When you cook, do you WANT leftovers, or do you attempt to AVOID having leftovers?

[visciole]

Just curious: what are your feelings about having leftovers of your home-cooked food? Do you make enough to guarantee that there will be some left after the meal, or do you try only to make exactly what you will eat in one shot?

[goodhealthgourmet]

it totally depends on the dish and my schedule. if it's a labor-intensive recipe i'm more likely to make extra. same goes for long-simmered or stewed dishes like soup, ragout, stew, or anything else that actually improves after a day or two in the fridge. on the flip side, i'm not likely to make extra of something that doesn't reheat or refrigerate well, like rare meat or delicate fish, burgers, potatoes, etc.

and if i know my schedule is going to be chaotic in the coming days, i'll probably plan for leftovers so i have something to reheat if i'm pressed for time.

[melpy]

I agree. If it's something I like or I can use as lunches I want the leftovers. I tend to cook for 4 although there are two of us. Unfortunately if I don't put the food away after I serve 2 we end up eating some of my precious leftovers. But if I'm making fish I would try and make "just enough".

[ipsedixit]

"i'm not likely to make extra of something that doesn't reheat or refrigerate well, like rare meat or delicate fish, burgers, potatoes, etc."
______________________________________________________

You sell yourself short, ghg.

Just about anything can be "reinvented" in another dish, right?

Leftover rare ribeye? Chop it up and throw it into chili or baked beans.

Too much delicate fish? Use it in seafood chowder.

Etc.

[goodhealthgourmet]

you're totally right, but since i'm usually only cooking for lil' old me, turning a small amount of leftovers into a larger dish that will inevitably result in *more* leftovers kinda defeats the purpose :)

[ipsedixit]

Same situation here.

It becomes an endless vicious cycle.

At some point, I just suck it up, and end up eating re-heated, medium-well, ribeye steak ...

[c oliver]

I frequently reheat rare steak in the MW. Very, very slowly but I can keep it medium rare. Have done this for years.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i've actually adopted the water bath method - let the meat sit at room temp for a bit to remove the chill, zip it in a leak-proof bag, and submerge in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. works like a charm!

[c oliver]

I keep forgetting that tip. A cheap woman's sous vide?

[goodhealthgourmet]

not cheap...let's say resourceful ;)

[c oliver]

No offense. I was referring to myself.

[goodhealthgourmet]

oh i didn't take offense! that's why i "winked."

[Bada Bing]

I agree that this works well. Careful reheating (30 seconds, let sit 30 second to a minute, repeat as needed). Sometimes it helps to sandwich the item between two plates or bowls, to create a somewhat closed steaming chamber.

[c oliver]

Something I've been doing lately is to put the meat on a small wooden cutting board. I assume that block a % of the rays and slows the process. I do about 15 seconds at a time, turn the meat and another 15 seconds, etc.

[mcf]

I'm cooking for two, and fish and burgers are two things I try to avoid having as leftovers, too. I love leftovers in every other case, pretty much.

[smtucker]

My DH always makes an extra burger to have for lunch the next day. But fish, never want that to be leftover unless I also have leftover mashed potatoes in which case I will make some fish cakes to freeze.

[Valyn]

I have leftovers for lunch almost every day, so I definitely cook for leftovers. After dinner, I dish them up into individual containers, label them and freeze them. But like goodhealthgourmet says, not all leftovers are equal so I stay away from saucy pasta, fresh veggies, and fish.

I freeze lots of soups, stews, rice dishes, lentil dishes, etc. Anything that reheats well, keeping its structure and flavor, is game for leftovers in my house!

[Mike CP]

Having leftovers is one of the best parts of homecooking for me! And as ipsedixit stated, reinventing one good meal into another good meal can be very rewarding, and delicious.

[eight_inch_pestle]

Leftovers of pretty much everything besides fish (with an exception for fish curries and whatnot).

[c oliver]

I don't plan for leftover fish but when I have it I make a tuna salad-equivalent.

[runwestierun]

I often make extra fish and then the next day we have that fish's equivalent of a nicoise salad. I serve it cold.

[curiousgeo]

I'm the same as most folks here. Dishes that reheat well like stews, casseroles and soups are great as leftovers. I probably love a freshly roasted chicken the most, makes a great dinner, chicken sandwiches the next day, then freeze the bones for a nice stock later.

[goodhealthgourmet]

"I probably love a freshly roasted chicken the most, makes a great dinner, chicken sandwiches the next day"
~~~~~~~
agreed. i meant to mention this earlier - roast chicken and turkey are two of the best dishes for leftovers. Thanksgiving is one of those times when i *definitely* make it a point to prepare far too much turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce...that stuff is always even better the next day.

[Bada Bing]

In addition to seconding all the above comments that say big thumbs up for certain leftovers--stews, soups, roasted meats--I almost always make lots of extra rice whenever I see an opportunity in the coming days to make a fried-rice style dish.

In that case, the ONLY thing that works well is left-over rice! (In case you wonder why: the rice needs some drying time to have optimal texture.)

In the other direction: I try to avoid having leftover roasted (or otherwise cooked) bell peppers. Sometimes they're passable the next day, but basically they seem to go downhill fast.

[Caroline1]

Today's leftovers are tomorrow's TV dinners. Love 'em!

[foiegras]

At least 95% of the time, I'm shooting for leftovers. I cook pasta fresh, as a general rule, but the sauce is good in a big batch ...

[Chemicalkinetics]

Most of the time, I shoot for leftovers.

[grayelf]

I like to take leftovers for lunch but I especially love to send leftovers to work with my SO. Especially if they involve fish sauce or a lot of chiles or something quasi-exotic. I get a kick out of the comments he passes on from his sandwich-eating colleagues ;-).

[Chemicalkinetics]

:)

I read your message half way through and I already knew you were targeting his coworkers and not him.

[John E.]

Fish, steak and burgers are best eaten right after they are cooked and in my opionion do not reheat well. I think we probably all cook food to intentionally have enough for leftovers or at least enough to freeze even if it isn't 'left over'. I rarely make lasagna but when I do, I always make 2, one to cook and one to freeze. I also frequently freeze soup in ziplock bags. It is nice having a variety of already cooked food in the freezer to reheat when schedules don't permit actual cooking.

[runwestierun]

Yes, I cook more often than not to have leftovers, but I also do something else. When I am cooking something that has a time consuming prep phase, like caramelizing onions (seriously caramelizing them, like for onion soup), I will cook about 4 times more than I need and freeze them or confit them in the fridge. If I am roasting peppers, I will roast more than I need and then pop them in chili next time I make it. I know alot of us do this, but I make stock gallons at a time. Even if I am using a fresh herb that freezes well like rosemary or sage, I will buy a bunch of it and clean it and chop it and keep it frozen. So I might shoot for leftovers of a dish, or leftovers of a part of the dish.

[chefathome]

Same here. I often make large batches of different components. We love leftovers at our house; in fact, we enjoy the challenge to come up with unique variations. My husband much prefers to take leftovers to work rather than taking the extra time to go out to eat/pick up. His leftover lunches are the envy of his workplace; I'm surprised at how few take food from home and opt instead to pick up some greasy 2mm thick burger.

[othervoice]

My household is so scattered that leftovers are always needed. When you're the only cook, the others in my house would starve if I didn't make up "TV" dinners from classic meals. Pasta, soups, even steaks, I always fix extra and cook it real rare so that I can reuse in fajitas or philly sandwhiches. The kids love it. One of my favorite meals of all times is meatloaf sandwhiches cold and I can't ever have enough leftover from the night before.

[aching]

WANT WANT WANT. The only things that I make regularly that I don't want leftovers of are green salad and white rice.

[Will Owen]

I never dress the salad in the bowl, so that will keep for tomorrow's lunch. Enough leftover rice = fried, which is good. Leftover fish can go cold on the salad, or crumbled into the fried rice, or scrambled with eggs. I am perfectly happy with ungodly untidy messes for lunch, stuff Mrs. O could not bear to know of much less look at, as long as they taste good; my favorite lunch so far this week was leftover brown rice, baked cod with garlic butter (+ some olive oil), and a handful of braised Brussels sprouts, all packed into a glass dish together and nuked. Golly, was that good!

[cayjohan]

I'm almost always cooking with an eye toward the next few days, whether it's prepping a lot of vegetables to consolidate a series of steps, or planning lunches, or just wanting to maximize whatever very perishable things I have on hand. Plus, it suits my shopping schedules.

It's worked well for me, but I'm also on the verge of empty-nesting and need to learn to cook smaller amounts so we're not actually wallowing in leftovers once the fledgling leaves...

I have found that while I like having such a plan for leftovers, I'm also looking forward to doing a few more single-shot meals. More variety that way. It's a trade-off.

The only things I dislike having any leftovers of are shellfish. That's a one-meal-only thing for me, unless it's the rare lobster and then it's stock-making time.

Cay