Restaurants cut down food waste from buying to cooking
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores and other food retailers are in the business of making money, and so the issue of food waste is always front and center.
Not only does thrownaway food and grocery products hurt a company’s bottom line, but it also can negatively impact the environment when it ends up in landfills.
Careful purchasing helps to address the problem, but it’s also essential for commercial cooks to come up with innovative ways of repurposing meat, vegetables and other foods that weren’t used the day before, and be creative with food scraps, notes Bill Fuller, corporate chef for Big Burrito Group.
Kitchen staff at all 13 of Big Burrito’s restaurants in the Pittsburgh region, for instance, practice root-to-stem and tail-to-nose cooking. Leftover chicken carcasses and bones, beef scraps and discarded fish bones are simmered with vegetables in water to make stock. At Casbah, leftover bread is diced into squares and tossed with cream, dark chocolate and raspberries to create one of the Shadyside restaurant’s most favorite desserts — bread pudding.
“It’s about using everything the right way,” Mr. Fuller says.
As a result, there’s very little left over once the last dinner plate has been cleared. But on the rare occasion there is, it’s either given to employees as a staff meal or donated to the needy.
The menu at Scratch Food & Beverage in Troy Hill is similarly built on the creative reuse and cross-utilization of food. “When you’re trying to reduce waste, you have to look at the entire operation,” owner Don Mahaney says, including the waste that precedes any purchase. If you buy fish fillets instead of an entire fish, for instance, you have to take into account what the processor did with the bits and bones.
Also key is hiring stellar personnel who have the desire, and energy, to monitor food waste at each stage of the process. One way Scratch keeps a handle on waste is to wash dishes as they come back from the table. “Then you can ask, ‘Are we over portioning? Is something wrong with the fish?’” Mr. Mahaney says.
While food waste is dramatically lower today than it was even 10 years ago on the retail level, matching customer demand to the volume of product is still more of an art than a science, says Jannah Jablonowski, a spokesperson for Giant Eagle, which has more than 200 stores in four states. Which is why the grocery chain’s long-established partnerships with area food banks are so important.
Giant Eagle donates more than 6 million pounds of food annually to organizations such as Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which is part of the Feeding America network. A year ago, it launched a partnership with 412 Food Rescue that enables the chain to donate bread, produce and bakery items to those in need — items that are typically too perishable to send to traditional food banks. Thanks to a dedicated core of “Food Rescue Heroes” and a new Uber-like app that matches volunteers to donors, the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization is able to take food directly to the people who need it, including schools, shelters and Meals on Wheels programs.
The grocery chain also is piloting a program in its Indianapolis store that turns meat scraps and other edible items that aren’t fit for human consumption into animal feed.
“It’s a step toward the industry ideal of zero waste,” Ms. Jablonowski says. “As a food retailer, we realize the impact of hunger in our communities.”
They’re joined in their efforts by bakeries such as Mediterra Bakehouse, which donates leftover bread to St Mary's Russian Orthodox Church in the Southside, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church in Mt. Lebanon and All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Canonsburg, Uneaten dayold bread also makes its way to Light of Life Rescue Mission, City Mission in Washington, Pa., and “a local pig farmer in the area,” says manager Nicole Ambeliotis McLean. The Robinson bakehouse also leaves extra bread for vendors at local farmers markets.
Breadworks, too, is generous with its leftover bread. Whatever is not sold after its 5:30 p.m. “half-off” sale is donated to local food banks and charities. The North Side bakery also assists with local charity events, such as last Sunday’s Empty Bowls Dinner at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Shadyside. 3 or 4 broccoli stems ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt 1 large clove garlic, very finely chopped or pressed
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or use equal parts oil and vinegar)
Peel
2 large ripe or slightly overripe avocados ¼ cup milk or yogurt ½ cup maple syrup, honey or super-fine sugar
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ teaspoon vanilla extract ½ teaspoon salt Optional toppings: Raspberries,
Breathe new life into leftover spaghetti by turning it into a sliceable pie. There are as many versions of the dish as there are cooks — while some like to layer the top with sauce and mozzarella, I prefer to toss the cooked noodles with sweet Italian sausage and fresh chopped tomato. ½ pound leftover pasta ¼ cup olive oil Salt to taste 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste 3 large eggs 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
This is one of the oldest handwritten entries in my decades-old recipe book. It was handed down from my mother, who got the recipe from an elderly neighbor in her hometown of Oil City. It’s delicious warm from the oven, toasted with butter, or at room temperature. 1 cup sugar ½ cup shortening 2 eggs 3 large overripe bananas, mashed 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda blueberries, sliced strawberries, chopped nuts, shredded coconut and/or About ¼ cup milk or light cream
1 cup cooked and crumbled sweet Italian sausage 1 cup diced tomato Preheat
Heat olive oil in an ovenproof, non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add pasta, season to taste with salt and red pepper flakes, and turn to coat until warm.
In large bowl, whisk eggs and then stir in cheese, milk or cream, sausage and tomato.
Pour warm pasta into bowl with egg mixture, and toss to combine ingredients. Pour ¼ teaspoon salt Preheat
In large bowl, cream sugar and shortening together. Add eggs, and beat until light and creamy. Add mashed bananas, and mix to combine.
Fold in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well to combine, then pour into a buttered 9-by-3-inch loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour, or until top is crispy brown and cake tester or toothpick placed near the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Makes 1 loaf.
Serve warm or at room temperature, with additional red pepper flakes.
2 cups potato peels from well-scrubbed potatoes
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 teaspoons of fresh thyme, or to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Toss potato peels and garlic cloves with oil and thyme; add salt and pepper to taste. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet. Roast until crisp, about 20 minutes, tossing occasionally to ensure even cooking.
Remove from oven and immediately toss with cheese. Use croutons to top salads and casseroles. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Makes 2 cups.