. I like to stir with chopsticks as the shallots don't attach to them very much. The rest of the process is pretty straightforward.

I've been actively searching for something that this doesn't work well with and so far, I've come up empty. Here is a categorization of things I've tried the chili crisp with:

Great

• By the spoonful
• Pizza
• Eggs
• Avocado toast
• Pasta sauce (a la aglio e olio)
• Chicken salad wraps/sandwiches
• Cookies
• Caramel Girl Scout cookies
• Oatmeal Creampie
• Vanilla ice cream

Okay

• Coffee

Bad

• Nothing yet!

I'll keep updating this list as I try new things.

My roommate has a favorite tzatziki recipe he likes to make.

When he told me he was going to make that and nothing else, I decided to help him round out the meal. I made the chicken and rice from Serious Eats' Halal Cart-Style Chicken and Rice with White Sauce and a Tabouli salad. I made the rice with some homemade chicken stock as well. May favorite part of the meal is the chicken. The marinade is really excellent!

I still have a bunch of coleslaw from the Impromptu BBQ Potluck so my roommate suggested we make spicy chicken katsu sandwiches.

The original recipe uses lettuce and a spicy pickle mayo, but I think the coleslaw was even better. We bought extra thighs for an upcoming meal which I deboned and deskinned. I'll save the bones for chicken stock and the skin for schmaltz.

My friend with a smoker decided to randomly make some pulled pork this weekend. We decided to have an impromptu potluck. I signed up to make the side dishes.

My friend and I had previously lamented the over-doneness of mac and cheese at typical BBQ restaurants. So, I made some classic baked mac and cheese. It is just parcooked pasta in a mornay sauce with breadcrumbs on top that is baked like a casserole. I used cellentani instead of elbow macaroni because I like the shape better. I also added a pinch of truffle powder to the sauce for extra flavor.

I typically don't like creamy American coleslaw because of its cloying sweetness. However, I really wanted to top the pulled pork sandwiches with something. I made creamy coleslaw by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. Even though it makes a giant mess, I really like this recipe. I think the keys to success are "curing" the vegetables, and using the best quality mayonnaise. The best quality mayo will always be homemade. J. Kenji also has a great (fast) mayo recipe.

Finally, I wanted an alternative to the coleslaw, so I made quick pickles. They taste strongly of dill, garlic, and vinegar which is my favorite kind of pickle.

Overall, it was a great success!

People always ask me, "What is your favorite thing/cuisine to make?" I struggle to answer this question because I'm interested in so many different things and I never write down my thoughts as I'm exploring them. This food blog is an attempt to keep track of my culinary explorations, gather data about my preferences, and learn about static site generators.

If you found your way here from the internet, I don't know if this blog will be helpful, but welcome anyway!