At home, I'm okay with only chopping at 999 miles an hour...

November 24, 2011 9:15 AM

It seems like many of the professional techniques for cutting vegetables will accept some unnecessary waste in order to optimize for speed or uniformity or presentation. For example, I'm thinking of cutting the stems off mushrooms to give the cap a flat base, or taking two transverse sections off the top and bottom of a capsicum/sweet pepper so it can unroll. Are there alternatives that waste less food while still being almost as safe and fast?

Of course, I can just pick up the discarded pieces and cut them separately. That works well for, e.g., sweet peppers, where I can just slice the discarded cap and bottom, but not so much for tiny little mushroom stems or celery cores.

posted by d. z. wang to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

Throw all the leftover bits (including clean peelings, carrot tops and such) into a stock pot along with meat bones (if you are into that sort of thing) and water to cover. Keep it on a very low flame (below simmer) for a couple of hours. Strain and use stock instead of water in any savory recipe.
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 9:20 AM on November 24, 2011 [7 favorites]

Well, e.g. for mushrooms you can bisect them longways first and lay each half on its flat side.
posted by penduluum at 9:30 AM on November 24, 2011

i put mushroom stems in the freezer for stocck.
posted by nadawi at 10:11 AM on November 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Short answer: probably not. Somewhat longer answer: while it's true that some waste is bargained in to prep in order to improve speed, there's actually a minimal amount of produce lost. Bear in mind that there is always going to be loss, regardless. In fact, I would venture to guess that pros are even better at preventing anything from going to waste than the average home cook (profit margins etc.).
posted by Gilbert at 10:15 AM on November 24, 2011

professional mis en place would have a significantly larger volume of "offcuts" due to the significantly larger volume of vegetables processed ... and would likely have a plan for utilizing those offcuts subsequent. Wastage in a professional kitchen is a bad thing.

Stock is an obvious one. Almost everything can go into a stock pot ;-)

Your specific example of mushroom ends might be sent into duxelles territory

Pepper offcuts may go rough chopped into a Spanish soffrito, or a pepper puree, gazpacho, etc.

I don't think this stuff gets discarded.

In my house I spend an extra few moments to deal with the remains and get them int the dish at hand.
posted by jannw at 11:01 AM on November 24, 2011

I always take the stems off crimini/button/white/portabello (all the same thing, really) mushrooms (I pop them off, rather than cutting) - they're a bit woody and are much better for stock than for eating.

But stock is really your best option for the "wasted" bits.
posted by guster4lovers at 11:02 AM on November 24, 2011

I dislike the taste of carrot peel, and I usually don't feel bad about putting veggie peelings and bits into the compost. Bits of red pepper left after slicing go in salad, unless I munch them 1st. Woody bits of broccolli, celery trimmings, etc., can go in stock, Mushroom stems cab be chopped and sauteed with butter to top steak or a sandwich, or to eat, guiltily, with a spoon.
posted by theora55 at 10:37 AM on November 25, 2011