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What are the worst leftovers?

#1
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11/5/09 at 10:49pm
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I vote onion rings.
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#2
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11/6/09 at 12:28am
  • Joined: September 2009
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I have to go with green salad that has sat in a dressing overnight. Onion rings/french fries are both very bad, as well.
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#3
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11/6/09 at 6:19am
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For me it's fries. Whether I refry, microwave, or warm up in the oven I can never get the fries to taste good.
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#4
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11/6/09 at 6:36am
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I never met a leftover I couldn't reuse or recycle with at least some success. For me, the key is not trying to make it taste/look/feel like it did when fresh, but using it in a way that takes advantage of its core qualities. For example: I would probably chop up l.o. onion rings, recrisp the bits, and use them as a topping for a casserole (hey, more leftovers! :peace:). French fries, I spice them before reheating in the toaster oven until they are really really crisp -- most fries are too soft for me in the first place, so getting them very brown and crisp in reheating is getting them to where I like them. :lips:

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#5
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11/6/09 at 7:22am
  • Joined: February 2007
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You beat me to it, Suzanne.

I'd never understood the antipathy many people have towards leftovers, until realizing that they use the term differently than I do. For many people, "leftovers" means having the same dish over and over again. For me, leftovers become an ingredient to use in a new dish. As a result, there are no bad leftovers, let alone worse ones.

Pullmanpair: The way to resolve that problem is to dress individual servings, rather than the whole salad at one time.

It surely would be a terrible thing to die of low cholesterol!

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#6
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11/6/09 at 9:06am
  • Joined: April 2005
  • Location: San Jose, CA
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hashbrowns

Left over fries are great for hashbrowns. Fry up a couple strips of bacon then while working on the eggs and toast chop up left over fries then fry crispy in the bacon fat with salt (if needed), pepper, paprika, and onions.
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#7
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11/6/09 at 10:13am
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Paraphrasing Boy's Town, LOL, I agree with "there's no such thing as a bad leftover"! There's always a way to make them tasty and kinda fun to try and devise new methods.
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#8
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11/6/09 at 11:24am
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I hardly ever waste food--but some things I just won't attempt to revive or reuse.
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#9
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11/6/09 at 1:04pm
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I challenge anyone to re-cycle a left-over bowl of trifle :D
'Tis only the hairs on a Gooseberry, that stops it from being a Grape
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#10
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11/6/09 at 2:32pm
  • Joined: November 2009
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I have to agree with you on that. I usually send left-over salad in dressing home with one my my guests
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#11
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11/6/09 at 3:07pm
  • Joined: February 2009
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I am the biggest waste not , want not type of person you ever will meet, but I still have a hard time with left over liver....

Someone tell me a good use for it!!! other than warmed up liver that is.
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#12
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11/6/09 at 4:04pm
  • Joined: September 2008
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Cut the liver into thin strips, sort of like julienne, fry with diced potatoes, onions, chili peppers (if you like), maybe some garlic and whatever herbs/spices you like.

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Le Bistro
33 W. Putnam Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
559-783-8151

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#13
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11/6/09 at 4:47pm
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oh thanks that sounds like something i will have to try for sure.
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#14
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11/6/09 at 6:37pm
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Mash it up and turn it into a pate-like spread.

It surely would be a terrible thing to die of low cholesterol!

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#15
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11/6/09 at 6:42pm
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Leftover lutefisk!!!
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#16
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11/7/09 at 1:42am
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  • Location: Maine
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KYH we tried that and noone here was thrilled with it. it was a bit to dry in texture. i know that probably dont make sense but that is the only way i can discribe it.
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#17
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11/7/09 at 4:56am
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Considering that fresh lutefisk is hard to take, I think I got to go with you on that one.:lol:

"I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food I'm cooking." - Julia Child

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#18
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11/7/09 at 8:53am
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I'm sure there are good uses for it, but I won't eat left over no matter how it is prepared. Maybe shrimp, but that's about it. And tuna is ok too, if I sear too much tuna and there's left overs I will cook though whatever is left, and then chop it up and make it into a tuna salad immediately for the next day.

In a nutshell

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#19
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11/7/09 at 9:09am
  • Joined: July 2009
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White bean dip with green onion and soup after a week in the fridge. I should freeze it but I always think I'm going to eat it the next day but never do.
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#20
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11/7/09 at 9:44am
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Add some mashed avocado and use it for a face mask :D
'Tis only the hairs on a Gooseberry, that stops it from being a Grape
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#21
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11/7/09 at 9:48am
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I like your thinking ;)
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#22
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11/7/09 at 10:32am
  • Joined: November 2009
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Leftover Haggas would probably be challenging. :lol:

"I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food I'm cooking." - Julia Child

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#23
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11/7/09 at 10:44am
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I've had moderate success reheating fries and onion rings in a convection oven. That tends to re-dry them to a considerable extent, though never to just-out-of-the-fryer condition.

Mike

travelling gourmand

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#24
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11/7/09 at 10:47am
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Challenging to eat in the first place :D hehe j/k never tried it, I'm sure it's ....lovely.

Easy one to recycle - haggis and potato croquettes, crumber & deep fried, of course(well they are Scottish!)
'Tis only the hairs on a Gooseberry, that stops it from being a Grape
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#25
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11/7/09 at 12:34pm
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#1 - Extreme leftovers - Friends mum made rissoles for dinner and i promise, I found the very same peice of grissle from a pork chop I'd left on my plate at lunch. (it was distinctive. She'd simply scraped the lunch plates into the mix)

#2 - Chinese food. I look at it longingly the morning after and wish i had the cast iron stomach my sons seem to have inherited from somewhere.

"If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?" Jo Brand

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#26
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11/7/09 at 1:11pm
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Ew, leftover gristle . . . bughut, I say you win so far.
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#27
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11/7/09 at 5:35pm
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Gristle...that's not recycling...that's just GROSS!

Anyone got something to better that?
'Tis only the hairs on a Gooseberry, that stops it from being a Grape
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#28
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11/10/09 at 1:25pm
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No way, Chinese and Italian make for thebest leftovers. I'm of the opinion that Chinese food is often better once reheated and I think I once read some kind of Scientific study that explained why this is.
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#29
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11/11/09 at 9:13am
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there is NOTHING worse than reheated pasta! I have never once seen a reheated pasta dish that was worth eating.

Taste: The sensation derived from food, as interpreted thru the tongue to brain sensory system.
Flavor: The overall impression combining taste, odor, mouthfeel and trigeminal perception.

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#30
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11/11/09 at 12:22pm
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Recycling is the name of the game, and in many cases difference between profit and no profit on a commercial basis. Years ago in the old hotels this was the main job of the chef Garde' Manger.

CHEFED

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