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BS: Cookery and Leftovers
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Subject: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: GUEST,Des Pairing Date: 23 Jun 06 - 04:12 AM I love cooking, which is just as well, because I cook nearly every day. One reason is that I live in dread of my partner's cooking. One problem is that she just has to "use up" any leftovers she finds lying about. I do my best to remove them, but she always manages to find something. Last night, I cooked the spaghetti and Bolognese sauce. She made a "salad" which had rotten celery in it- it's been hot weather, and I missed it at the back of the vegetable rack. If I throw things away, I'm accused of wasting food. Last week, I threw a rotten mango away, and she took it out of the compost bin, washed it and ate it. She checks the bins to see what I've thrown out. When she cooks, it's far worse. She keeps leftovers in the freezer for months, then recycles them as amorphous "stew". If I show signs of not being totally thrilled with the result, I'm "always belittling her". Avoiding waste is totally laudable. But her attitude to food, which would have perhaps been the difference between death and survival in Belsen, is driving me crazy. Counselling, advice, even abuse, you Catters, anybody know any way to keep me sane? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 23 Jun 06 - 05:15 AM "She made a "salad" which had rotten celery in it ........ threw a rotten mango away, and she took it out of the compost bin, washed it and ate it" Two words come to mind... Food poisoning.... Perhaps you should either, 1) Have her referred to someone competent to discuss with her 'compulsive obsessive behaviour' 2) Select new partner before food poisoning occurs... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 23 Jun 06 - 05:18 AM Seriously, if I have some fried rice leftover, I often add some beaten egg, and perhaps a little flour, make into patties, and shallow fry - this makes then deliciously crisp outside - and then turn them down a little so the steam will firm up the inside. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: John MacKenzie Date: 23 Jun 06 - 05:28 AM I must admit to a little 'food frugality' myself, surely the mango wasn't all bad? She probably cut out the bad bits and ate the rest. Mangoes are so yummy it seems a shame not to salvage the edible bits. The correct thing to do with celery is not to buy it at all, as it takes more calories to eat it than it provides. If however you have unavoidably ended up with some in your fridge which is going soggy, the correct thing to do with it is cook it, not eat it raw in a salad. I suggest that if you're not happy with her cooking you say "Darling you work too hard, let me do all the cooking in future, so you can put your feet up" That way she will get a rest, and you will no longer be able to complain about the cooking in your house. Giok |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Crystal Date: 23 Jun 06 - 06:09 AM Buy less. Plan meals and buy strictly what you need. No leftovers therefore nothing to go off. It is cheeper too! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Bunnahabhain Date: 23 Jun 06 - 06:18 AM Foolstroupe and Giok are right. You cook as much of the time as possible, and get her to talk to someone who can help her. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Dave Hanson Date: 23 Jun 06 - 07:31 AM Des Pairing, kill her now and eat her while she is still fresh. eric |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Liz the Squeak Date: 23 Jun 06 - 07:35 AM Ahhh... there used to be shuddering and wailing and gnashing of teeth when my mother announced we'd be having pork roast on Sunday... that meant Monday dinner would be reheated roast pork with any remaining vegetables made into bubble & squeak, Tuesday, pork stew, Wednesday, more pork stew (and not the tiny NZ owl either), Thursday, was 'scrapey stew' (anything we could scrape together out of the fridge) and Friday was soup. Saturday, thank the Deities, was sausage, chips and baked beans. Then it all began again.. Did your partner ever have any food issues when she was younger? Parsimonious parents? Period of low income/food deprivation? It really does sound as if she's got a little obsessive about leftovers and might benefit from some gentle therapy. It also sounds as if you might be a little over cautious in defining 'rotten'. Do you religously stick to sell by dates or do you trust your nose and eyes? Do you inspect every piece of fresh food for bruising, marks or limp bits? Are you likely to throw a whole bag of veg away if only one is manky? I think the two of you need to sit down and talk this out together, preferably with a sensible third party. With regards to hauling things out of the bin, do you have a garden that might benefit from a natural compost heap? Know anyone who keeps pigs or chicken that would benefit from a swill bin? If the food is going to feed something else, maybe she wouldn't be so reluctant to let it go. LTS I'm the same with glass jars. Can't stand to see a good jam jar go to the bin. Not when I could fill it with jam next week. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Bunnahabhain Date: 23 Jun 06 - 10:38 AM Not the dreaded 'it's useful for something' reflex, Liz? The one that fills you house with junk without you trying? I've got it too. of course, every now and agin, it really is useful, and you build a fitted unit for the computer and associed rubbish from what you've got lying about. Or a bedside table. Or some more bookshelves..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Rapparee Date: 23 Jun 06 - 11:11 AM Or cement the jars, bottom side out, in the window. Fill up the window with jars and bottles and you don't need window glass. As for the food issue -- only buy what you immediately need. Takes planning, though, and it will probably cost more. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: GUEST,mack/misophist Date: 23 Jun 06 - 11:13 AM If you "are always belittling her" the problem goes way past food choices. Yours or hers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Liz the Squeak Date: 23 Jun 06 - 11:14 AM Oy, bookshelves.. could we ever use some more bookshelves. Trouble is, we're running out of walls to put them on! Yes... the jars are useful. They will be used one day. There will come a day when strawberries are cheap and I can use my biggest 8qrt pan in making jam. Which will then sit in the back of a cupboard for a year... 'maturing'. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: GUEST,Des Pairing Date: 23 Jun 06 - 11:43 AM Thanks for your kind help. Just talking about it makes things seem less oppressive- I know it's ridiculous really. I think there's probably something in what Mack said... I'll have to get some kind friend and ourselves drunk enough to chat it over sometime. I'm sure I'm as bad to her. Sorry eric, I'm too squeamish to butcher my own meat, otherwise a good idea. Perhaps if I carry the compost bucket up the garden before she comes in. Perhaps I'll start sneaking leftovers into next door's dustbin... I don't THINK she'd look there... Looks like a good damson crop this year Liz. My favourite. I'll email you all my jars, and any extra walls I find about the house. Well I'd better get to the kitchen before she comes in. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 23 Jun 06 - 12:15 PM Des Pairing, this doesn't apply direct to your initial post, but I will point out that some foods (at least at our house) cry for leftover use. In truth, I roast turkey at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas less for the meat than for the carcass. Before going to bed after the festive day, I will have carved away and probably frozen any remaining meat, and started boiling the carcass for stock. The next day I'll discard the bones and vigorously skim off the fat from the stock. Then onions are added, and carrots and celery which may be hanging around in the refrigerator (or maybe were bought for this purpose). Makes no difference if either of those has gone somewhat limp. Various herbs, of course. I make egg noodles from scratch for this soup. Some of the reserved turkey meat gets tossed in the soup too. My grown (38 years old) daughter complains bitterly if I don't invite her over for some of my turkey noodle soup. She agrees with me that the purpose of the turkey is to lay the groundwork for the soup. The point of all this is that good planning beforehand can prevent much of what might otherwise be a leftover problem. PLAN on having leftovers, with a PLAN for their utilization and enjoyment. Yes, despite my advice, you will inevitably still have SOME leftovers, and you still have your problem with your partner, but maybe you can reduce the problem. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Sorcha Date: 23 Jun 06 - 04:53 PM And turkey sandwiches!!! With lots of mayo! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: catspaw49 Date: 23 Jun 06 - 05:22 PM Uncle Dave and I are of a mind on the turkey......I could care less about the T-Day bird....I want the soup, tukey pot pie, turkey and noodles, and of course as Dave also will recall, Kentucky Hot Brown. Eating the bird on Thanksgiving day always seems like a waste of good turkey. As for you Des Pairing, I would suggest some serious talks, perhaps counselling, and a good prescription plan to purchase antibiotics. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Little Robyn Date: 24 Jun 06 - 05:18 PM Many years ago my mum had found a poem that went something like: I had a little crust of bread That must not go to waste..... This covered the same problem - the cook adds bits and pieces to make different dishes and ends up with more than he/she started with. But the poem was lost about 20 years back and I've been looking for a copy ever since. Robyn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: John MacKenzie Date: 25 Jun 06 - 06:17 AM You need leftover bread for the crumbs to make faggots! AKA Savoury Ducks! G.. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 25 Jun 06 - 09:47 AM Liz... my two black cats are named bubble & squeak ... QUOTE Many years ago my mum had found a poem that went something like: I had a little crust of bread That must not go to waste..... UNQUOTE Reminds me of the traditional story 'stone soup' - I think Shel Silverstein did a song on that subject too. Yesterday I used up all the honey crunch cornflakes left over - I added some rolled oats, added some flour and beaten egg, and flavouored it with a little drinking chocolate (contained suger), celery salt and some Aussie Bush Spices, then added milk to moisten sufficiently - pan fried, they turned out amazing - funny, they even tasted vaugely meat flavoured... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Liz the Squeak Date: 25 Jun 06 - 06:14 PM I think the crust of bread poem comes from the 'make and mend' erea of WWII, when we were all exhorted to make do with very little and build our own vegetables. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: GUEST,pattyClink Date: 26 Jun 06 - 04:29 PM It's my understanding people have widely varying tastebuds. There is a certain percentage of the population which honestly can't discern a lot of subtle flavors in food, they'd be just as happy eating whatever is around, and would find it a nice conveniece if there were manufacturers of people-kibble. (These people unfortunately are always hanging around health-food shops assuring you that the tofu is truly delish.) Then there are the normal ranges of taste, and then there are also hypertasters who can distinguish which county the butter came from and how old it is. Your love may just be in one of those can't-taste-much camps. If that's the case, you might have to tell her you're just a lot tickier about tastebuds than she is, and yer by God not going to eat any past-it crap and if she insists, you'll run out and buy expensive takeout food in retaliation, so stop it already! Of course, if she has an obsessive complex, then that's another thing and a frank discussion won't fix it. But either way, you have a right to eat decent food and not be subjected to ptomaine scares! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Charmion Date: 26 Jun 06 - 04:52 PM I'm with Uncle Dave O: there's no such thing as leftovers, just raw and cooked food, and food for which plans may or may not have been made. However, it's not the cook's fault that supermarkets sell celery by the bunch when the household uses only two or three stalks at a time, and the best-laid of plans can easily gang agley: hence, even the best-regulated veg drawer/rack can contain celery with large soft brown spots that say "I'm compost just waiting to happen." Well-run kitchens have well-used compost buckets that go out to the garden daily. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Bunnahabhain Date: 26 Jun 06 - 05:10 PM And long may celery be sold by the bunch. If it's split up, it will go off somewhat faster, and if it's sold split up, then you'll be charged three times the price for it. It's not difficult to use up. You're right on the compost bins, unless you either have no garden at all, or pigs, in which case no food is ever off, it simply becomes pigfood.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Liz the Squeak Date: 27 Jun 06 - 04:17 AM I used to like shopping in our local market because things were sold loose by weight, so you could buy a couple of stalks of celery, 2 tomatoes or 1 apple. There are still stalls who work that way, but most now appear to have gone over to the 'Iny bowel fer ah pahn' ("any bowl [containing a single variety of fruit, salad or veg] for a pound") system which is great if you have a large family to feed or jam to make, but wasteful if you are only feeding a few. Sainsbury's larger supermarkets have always had the option of packaged or loose, and I tend to go for loose because it gives me the option of selecting and budgeting. They know that people in supermarkets go for convenience and speed, so the packaged goods are usually a little more expensive than the loose. If I'm only buying one pepper or a bunch of bananas, I omit the bag, which cuts down on waste plastic. I take my own shopping bags which cuts down on carriers (allegedly) and only buy fresh what I think we're going to eat that week, unless I know it keeps well. People these days are far too fussy about not eating brown bits, slightly limp bits or elderly bits of food. No wonder the rate of food poisoning is on the increase; we're all so used to eating perfect food that we have no inbuilt defences against the less harmful germs we would happily ingest 30 years ago. Neither do we have the common sense to store, cook or preserve food correctly and safely. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: catspaw49 Date: 27 Jun 06 - 05:19 AM Celery!My gawd, that devil CELERY!!! That's the real problem here. Celery is diabolical. Celery is even harmful in other ways such as the dastardly effects it can have on underwear elastic!!! I'm not kidding here.....CHECK IT OUTSpaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: GUEST, Topsie Date: 27 Jun 06 - 06:34 AM Are you sure that isn't a picture of the effects of failed elastic on the celery? It looks pretty excited to me! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: bobad Date: 27 Jun 06 - 09:23 AM Love that pic spaw. That's the kind of fine art my 6 year old eyes would peruse as I sat in the barber's chair getting my hair cut on saturday mornings. Imagine, 65 cents for a haircut and sex education, time it was, and what a time it was. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 27 Jun 06 - 10:02 AM To get back to the food, Des, I have two thoughts: 1. A few years ago, I noticed that I was throwing away far too many once-fresh vegetables. Our schedules at the time were just too unpredictable for the food preparation required to use them all up. So I began buying only frozen vegetables. When I got the urge for something fresh, I stopped by the store and bought one item and used it the same day. Problem solved. 2. Set aside a time when your partner is elsewhere to clean out the fridge. Throw the trash away somewhere far from home. With any luck, your partner will think the fairies did it. These would be the same fairies that come to our house and clean out the cat boxes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Liz the Squeak Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:41 AM Actually, I'd never buy any celery as it makes me hurl. Ironic as it is 99% water, it must just be that 1% that I'm allergic to. How does that woman get her groceries to stay in that bag without the bottom of it falling through? LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Dave'sWife Date: 27 Jun 06 - 11:49 AM >>>Looks like a good damson crop this year Liz. My favourite. I'll email you all my jars, and any extra walls I find about the house.<<< You all say this just to cause a major depression in me don't you? As far as I know there is nary a damson tree in the whole of Los Angeles. I even go to a Public Fruit Tree database sometimes where people list tress that overhang streets and trees in public spaces so i can pick quince and such. No Damson plums. None. I hate California. Please somebody tell my husband to bring home to New York or New Jersey where people know that a damson IS a plum and not a fancy sailor's knot. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: GUEST,John Gray in Oz Date: 27 Jun 06 - 12:34 PM Know what you mean. My first wife had the only kitchen in the world where the flies came home to die. JG/FME |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: LilyFestre Date: 27 Jun 06 - 02:36 PM Leftovers are never "wasted" in our house. The chickens are more than thankful for leftovers that we are tired of eating...be it spaghetti, fruit, veggies...anything but eggs (we don't want them getting used to eating eggs as they will then try to eat their own). We figure it will all come back to us in either the form of eggs, meat or manure for the garden. :) And Dave...OH YES...turkey soup...my Nana makes THE best turkey soup...made frome leftovers....we do the same...it's the best part of the turkey..LEFTOVERS! YUM! Michelle PS. I'd go with the buying exactly what you need to avoid the leftover syndrome...you are cooking too much or you wouldn't have leftovers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 27 Jun 06 - 06:01 PM "never buy any celery as it makes me hurl" I thought at first you said 'hurt' - celery is supposed to ease painful joints. "How does that woman get her groceries to stay in that bag without the bottom of it falling through?" I think you, as a lady, may just have missed the whole point of that 'artwork'... :-) Damsons? I thought that was what Sailors were running away from, and why they had a girl in ebery port... I'll get me hat... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Alice Date: 27 Jun 06 - 07:42 PM I think it is in Joy of Cooking, the definition of Eternity is a Ham and two people. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Liz the Squeak Date: 28 Jun 06 - 04:30 AM Is she just a damson in dis dress? LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: catspaw49 Date: 28 Jun 06 - 05:21 AM ohfergawdsakes Liz....................Are you trying to outdo Art Thieme? BTW, there seems to be a duck leftover in my kitchen at the moment and he appears to be being ridden by a leprechaun bear..........It is raucus and has flashing headlight eyes and scares the shit out of my cats. You are both sick and perverted and too close to Sinsull.............. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Cookery and Leftovers From: Liz the Squeak Date: 28 Jun 06 - 10:04 AM Oh Spaw... high praise indeed!!! I grovel at your feet for being compared to the Maestro himself. That said, it was a plum opportunity... LTS |
