Cooking with Scraps

Stop throwing away your food scraps and start enjoying them on your table! A collection of 80 surprising, creative, delicious recipes for anyone who wants to cook smart, sustainable, and impressive meals out of unused bits of produce, cheese rinds, stale bread, and other oft-discarded foods. 

For the first time ever, the USDA has set a nationwide goal to reduce food waste (a whopping 133 billion pounds per year) 50 percent by 2030. And the growing movement is sweeping the food scene—from Blue Hill's outpost wastED to grocery stores that are selling "ugly" produce at a discount. But you don't need to be a Michelin-starred chef to transform potential compost into Parmesan Rind Cookies, Tomato Skin Salt, or Fennel Stalk Ice Cream. Enter Cooking With Scraps: a cookbook that answers the environmental call to arms to reduce food waste through elegant, simple dishes and impressive culinary techniques.

Written by Food52 contributing writer and editor Lindsay-Jean Hard, Cooking from Scraps will teach the basics behind transforming "trash" into treasure. Recipes like Leek Top Cacio e Pepe, Pickle Juice Bloody Mary, and Corn Cob Yaki Onigiri reveal how to repurpose unused parts of produce and pantry items—from bones and brine to pits and peels. Readers will find that, when armed with this knowledge, even a simple pot of boiled potatoes can turn into an exciting discovery. (Hint: It’s all in the potato water, which can be put to good use in breads and baked goods.) Includes extra tips and techniques, including how to maximize the shelf life of produce, and foolproof and flexible "Clean Out the Crisper" recipes that will teach readers how to salvage produce that's past its prime.