Loved your writing on kitchen scraps! They're definitely being thrown away more often now in French restaurant kitchens, which are operating more like American ones.
But I've also worked in the kinds of places whose flattop held a single huge stockpot, into which were thrown meat and veg scraps (not peels!) all week long. The flavor of the stock intensified over the course of the week as it bubbled away with the merest of simmers.
These kitchens are now more rare in France, but food thrift is making a comeback. L'espoir fait vivre!
Thank you for another terrific post and recipe! I am an avid gardener and all of my fruit and vegetable scraps go into the freezer for stock or into the compost pile. I also use fruit scraps to make fruit vinegar. Apple peels and cores for apple cider vinegar and pineapple scraps for pineapple vinegar. These vinegars are great for deglazing a pan. Meat bones and scraps are used for stock.
The Lenox biscotti are my go to biscotti and are very forgiving. The first bake of my last batch was underdone so I just popped it back into the oven (after the loaves had cooled!) till it looked and felt better. Upon cutting them, I discovered they were still underdone so I lowered the oven temp and did the second bake anyway. Brutti ma buoni (ugly but good)and I picked the best looking ones to give as a gift. There were no complaints; in fact, I was told they were the best biscotti the recipient had ever had!
I save veggie scraps in a bag in the freezer. When it’s full I put them all in the crockpot and set it to n leave w overnight. ITT makes great vegetarian stock. No potato peels or broccoli or cauliflower scraps but I do add apple cores and citrus peel.
Being a thrifty home cook, it drives me nuts to watch chefs waste food. I really appreciate how careful Claire Saffitz is about scraping bowls. I get over my guilt about wasted ingredients by composting and making homemade stock. I wish more TV and internet cooks would take the extra bit of time to show people how to be more careful and resourceful. Thanks for this delightful post.
Your remarks about kindness resonated with me - it’s been a terrifying and painful year. We must demand better of ourselves and of those who “lead” us. We have forty hens alayin’ so we never waste a scrap and our hungry feral cat relishes all the fish and meat bones, fat, and skin he is given. I can attest to the wonderful vinegar from an occasional pineapple and our apple orchard (Calvados, too!). Making and mending our world turns out to be a never-ending mission. I enjoy your newsletter so much - thank you!
My husband's grandfather worked at the same restaurant for 53 years, leading to his role as maitre' d. It was always a badge of honor in the restaurant business. Whenever we have excellent service in a restaurant, we think of him. He was an immigrant who lost several family members tragically, but always treated people as though they were his own family. Thank you for your story about Tony. I will think about him too when I bake the biscotti recipe.
I am afraid, Jacques, Julia and my Escoffier chef grandfather (same generation as Julia) have made me VERY frugal with my food scraps. NOTHING is wasted...ever...AND I will most certainly be making the biscotti.
So wonderful to read, as usual. I would just like to add that many of my young friends, including my own son (all college educated), are working in the restaurant/food industry in New York City for roundly $20/hour. It’s brutal, long days and nights and barely enough to pay rent and actually enjoy the city they live in. It’s a choice, but one that should be better paid for the effort and quality of what they are doing.
I save most of my scraps for stock and put them in a container in the freezer (as Chef Pépin taught me on TV). The rest go into the compost. Of course, after I make the stock, the solids, now spent, go into the compost, too.
Sending my condolences for the loss of your friend Tony. I love biscotti, so I'll make them and think of him and your friendship. As for kitchen scraps, we live on a farm so once everything is used up as much as it can be in soups, stews, stocks etc they go to the chickens, pigs, cats and dogs, and compost!
Loved your writing on kitchen scraps! They're definitely being thrown away more often now in French restaurant kitchens, which are operating more like American ones.
But I've also worked in the kinds of places whose flattop held a single huge stockpot, into which were thrown meat and veg scraps (not peels!) all week long. The flavor of the stock intensified over the course of the week as it bubbled away with the merest of simmers.
These kitchens are now more rare in France, but food thrift is making a comeback. L'espoir fait vivre!
Thank you for another terrific post and recipe! I am an avid gardener and all of my fruit and vegetable scraps go into the freezer for stock or into the compost pile. I also use fruit scraps to make fruit vinegar. Apple peels and cores for apple cider vinegar and pineapple scraps for pineapple vinegar. These vinegars are great for deglazing a pan. Meat bones and scraps are used for stock.
The Lenox biscotti are my go to biscotti and are very forgiving. The first bake of my last batch was underdone so I just popped it back into the oven (after the loaves had cooled!) till it looked and felt better. Upon cutting them, I discovered they were still underdone so I lowered the oven temp and did the second bake anyway. Brutti ma buoni (ugly but good)and I picked the best looking ones to give as a gift. There were no complaints; in fact, I was told they were the best biscotti the recipient had ever had!
What wonderful stories! Thank you so much for the Lenox Almond Biscotti recipe. Sharing it with your followers is a very nice tribute to Tony Fortuna.
I keep hens, so there's the scraps accounted for -- as the saying goes: how you do anything is how you do everything.
Scraps, thrift, mindfulness -- it's all part of the same continuum.
Lovely post - I appreciate the kind message at its heart.
I save veggie scraps in a bag in the freezer. When it’s full I put them all in the crockpot and set it to n leave w overnight. ITT makes great vegetarian stock. No potato peels or broccoli or cauliflower scraps but I do add apple cores and citrus peel.
Being a thrifty home cook, it drives me nuts to watch chefs waste food. I really appreciate how careful Claire Saffitz is about scraping bowls. I get over my guilt about wasted ingredients by composting and making homemade stock. I wish more TV and internet cooks would take the extra bit of time to show people how to be more careful and resourceful. Thanks for this delightful post.
Your remarks about kindness resonated with me - it’s been a terrifying and painful year. We must demand better of ourselves and of those who “lead” us. We have forty hens alayin’ so we never waste a scrap and our hungry feral cat relishes all the fish and meat bones, fat, and skin he is given. I can attest to the wonderful vinegar from an occasional pineapple and our apple orchard (Calvados, too!). Making and mending our world turns out to be a never-ending mission. I enjoy your newsletter so much - thank you!
My husband's grandfather worked at the same restaurant for 53 years, leading to his role as maitre' d. It was always a badge of honor in the restaurant business. Whenever we have excellent service in a restaurant, we think of him. He was an immigrant who lost several family members tragically, but always treated people as though they were his own family. Thank you for your story about Tony. I will think about him too when I bake the biscotti recipe.
I am afraid, Jacques, Julia and my Escoffier chef grandfather (same generation as Julia) have made me VERY frugal with my food scraps. NOTHING is wasted...ever...AND I will most certainly be making the biscotti.
So wonderful to read, as usual. I would just like to add that many of my young friends, including my own son (all college educated), are working in the restaurant/food industry in New York City for roundly $20/hour. It’s brutal, long days and nights and barely enough to pay rent and actually enjoy the city they live in. It’s a choice, but one that should be better paid for the effort and quality of what they are doing.
I save most of my scraps for stock and put them in a container in the freezer (as Chef Pépin taught me on TV). The rest go into the compost. Of course, after I make the stock, the solids, now spent, go into the compost, too.
I substituted and made lemon with pistachios! It definitely needed more cooking especially at 5280 Denver
So appreciate your informative & uplifting posts!
Sending my condolences for the loss of your friend Tony. I love biscotti, so I'll make them and think of him and your friendship. As for kitchen scraps, we live on a farm so once everything is used up as much as it can be in soups, stews, stocks etc they go to the chickens, pigs, cats and dogs, and compost!