Stock Dividends

Saturday, January 19, 2008

I suspect that cooking locally has made me thrifty.  Or, quite possibly, thrift has made me cook locally.  I can’t be sure which came first, to be honest.  In fact, it’s most likely, a third explanation - that of a symbiotic relationship (to make myself sound ecologically-minded).  When I first joined a CSA, I’m ashamed to admit that I was rather wasteful.  Each week, there was something (or, sadly, things) in my box that I simply did not (or would not) use. This was particularly true in the early and late weeks of the season when I was inundated with greens in more variations than I knew possible. 

Six CSA seasons later, though, I think I’ve got the hang of it.  It’s more than stockpiling recipes for, and stamina for large amounts of, chard and kale.  When I shopped at a supermarket, my consumer preferences were paramount.  I bought what I wanted regardless of season - or possibly even quality.  Wasting is less of an issue when you’ve purchased everything you want.  As I moved to CSA’s and Farmers’ Markets, though, that changed.  My consumer preferences took a back seat to seasonality and quality.  Instead of just buying what I wanted, I bought what I wanted from the best of what was available according to the season.  Gradually, I think, this made it’s way into my cooking.  I stopped thinking of what I wanted to make and what I needed to get and started thinking of what I could make. 

The best barometer of this change is in my approach to chicken stock.  In the beginning, it was bouillon, and then it was canned stock.  Eventually, I made my own, going to the Reading Terminal for Godshal’s turkey legs (a tip I got from Lynne Rossetto Kasper) and vegetables from Iovine’s.  Now, the idea of actually buying ingredients specifically seems absurd.  It’s liquid trash - and I mean that in the best sense.

First, I always purchase whole chickens from Meadow Run Farm and quarter them myself.  This way, I have a steady supply of chicken backs in my freezer.  Oh, I also save the any bones leftover from dinner (once I pick them clean for the cat, of course).  As for vegetables, I now have a bin for the scraps - broccoli stems, carrot tops and tips, the bits of onion I cut off before dicing, celery bulbs, shavings from celeraic, etc.  Not to mention cheese rinds, which I always keep a steady supply of in my freezer.  Every couple chickens, which is how I measure it - like phases of the moon or something - I’ll make more stock. 

I’ll even use old take-out containers to store it.  That, however, I wouldn’t necessarily attribute to thrift or interest in conserving resources: it’s really so I don’t have to feel guilty about ordering so much takeout from Tiffin.