[shroomgirl]

We've run this before, but I have not seen it in a long time.

Today I was making candied orange zest.....the process is to blanch twice then cook for 5 minutes in equal parts of water adn sugar (syrup). WELL, I've got orange syrup left...
thought I'd use it as a coating for fillo filled with pistachio cookies...like baklava only cigars...and crisper.
Other uses for this orange syrup (or what's left after I made the peels)
*Tea sweetner
*Pancake or Waffle syrup with fresh oranges
*soaked babas
What do you make that has a remaining ingrediant that you creatively use?

 

[isa]

That's a great idea Shroom.

When I poached fruits, usually pears for a pear almond tart, I keep the liquid to reuse it. It keeps forever in the freezer.

 

[momoreg]

This may sounds weird, but it really works:
Leftover streussel topping makes an excellent filling for poached pears. When you roast the (pre-poached)pear, the filling absorbs the liquid from the pear, and becomes gooey and runny. Sometimes I throw in some choc. chips too.

...And the REAL reason I keep bunnies as pets: They love apple cores, celery bottoms, and bruised lettuce.

 

[chrose]

I believe that as a good chef and human, you should be able to find a use for just about any leftover. In a restaurant there are a number of things you can do to turn the extras into $$$ I like Isa's thoughts. I usually use poaching liquid as a sorbet. Makes a great intermezzo or as a Granite with fruits for desserts. Momoregs idea as well. A Great idea for a pear filling. Use it as a layer in a Croustade. Part of your training and creativity is taking what everybody else just tosses and creating something with it. If for no other reason than everything is too precious a commodity to just wantonly throw away. At the very least the wild animals would love vegetable scraps. Just do everyone a favor and toss them into the woods into their habitat. If nothing else. Bury it and create a compost heap for your own vegetables. Just think before you toss. Occasionally if you do have to toss than do it.

 

[anneke]

I use the citrus to make apple chips (with julienne apple). It works really well and gives it nice flavour. Our syrup is a bit stronger however: 2:1.

 

[elakin]

great topic. i always feel great when i come up with a good way to use up leftovers and scraps.

at one place i worked, we made our own gravlax and when we did it, we'd always have all the skins from the sides of salmon left after fileting them.

i was determined to get all the little bits of meat off the salmon skin, and i found that if you run a kitchen spoon down the inside of the skin while holding it up and kind of stretching it....you get a ton of meat off of there. so...instant salmon tartare. we'd use it for an amuse that night.

then we started cutting the skin into triangles, brushing it with oil, seasoning it, and slow-roasting it between two sheetpans to make a crispy salmon skin thing to use as a fancy garnish.

we also used to pull tons of meat off of roast chickens for a salad that we had with chicken in it. i was throwing away tons of chicken skin and thought it was such a waste.

so i started chucking it in the deep fryer and making "chicken cracklins" wow, are they delicious! actually, i worked with a lot of mexicans, so we called them "chicharrones de pollo." nothing better than deep-fried chicken skin with some tabasco on it.

these we didn't serve, but the staff loved them as a snack.

 

[athenaeus]

This is my favourite topic in cooking. I suggest that everytime you come with a new idea to post it. It's very important not to waste food.
Chrose wrote about it very well I 'd better not repeat things. It's just an insult to those that they starve to waste food.

Shroomgirl, the orange syrup goes perfectly with backlava yes but the perfect match is to use it in Revani the semolina cake. You need orange syrup to make Revani.

In St Nickolas day I made a Black Forest Cake for my husband who adores black cherries. I had some filling left so I made some chocolate cookies with cherry paste filling for my little friends in the court

Do you think I could do something else with this filling?

 

[shroomgirl]

OK pastry guys let's play.....black cherry filling....
flame with Orange liquor and serve over ice cream...
cherry filling over chocolate ice cream
cherry filling in vanilla yogurt wiht toasted almonds, pecans or walnuts
turn into a chutney with ginger, vinegar and spices
serve with lamb, duck, quail or chicken
puff pastry turn overs
on pancakes or waffles
in fillo with an orange scented cream cheese filling, hint og cinnamon
Serve with sweet risotto, rice pudding or a pudding base
Mousse
I love cherries, morels and a quail combo
Pull from any of your favorite recipes and adapt...I don't have "recipes" for any of these. They are just ideas to build on.

 

[chef david simpson]

How about using it as a finish for chicken or duck....
In catering I do this all the time and I'm sure it's no secret. For best presentation I steam first with a strong flavoured liquid, then let set to dry the skin then brush on a good amount of the orange syrup to ceramalize in high heat. Leaves beautiful finish as well cuts cooking time, labor time. MO MONEY!!!

 

[athenaeus]

Oh all these are great .

Orange syrup on chicken!!!! :bounce: :bounce:

 

[pete]

Here are some more ways to use leftovers
1. I too run a spoon down the salmon carcass. I freeze the meat until I have a bunch built up then grind with with some smoked salmon scraps and make salmon burgers for lunch
2. All sorts of game meat scraps and the livers of all poultry get frozen until I have enough to make terrines. We have a charcuterire plate on the menu of many places I have worked. Great way to get those extra dollars out of game to make it profitable.
3. Legs and thighs from the Capons make great leftovers to be sold at lunch as empandas, chicken salad, or coq au vin or other ragouts.
4. Day old bread is sliced, dried and turned into German style Napkin dumplings.
5. Any fruit past its prime in looks (usually coincides with it being perfectly ripe) gets made into sauces and sorbets.
6. And don't forget family!!!