Eco-tips from a Canadian zero-waste chef
Go beyond leftovers with use-what-you-have recipes in new cookbook
I’ve watched many a YouTube video chronicling someone’s zero-waste journey, looking on in fascination, while thinking, “That’s impossible.”
Canadian blogger Anne-Marie Bonneau would surely disagree. Better known as “The Zero-Waste Chef” — which is also the name of her just-released debut cookbook — she’s been plastic-free for a decade and has mastered things like making her own ricotta and then repurposing the leftover whey in another recipe.
So while I picked up her new book with doubt, I figured there was no one better to help me out.
Early on, Bonneau shares something her daughter once said: “The only way to be zerowaste is to be dead.” In other words, the goal isn’t to be perfect — that’s impossible.
But any positive change still counts.
Here are three easy-to-incorporate tips I learned to reduce waste in the kitchen. Rethink your “musthaves”
We can reduce waste by reconsidering what we’ve deemed necessities. Take paper towels — something Bonneau’s own mother wonders how she can live without.
There are sustainable options you can buy, but Bonneau just cuts out rags from old clothes. For frying food, she recommends having a dedicated rag for absorbing excess grease, which she washes by hand. Put it to good (re)use Repurposing items is one of the three classic Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), but perhaps you haven’t considered applying this principle to ingredients. Bonneau peppers ideas throughout her book: When you’ve emptied the jar of dilly beans you’ve fermented, for example, don’t pour the probiotic-rich brine down the drain. It’s a great flavour enhancer in soups, salad dressings, dips — even ketchup.
Stray from the recipe
This may seem counterintuitive to put in a cookbook, but it’s something that I — a strict instruction follower — needed to read.
Forget about trips to get that one missing ingredient, and use what you already have. Experiment with substitutions, get creative and don’t restock until you really need to. Ultimately, remember that recipes are flexible.
The Zero-Waste Chef’s Mexican Hot Chocolate Bread Pudding
“After you taste this rich, creamy and crisp-on-top chocolate dessert, bread will never go to waste in your home ever again.
You’ll actually look forward to finding day-old bread in your kitchen. You may start asking your neighbours for a crust of bread, like an extra on the set of ‘Les Mis.’ Or you may simply toast fresh bread just to make this (which works well).
For the bread component of this recipe, choose a sweet white French batard (it’s like a much shorter, much wider baguette), Italian loaf, or quality white sandwich bread from a bakery or your oven.”
1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar
1/4 cup (60 mL) good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper Large pinch of salt
2 cups (500 mL) whole or 2 per cent milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup unsalted butter, plus more to grease baking dish
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
5 cups (1250 mL) 1/2-inch bread cubes, from day-old white bread
1/3 cup (80 mL) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish with butter. Combine sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne and salt in a small bowl.
Pour milk into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa mixture and vanilla, and cook, whisking, until everything is combined and the cocoa has dissolved, about 2 minutes. (If you stop here, you will have very delicious Mexican hot chocolate.)
Off the heat, add butter and allow it to melt. Whisk to incorporate into the hot chocolate.
When the mixture has cooled, whisk in the eggs. (Caution: Do not skip this cooling step! Adding the eggs to hot liquid will cause them to curdle.)
Place bread cubes in the saucepan and toss to coat evenly with the chocolate mixture. Pour the contents of the saucepan into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle on chocolate chips.
Bake until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. To store, cover leftovers with an inverted bowl or plate in the refrigerator. The bread pudding will keep for about 5 days.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.