Forced Compliance
Personally, it really started the day after I retired a little over 3 years ago. Up until that day, because of a lack of time or because of the steady bi-weekly paycheck, there often was produce or fruit left in the refrigerator bin that had to be tossed as they were almost past the compost stage. Or pre-grated cheese that started life as parmesan or mozzarella but now seemed to have morphed into Stilton or Gorgonzola. Or even that homemade basil pesto that now had a hearty white “beard” growing on its surface. And these likely all found their way to the weekly garbage bag. Of course, I also practiced mottanai while I was still employed but strictly out of necessity. I’m sure everyone has experienced packing your lunchtime sandwich for that last workday of the week just to find those last 2 slices of bread have 1 or 2 colonies of mold growing on the surface. Simply pinch those mold colonies off and continue making your sandwich right? Or finding that last apple of the workweek with a significant bruise – just cut off the bruised area right? But if we were in the middle of the workweek, the rest of that loaf of bread or whole apple would end up in the dumpster right?
Repurposing Food
I’ve written several columns on how I repurpose old bread either by making savory bread puddings or strata, adding toasted cubes to greens for bread salad or panzanella or throwing the bread in a food processor for breadcrumbs so I’ll leave it at that. I also still place vegetable trimmings in a separate container to create compost for soil for my herb garden. I also now throw the peels from oranges and tangerines in my food dehydrator to either use later as cocktail garnishes or as an essential ingredient when I make otoso (medicinal sake) for the New Years. Though I haven’t tried this yet, I also have viewed several videos on social media where content creators make their own onion powder with parts of the onion usually dumped in the trash. You simply keep the thin, brown outer skin and the outer, fleshier layer you normally would toss and when you have enough to cover a baking sheet, bake it at the lowest setting your oven has until it totally dehydrates – you’ll know it’s done when the pieces crumble in your fingers. Then place them in a grinder and process until you’re left with a fine powder – larger pieces can be filtered out. Because all onions are “cured” or dried before they’re sent to market, even the outermost, brown skin starts as the same fleshier inner layers so the onion flavor is the same.
Because I recently purchased a handheld stick blender, I also repurpose oil that’s used to marinate sun-dried tomatoes or artichoke hearts or any other vegetable for that matter. I simply use that flavored oil and add more vegetable oil to make a full cup, add a whole raw egg then additional seasoning or salt/pepper and blend everything with the handheld blender for about 10 to 15 seconds until it turns into a flavored mayonnaise. Tasty as a dip or spread for sandwiches and repurposing oil that I normally would have thrown down the disposal.
Minimal Waste Food Storage
If we ever purchase large trays of ground protein (which is rare) whether beef, pork, chicken or turkey, I used to immediately break it down to 1-pound portions, place it in zip-top storage bags then place it in the freezer. However, once the frozen protein is thawed and cooked, the zip-top bag invariably ends up in the trash so another piece of plastic that’ll last several decades (or centuries) is buried in land fill. However, for the past year I’ve been using washable zip-top bags that have a 1-way valve near the top of the bag. The manufacturer (ANOVA) also sells a handheld vacuum device to remove all the air from the bag which reduces the chances of freezer burn during storage. Though I use the ANOVA brand, you can find other brands on the internet that employ the same technology which will reduce your plastic waste!
Conserving Energy
Over the years, I’ve highlighted the most efficient method of cooking, namely induction cooking where magnets create magnetic field that heats the cooking vessel. Most traditional cooking methods whether electric, gas or halogen are anywhere from 30% to 60% efficient whereas induction cookers are more than 80% efficient. The main downside was your cooking vessel had to be magnetic so aluminum, copper, glass or ceramic cooking vessels wouldn’t work. Induction cooktops were also more expensive than conventional cooktops and early induction cookers didn’t allow precise temperature control as the settings were determined by wattage which translated to a 30-to-40-degree difference between settings. However, as technology improves, prices have come down and my current induction “burner” has wattage settings that only change by 10 degrees between settings and I purchased it for less than $66. If money is no object, Breville does make an induction cooker that controls the temperature to 1 degree called The Control Freak but it does cost $1499.95. And many pot and pan manufacturers have adapted their cookware to also accommodate induction cooktops by layering a magnetic bottom with inner copper or aluminum layers so that their cookware is also induction cooktop compatible.
And as I’ve also highlighted in several columns, I still use my vacuum cookers when cooking whole grains, certain pasta and rice as once the inner cooking vessel is placed in the outer vacuum sealed container, the energy consumption is ZERO!
Leave Just Footprints
So as the saying goes, “take only memories, leave only footprints.” Be a steward of the planet’s infinite resources. And in the world of cooking, it’s possible to create delicious meals and still be this steward…
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