These days, with their bottom lines more razor-thin than ever, chefs are MacGyvering plenty of solutions to do more with less.
Chef Norman Fenton at his restaurant Cariño, on April 9, 2024. Waste. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. And therein lies the rub.
Farm Bar’s chef David Wakefield credits time spent working at a remote luxury lodge in Alaska for his knowledge of sustainable cooking and respect for ingredients. Fermenting, salting, drying and smoking are all techniques he mastered there and uses today at the Lakeview restaurant. At Cariño, chef Norman Fenton created a second concept, a late-night taco omakase, to utilize some of the by-products from the Latin-inspired fine dining restaurant’s tasting menu and to create a lower-priced option for diners.“When we are cutting perfectly brunoised vegetables, we get a lot of leftover pieces that we want to find homes for and not staff meal or the trash can,” said Fenton.
“Coming from mostly independent restaurants, it’s about how to monetize everything you can, first and foremost, but it’s also the responsible thing to do,” said chef Joe Frillman. “It also teaches the people around you.” When trimming meat, the leftover fat is clarified and used to cook something else. Leftover braised meat juices are turned into a sauce.
Finding the balance between keeping the cost of labor down and being intentional about upcycling ingredients is always top of mind for Oakville Grill & Cellar chef Max Robbins. One application that satisfies is a signature barbecue sauce for a salmon dish made using leftover kale stems, infusing a potlikker-style flavor to the sauce.
Often lemons and limes have their zest and peels used, the latter of which often get candied for a dessert garnish. Sangria is another way to take advantage of leftover fruit, he said.Herbs and vegetables from last summer are used to make bitters at Mordecai, creating a robust tincture library for the Wrigleyville bar, said chef Djibril Webb. Carrot tops are used to make bitters and are incorporated into pesto and salads.
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