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Random Mon May 26 2008

A Leftover Question

On a flight back from Phoenix, Arizona, I was thumbing through Southwest Airline's in-flight magazine when I came across an article about a goddess of leftovers. According to the author of the article (who seems to harbor a copious amount of reverence toward the said goddess), Peggy Grote is a culinary magician who can turn out fabulous, guests-proof dinners from the content of a sadly-stocked-and-heavily-ransacked refrigerator. As a chronic sufferer of leftovertitis, I read the article with interest. Peggy did sound quite ingenious around leftovers, breading leftover risotto and deep-frying it to make risotto "cake," stuffing dates with cream cheese and jalapeƱos to accommodate sudden guests.

But as I read on the article, as the author spelled out a few of Peggy's dinner parties consisting mostly of things left over from a few days ago, I started to wonder. See, this is my problem: when I try to revive leftovers by creating something new with them, I quite often end up with more leftovers than I had started out with. If I add curry roux to a leftover stew to make Japanese-style curry, I would notice that there aren't enough beef and carrots left in the stew to make a meal, so I'd add them. Now the curry looks short on potatoes, so I cut up a few and add them. By the time the curry is ready, I might very well have the night's dinner AND a few lunches worth of leftovers--even though I probably started out with a little short of a meal. I just wanted to change the flavor of whatever I had left from the previous night, but now I have an even larger leftover.

The article is interesting and full of leftover tips (like keeping a jar of dried prunes soaked in port in the fridge, which can be used as anything from ice cream topping to a sauce on pork chops), but it doesn't address this peculiar problem. So, I'm just wondering--does anyone suffer from this--the problem of never-ending, ever-growing leftover?

 
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Feature Thu Dec 31 2015

The State of Food Writing

By Brandy Gonsoulin

In 2009, food blogging, social media and Yelp were gaining popularity, and America's revered gastronomic magazine Gourmet shuttered after 68 years in business. Former Cook's Illustrated editor-in-chief Chris Kimball followed with an editorial, stating that "The shuttering of Gourmet reminds...
Read this feature »

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Drive-Thru is the food and drink section of Gapers Block, covering the city's vibrant dining, drinking and cooking scene. More...
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