Huffington Magazine Issue 76-77 | Page 73

Exit EAT THIS GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE ­ WITH SCHMALTZ AND GRIBENES REBECCA ORCHANT BY REBECCA ORCHANT Green bean casserole is a must-have on our Thanksgiving table. We like to church it up a little by making our own cream of mushroom sauce, and for Thanksgivukkah we’re giving it another extra-special twist. As garlic and tomatoes are to Italian cooking and onion, celery and bell pepper are to Cajun cooking, schmaltz and gribenes are to Jewish cooking. HUFFINGTON 11.24-12.01.13 Schmaltz is chicken fat, and it’s the preferred cooking fat for most traditional Jewish dishes (both matzoh balls and chopped liver are a shadow of themselves without it). This green bean casserole incorporates both silky, rendered schmaltz and the crispy, impossible-to-stop-snacking-on fried chicken skin bits that result from making it — gribenes (pronounced grib-eh-ness).