Chicken Crispies

I think most people would agree that the best part about a really well-prepared bird is the skin. Whether it be picked from the slow-roasted duck my host family made for holidays, or part of the crisped exterior of fried chicken leaving grease on everything at a picnic, as long as it's crispy, it's delicious.  Now, imagine you could have that delicious skin without all the extra bird.  It'd be like bacon, wouldn't it?!?  Well, I've been trying for a while, and I think I've nailed it.

Chicken Crispies
Chicken skin 
salt
pepper
sage

Ok, I'm sorry, but I don't have measurements.  How much skin you use depends on how you want to get your chicken skin, and everything else just gets sprinkled on top to taste.  I think the easiest way to get chicken skin is to buy chicken breasts with the skin on (and usually the bone still in).  They're pretty easy to cut off the bone, and usually you can just peel the skin right off.  If you're really going for it, get a whole chicken.  I usually go for both options, because I have recipes that use whole chickens, but I mostly just cook with chicken breasts; the skin gets bagged and frozen until I want to use it.

Start by laying out the chicken and slicing it into approximately 2-3 inch wide strips.  It will contract as you cook it, so go slightly larger than what you want to munch on.  Arrange the pieces on an ungreased cookie sheet (they'll grease themselves, and the little bit of sticking at the beginning helps keep it flatter), outside up, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and sage.  Bake at 375˚F for 30- 40 minutes or until crisp and brown.  Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel, and save the rendered fat, if desired, for other recipes (it's often called "schmalz", and can be used to sauté veggies for soup, along with butter in a crust for, say, a chicken pot pie, or any purpose you need fat for).