Thrifty like a pro
Thrifty like a pro
Local restaurants tell us how to adapt their money-saving techniques in the home kitchen
By Janice Okun
NEWS FOOD EDITOR
Trying to cut the food budget right about now? Who isn’t? “I’ve been all over it these days,” says Tucker Curtin, who owns three restaurants in Western New York — the Lake Effect Diner, the Steer and (in season) Dug’s Dive, in the Small Boat Harbor.
He is not alone. Just about anyone in the restaurant business you can think of is obsessed with the subject.
There’s always been big pressure to save in the commercial kitchen, but this year the need has become urgent: Economic recession means fewer customers. Fewer customers means less money coming in. Every bit of food has to be carefully thought about.
And, of course, home cooks are feeling the pain, too. What to do?
Gather all the advice you can glom onto, for one thing. So we talked with some people in the food business to see what steps they are taking to get more for their money, and how these techniques could be transferred to a home kitchen.
Some of the ideas they came up with require a little time to carry out. More time, certainly, than stopping at a fast-food restaurant, using packaged products or patronizing the takeout at the supermarket.
But here’s the thing: If you maximize the minutes you spend in your kitchen you can definitely minimize the dollars you spend there. Think ahead; utilize weekends.
And save.
Waste, of course, is the first thing to eliminate. Waste is the bane of a restaurant kitchen — and it should be in yours.
“We never throw anything out except old lettuce,” says Liz Kolken of Quaker Bonnet. “We save all bones and we save every vegetable to make stock or soup.
“We save onion peels (which give wonderful color), ends of tomatoes, celery. We make chicken salad all the time and use the chicken stock to cook the chicken. Then we sieve the stock, freeze it and use that enriched stock again.
“When we do a big roast of beef we save the ends and use that for stock or stew or beef pot pies.”
Kolken says Quaker Bonnet is careful with fruit, too. “We make applesauce from old apples. Or curried fruit, which is wonderful with chicken,” she says.
Mary Tomaselli of La Tee Da is no fan of waste either.
“I grew up in the Depression,” she notes. “And I’m married to a Polish man [Zbigniew Bartoszewski]. Right after World War II they didn’t have much heat or fuel.”
So, she goes on, her husband’s family would start to make rice in the morning, then take it off the stove and bury the pan in the bed clothes. By the time they got home from work the rice was cooked and was light and fluffy.
Well, it’s an idea anyway. One technique that is utilized in the restaurant and can be adapted in a home kitchen is soup making.
“If you just know how to make broth, that would be great,” she says.
Tomaselli suggests that you save and freeze chicken backs, use every inch of fresh vegetables and keep lentils in the pantry. Keep bouillon cubes on hand in case you want to kick up the flavor of vegetable broth, she suggests, and using the crock pot is a good idea.
Tomaselli is also a big fan of portion control. “Americans eat as if every day is Thanksgiving,” she says. “In Europe, sometimes supper is just soup and bread.”
Debby Clark of Delish and Chop Chop doesn’t believe in leftovers. She believes in what she calls “planned-overs.”
“Say you’re planning to cook a chicken on a Sunday when you want your house to smell delicious,” Clark says. “Don’t cook just one chicken — cook two. Debone the chickens and eat one for dinner on Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday, make tacos with it. Make a salad on Wednesday and by Thursday and Friday serve it over pasta.”
Clark suggests you freeze the carcass for future soup making or any extra meat if you don’t want an entire week of chicken.
“But freeze it in workable portions so you don’t have to look at it and say, ‘What am I going to do with all that chicken?’ ”
Clark is also a fan of casseroles. (See the recipe for the Chicken Enchilada Casserole that follows.)
Tom Lombardo of Ristorante Lombardo talks about careful food shopping.
He calls it “cherry picking,” suggesting home cooks should patronize more than one food outlet, as he does.
“It used to be that I dealt with one food purveyor,” says Lombardo. “But now I check with at least three before I place my order to get the best price.”
A consumer, he says, can do the same thing by visiting at least two supermarkets. “The best way to do that would be just to check the flier grocery ads on Sunday.”
Curtin is a cherry picker, too. and he thinks consumers should plan their shopping carefully, write down the numbers to see what dealers are charging for each item. That’s what a successful restaurateur would do.
“Have a good freezer,” suggests Curtin. “Buy in bulk. Buy tomatoes that have marks on them, or in season pull them from your garden. And make up a big pot of sauce, portion it out and freeze it. Make your own salad dressing — commercial salad dressings are expensive.
At the Lake Effect Diner, Curtin makes up his own Balsamic Vinegar Dressing in gallons and holds it in the cooler for about a week.
Avoid impulse buying, says Curtin. “Don’t buy anything unless you know what you’re going to do with it” and when you’re going to use it.
If you’re going to use vegetables right away, it’s OK to buy soft and very ripe ones. But that’s not the case if you’re not going to use the veggies for several days. Then crispness is what you need.
Curtin has another tip to pass along, too: Love your spatula; use your spatula. That flat-bladed utensil can pry every bit of food out of a dish or pan, eliminating waste, utilizing all the food that went into it.
“I think that the use of a spatula saves us 1 to 2 percent across the board.”
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