Authors Out Loud: Michael Ruhlman
Michael Ruhlman
The Book of Schmaltz: Love Song to a Forgotten Fat
$12; $10 Members/Students with ID/Seniors
For Michael Ruhlman, the ultimate goal in cooking is flavor—and for certain dishes, nothing imparts it like schmaltz, rendered chicken fat. As Americans become increasingly fat-phobic and spend less time cooking and eating at home, delicious traditional ingredients like schmaltz, key to Jewish cooking for centuries, have (unnecessarily) fallen out of favor. Join author and food writer Michael Ruhlman as he investigates the flavor possibilities offered by this singular fat.
Michael Ruhlman started writing about the lives of chefs twenty years ago, and he soon became interested in training as a cook himself. His innovative and successful food reference titles include Ratio, The Elements of Cooking, Ruhlman’s Twenty, and Charcuterie. He has appeared as a judge on Iron Chef America, and has been a featured guest on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.
Praise for The Book of Schmaltz:
“Sometimes it takes an outsider to see a subject clearly. That is what Michael Ruhlman has done with schmaltz, portraying this much-maligned fat through his lens and that of Lois Baron, a friendly Jewish neighbor and traditionalist in the kitchen. Mazel tov on the results!” —Joan Nathan, author of Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France and Jewish Cooking in America
Enjoy a schmaltzy snack at the end of the program!