Schmaltz: How to Render Chicken Fat

I recently deboned 16 lovely chicken thighs to make some homemade chicken nuggets.  I’ve always saved the bones to make chicken stock, but this time, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t need to throw away the chicken skins like I usually do (this was the first time I’ve had organic chicken to work with, and I never cared to save the fat from the conventional chicken).

So, what to do with chicken skins?  Render the fat from them, of course!  One of my favorite blogs, Penniless Parenting, just happened to be the first Google Search result for “render chicken fat from chicken skins,” so I used her very helpful tutorial and followed her method.

No way: unbelievably easy.  I stuck the chicken skins in a pot with about 1/2 a cup of water, put it on the stove, and let it hang out at medium heat for a while as I worked on other things in the kitchen.  I gave it an occasional stir, but it basically worked its magic all by itself.

After all the water boiled off and the chicken skins were reduced to crispy little cracklins, I strained the fat into a jar through a napkin and popped it in the freezer for later use.

Here’s what my chicken skins, which otherwise would’ve ended up in the trash, became:

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