Quarantine Cooking: Making Do

There's a mindset in peasant cooking similar to the origins of quilt making. Textiles used to be hard to create and precious, and so clothes were mended and later still not discarded but remade into bed covers. The arduous labor of foraging and farming likewise made people make the most of their food and creatively not waste it. And so I don't throw away carrot nubs, parsley stems, onion and celery stubs or bones whether chicken or beef, all which I stash in the freezer for bone and vegetable broth.

I also don't discard bacon grease after frying and crisping it. I love to incorporate this pork fat into bean dishes like the borlotti and pinto beans I presoaked the evening before. 

The resulting boiled bones and vegetable scraps made for a richer broth and the basis for some beautiful soups and sauces.  

And not discarding bacon fat and instead adding it to my Mexican refried beans makes for so much yummy umami.

I'm finding clear jars are the best food storage as well as for preserving our garden bounty for winter. And painter's tape is a cook's best friend.

My Mexican refried beans sure resemble the Monggo already in my fridge, where the beans have broken down into starchy goodness.

And the final color of my bone broth sure is the same shade of brown as all the rest of the jarred ingredients in my fridge--I guess that's the color of flavor town.