Common Sense with Leftover Food ~ apparently not a new idea!

I’ve recently started saving images of old cookbooks, as I find them, on Pinterest.

I am interested in them but not that interested! 

As with most cookbooks they tend to have the same recipes repeated over and over again (see here for more on this strange cookbook similarity) but, as you can imagine, I was intrigued to discover this.

I see that, like some cookbook writers today, the authors have cheekily added blank pages for the reader to add “My Own Receipts” thus making the book look more temptingly thick and full!

Other than that I am in complete agreement with the writers, Helen Carroll Clarke and Phoebe Deyo Rulon, from the start  …

Although I must say that, with my modern ideas, I am of the opinion that blokes may also benefit from advice on making the most of leftovers!

Some of the recipes are quite interesting;  one of the first in the book is called Fire Island Stew although it is simply a dish of macaroni and leftover roast beef in a tomato sauce.  In 1911, however, this may have been quite adventurous.

                                                                                                               

Mock Chicken Salad is strange as it’s actually a pork salad!, and this is a little odd too, whether it uses tinned baked beans or homemade ...

Obviously, due to differences of time (The Cook Book of Leftovers was published in 1911) and place (this is an American book) we are dealing with different ingredients, cooking methods and food storage.

Fundamentally, however, our ideas and principles are much the same. Probably that is because using leftover food to create delicious new dishes is bleeding obvious!

There is much I agree with and I find myself nodding sagely as I read the book.  This recipe for leftover cooked sweet potatoes …

... is a little like my recipe, in Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers for leftover raw sweet potatoes.

We are also similar with regard to pastry scraps and leftover cheese …

The Cook Book of Left-Overs ...

Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers ...

Read more about The Cook Book of Leftovers here and read more about my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers here. 

7 Types of Leftover You Should Never Throw Away

Leftover food is often thought of as just the unwanted remains of a meal but to me there are seven specific types of leftover, all of which are very much wanted.

The Seven Types of Leftovers  …

1.   The remains of a made-up dish or the last few scraps of ingredient which are surplus to the requirements of a recipe. I think this is what most people think of as leftovers.

 

2.   By-products of cooking for instance egg yolks after making meringues, bacon fat or the rind of a Parmesan cheese.

3.   Something forgotten you find lurking in the back of the cupboard or fridge such as the tail end of a jar of mayonnaise or half a packet of peanuts.

4.   Too much of something having been over enthusiastic when picking blackberries or due to two-for-one offers, for instance.

5.   A very small amount of something you wish you had more of e.g. three squares of chocolate and four friends.

6.   Accidents – for instance what to do with the result of having sat on a packet of biscuits.

7.   Collections – it is a good idea when you have just a little of something to make a collection in your freezer of similar little bits (say a collection of fish scraps, or a bread crusts, or beef trimming) until you have enough to make something delicious. Read more about collecting leftover food here. 

Great Preview Here!

In my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers, which is an A-Z of potential leftovers with recipes and ideas for using them I address all these possibilities giving, for instance, 14 ways to use bacon fat or 18 things to do with bread crusts. Bearing in mind that I deal with 450 possible leftovers that is a lot of ideas, recipe and suggestions!

Do You Know How Easy it is to Make Burgers & Why You Should?

I'm going through all my old posts and updating the images, SEO etc. and was reading an earlier post on Michael Pollan’s excellent book Food Rules.  In it I mention how strange it is that people would rather buy a burger from MacDonalds or similar than make one.  I thought I’d extrapolate on this (Madam!).

Do you know how easy it is to make a burger? 

If not this is what you do …

~   Get some fresh but not too lean minced beef – you want your burger to be juicy.
~   Divide it into portions the size you would like your burgers but treat the meat gently as overworking it will toughen them. I have always made 225g/8oz burgers both at home for my real man and when cooking professionally. Allow me to go off on a small tangent here ...

According to McDonalds themselves their cooked beef patties in a Big Mac weigh approximately 66g/2.3 ounces each so that’s a little under 4.6g/5oz. Even allowing for shrinkage you can do way better than that! Anyhoo …

~   Heat a frying pan and grease lightly.
~   Season your burgers on both sides with salt and black pepper. The salt is important because not only does make the burger tasty it helps form a good crust on the meat.
~   Cook your burger till perfect by browning over medium high heat according to the timings below on the first side without disturbing it. Flip onto the second side and finish cooking. Times may vary a little according to the thickness of the burgers.

Rare – 3 minutes per side, feels soft and juicy.

Medium – 4 minutes per side, feels springy.

Well Done –  5 minutes per side, feels firm.

~   If you top your burger with something eg. bacon, cheese etc. cover the pan briefly to heat and melt the topping or, better really if you can,  pop the topped burger into a hot oven or under a hot grill for just a minute to heat briefly.

~   Serve in a burger bun (toasted or not, to your taste) with whatever you fancy eg. mayonnaise, bbq sauce etc. plus real cheese, bacon, onions and so on.

Do you want a dimple in the bottom?

~   They do say you should make a small depression in the burger on one side which, apparently, helps the burger cook evenly and stay flat.  I have never done this and always been happy with my burgers but you could give it a try.

6 important points when making burgers …

~   DON'T crowd the pan; if cooking more than one burger there must be space between them or they will steam rather than fry.
~   DON'T press or flatten burgers during cooking because this squeezes out the juices, compresses the meats and really irritates me!

~   If the meat seems stuck to the pan when you want to turn it wait a little while; once a good crust has formed it will release itself .

~   Only flip once.

~   Don't cut into the burger to see if it is done at this releases yummy juices.
~   As with all meat set aside to rest in a warm place for a few minutes before serving.

5 Reasons Why You Should Make your Own Burgers

Please pin this and spread the word!

~   You will save money

Big Mac (just an example - other burger suppliers are available!)

£.3.19  comprising 132g ground beef (possibly and possibly not with additives), one white bun, some lettuce, a slice of processed cheese (or cheese product to be exact i.e. not real cheese).

or ...

Homemade Burger

£1.80 approx comprising 225g ground beef, 2 rashers back bacon, a generous portion of lovely mature Cornish cheddar, a spoonful of freshly fried red onions, lettuce and baby plum tomatoes, white burger bun.

~   You will save time

As I mentioned above, if you have the ingredients, making a burger at home is so much quicker it takes about 10 minutes from taking the meat out of the packet (although longer if you also do chips).  The alternative is driving to, parking outside and queuing in a take away and then driving home. Not only that, your food is fresh from the stove so in prime condition

~   You can eat “cleanly”

Even if bought in foods don’t contain any chemicals, e-numbers,  etc. they may still be high in salt, sugar and/or fat.  When you make your own you know exactly what is in your food.

~   You can Personalise your Burger

Season to taste i.e. your taste or perfect for whoever you are making it for . Make your perfect burger with whatever seasonings or additions you fancy; spices, garlic, smoked salt, bits of crunchy bacon etc.

~   Be happy – I haven’t looked into it much but have read that eating fast food can make people depressed and not just because it is not quite what they wanted!

So ~ your choice …

This is just one example of why you should cook your own food – it is real and fresh, can be made exactly as you like it and is also cheaper. Go for it!

Speaking of books ...

A new edition of my leftovers cookbook, giving recipes, ideas, storage instructions, handy hints, food pairings and cook's treats for 450 different potential leftover foods is now out – Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers, read more here.

Best Before Dates - a Rant and a Good Idea

We have just been up-country, as we say in Cornwall, visiting family, having a belated Christmas dinner together (for the first time in about 20 years!) and seeing how grown and wonderful my great niece Amelia has become.  So that’s why I haven’t written for a bit.

Whilst there I picked up a leaflet from the East of England Co-op who have had a good idea. They will now sell products past their ‘Best Before’ date in their 125 food local stores for a nominal 10p.  I don’t know if they intend rolling this out to the rest of the country, but it is surely worth investigating. 

According to the leaflet …

I have read different but equally horrific figures elsewhere but however much food waste it is it’s too much!  This is something I have ranted on about for years.  In fact, at the end of my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers I wrote …

BEST BEFORE DATES – A SHORT RANT

            I really don’t want to encourage anyone to take risks with their food but would nevertheless like to moan on a bit about ‘best before’ dates. 

         Whilst I am, of course, as delighted as the next person by a bargain I am also often irritated. Fruits and vegetables have sometimes not reached their ‘best after’ date when being offered as past their prime. I have bought out of date ‘ripen at home’ avocadoes that weren’t soft for weeks, I once lost a bargain white cabbage in the car when bringing in the shopping and it was still OK when I found it there ten days later (it was cold out) and I even snapped up a healthy growing basil plant with roots for 10p because it was ‘past its best before date’!

Cheese is another case in point. Bearing in mind that it was developed as a way to preserve milk and that many cheeses improve over time I was surprised last Christmas to see small gift cheddars, coated in wax, which were supposedly out of date by 9th January. Why? What would happen then? And don’t get me started on honey!

        ‘Are best before dates a cunning ruse to make nervous people throw food away and buy more?’ I ask myself cynically. According to Defra these dates indicate how long a food can be expected to retain its optimal condition and yet in my own experience many bargains have not even reached optimal condition by that date. May I therefore suggest that you rely on your own brain and your senses of smell and taste?

‘Use by’ dates are an entirely different matter as they concern food spoilage and safety and I don’t recommend you mess with them.

So, as I’ve said before …

Please, please, please learn to cook so you can use up all the food that you have available in utterly delicious ways. This is just one of my 7 Excellent Reasons to Learn to Cook. Go for it!!! 

Oh, and don't forget to pop down the Co-Op if you happen to be in the East of England!

In Other News …

A new edition of my book is to be released on 1^st March.  It is now titled Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers and can be ordered here. 

I look forward to meeting it myself!

Be a Reducetarian ~ a Great Idea If You Are Not Quite Ready to Give Up Meat!

Turns out I may or may not be a Reducetarian!

I came upon this word quite recently in The Guardian; it is the name fairly recently given to people who reduce the amount of meat they eat in the interests of their health and also that of our wonderful planet. Did you guess?

I think this is a great idea … not extreme, something that can be achieved over time and good for everyone (except those in the meat industry, I suppose!) and, as meat is one of our pricier foods, it even saves money!

For myself (as opposed to when working as a chef or when cooking for my real man) I have never thought that meat or fish must be the central ingredient of a meal but rather as something that that may, or may not, be in a dish. This being the case, whilst I do eat meat and fish, many of my meals contain only a little or are completely vegetarian.

I even wrote a post some time ago; How to Eat Less Meat – and Enjoy It! suggesting ways to incorporate a little meat into a variety of meals.

According to the Reducetarin Movement they are …

“composed of individuals who are committed to eating less meat - red meat, poultry, and seafood - as well as less dairy and fewer eggs, regardless of the degree or motivation. This concept is appealing because not everyone is willing to follow an "all-or-nothing" diet.” 

Read more and join the Reducetarians here.

One thing occurs to me, however …

One cannot be a Reducetarian for ever!

Surely you can only keep reducing your meat and animal product intake for a limited time; eventually you will have to stop as there is nothing else to give up in that department!  One will, of course, then become a vegetarian or even a vegan.  

This is why I am not sure of my status reducetarian-wise; I am not reducing my intake of fish and animals, I did that years ago! I am eating a small amount, as I have for most of my life and with which I am happy.  

Is there a special name for people who, like me, just eat a little meat?  I wondered about “omnivore” but as I can’t abide bananas that’s not quite right either.  I know – flexitarian, that feels about right. What do you think?

A Genius Idea for Food Scraps

~ Food Collections ~

I have written before of the sheer handiness of having collections of this and that but it is worth repeating and going into more detail.  

Collecting your scraps saves money, avoids food waste, allows for spontaneity and can make you happy with the delicious food you make! 

The idea is simple – group together similar scraps and leftovers in the fridge or freezer, as appropriate, and add to them till you have enough to make something delicious.  For instance …

Bread Scraps

I always keep bits of unwanted bread in the freezer, they can be used in so many ways. Here are some of them …

~  bread pudding
~  French toast pancakes,
~  stuffing,
~  breadcrumbs
~  croutons
~  bread sauce, and
~  7 interestingly different ideas for leftover bread

Cheese Scraps

I keep this collection in a box at the back of the fridge. Wrap the cheeses loosely in parchment or greaseproof paper and then store in plastic bags in the box. A scrap of cheese can be good added to egg dishes, mashed potatoes, pasta sauces and so on. Here are 64 ideas for leftover cheese I wrote about earlier! 

Pastry Scraps

Every time I make my real man a pie (just about weekly) I add the pastry trimmings to my collection so that I can make these delicious pastry recipes.

Raw Meat Trimmings

Steak in particular – when cooking professionally and cutting up a whole tenderloin or sirloin etc. any good quality trimmings and undersized pieces I used to make Peppered Steak Salad. 

Other meats - when there are enough scrappy bits I make stock.   Better quality trimmings, both raw and cooked can be added to soups, stir fries, risotto, pasta dishes etc.  Sometimes if the meat is all good quality but a little fatty I make burgers, they are very easy. Not necessarily beef burgers, however, here is a great recipe using pork trimmings ...

BBQ Pork Burgers

2 rashers bacon – I like smoked
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dark brown sugar
½ tsp salt
500g good quality pork scraps – minced or fairly finely chopped
1 tbsp oil
BBQ sauce

~   Coarsely chop the bacon and cook, preferably in its own fat, till crisp.  Drain on kitchen roll.

~   Mix together the next 3 ingredients.

~   Form the chopped meat into two or three burgers.  People sometime ask me what I add to burgers to keep them together e.g. egg or breadcrumbs but the answer is Nothing. Just munge it lovingly together and all should be well.

~   Rub the burgers with the sugar mix.

~   Brush with a little oil and grill or pan fry till crisp and golden and cooked through – it can be a bit risky under cooking pork.

~   Brush with BBQ sauce and pop back on the grill for a minute or two.

~   Serve on buns drizzled with more BBQ sauce and a great addition is a spoonful of coleslaw on each burger.

Seafood Scraps

Freeze in two separate collections – raw and cooked.

A gorgeous use of varied fish scraps, both raw and cooked, is my Seafood Chowder but there are lots of other good ways to use them; fish cakes, salads, risotto, pasta dishes, fish pâté and more – over 30 ideas in my Creative Ways to Use up Leftovers.

Leftover Nuts

This last one is not quite a collection! I use nuts in all sorts of dishes so buy bags of mixed roasted salted nuts and pick out specific nuts as needed. I have almonds and hazelnuts with yogurt and muesli for breakfast, add cashews to curries and salads and to this excellent popcorn recipe. Brazils I give to my real man as I don’t like them and pecans tend to accumulate as I have no specific plans for them.

When I have enough set aside I make something lovely such as the biscotti in my last post.

Several of these ideas are included in Creative Ways to Use up Leftovers together with loads and loads of other ideas for over 450 possible leftovers.

Great Preview Here