So what is "schmaltz" anyway?

Schmaltz is rendered chicken, goose or pig fat used in frying - like, the leftover grease left in the pan after frying bacon.

שמאַלץ (shmalts) is the Yiddish word for chicken fat from Middle High German smalz for animal fat.  It has been brought to American English by Yiddish-speaking Jews who used this word mostly to refer to the kosher poultry fat, which gives food a rich flavor. A related expression "falling into the schmaltz pot" refers to the concept of having something good happen to you, often by sheer luck (e.g., being born into a good family).

In American English, schmaltz (adj. schmaltzy) has also an informal meaning of excessively sentimental or florid music or art or maudlin sentimentality. Its earliest usage in this sense dates to about 1950.  In the Montreal Jewish community, it is a slang term for money.

--from Wikipedia