What Is A Leftover?

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Andy M.

Certified Pretend Chef
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I know this is a burning question that's been in the forefront of your minds over the past year so let's take the bull by the horns and settle this once and for all time.

You roast a chicken and serve it with a couple of sides. A delicious dinner! Of course you don't eat the whole chicken, so the next day you have chicken salad or a chicken sandwich. Clearly those are leftovers.

You make a roast beef and eat less than half of it. There's plenty for another full roast beef dinner and then some sandwiches. Is the second dinner leftovers or just the sandwiches?

You make a big pot of tomato sauce, several quarts of the stuff. You portion it off into meal-sized servings and freeze them. Are all those portions leftovers?

What makes the difference? What are the requirements for something to NOT be a leftover? OR If it was not cooked that day is it ALWAYS a leftover?

Your thoughts?
 
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These are great questions! I cannot wait to see replies.

I can only speak to my kitchen:

To me, leftovers are when you have the same food the following day without alteration. For example, Thanksgiving dinner generally yields a lot of leftovers which are often divided up on plates and microwaved. Dinner, part II. That would be leftovers to me.

The carcass is then used to make soup stock, remaining turkey meat is used in stews, salads, casseroles, etc. All of these things to me are not leftovers. They are ingredients for other meals.

My grandmother used that carcass after she made soup stock. She dried the bones and busted them up to use in the garden. Waste not, want not!
 
These are great questions! I cannot wait to see replies.

I can only speak to my kitchen:

To me, leftovers are when you have the same food the following day without alteration. For example, Thanksgiving dinner generally yields a lot of leftovers which are often divided up on plates and microwaved. Dinner, part II. That would be leftovers to me.

The carcass is then used to make soup stock, remaining turkey meat is used in stews, salads, casseroles, etc. All of these things to me are not leftovers. They are ingredients for other meals.

My grandmother used that carcass after she made soup stock. She dried the bones and busted them up to use in the garden. Waste not, want not!

This.. ^

Ross
 
LOL… when I announce "we'll be having leftovers" it's 'cause it is food that will not be as good as the first service. Chili… never a leftover as it is always better that next day or two (or even thawed and reheated from frozen). Carnitas and refried beans… again, never a leftover.

Seafood, usually a leftover, but it depends upon what you do with it. Some leftover cooked seafood in a new cioppino is not a leftover.

Meatloaf… almost always a leftover, but pulled pork and/or BBQ not so much. Chicken can be a leftover, but in a new tikka for tacos, tostadas, or burritos… better than fresh!

Thanksgiving turkey… could be leftover, but put it in a covered glass vessel with a layer of stock and a few dots of butter and bake at 350F° for 20 minutes and it can be better than new.

So for me, it is what you can do about that second (or third) serving that will determine what is a leftover.

BTW, pizza is always a leftover. (c;
 
I tend to agree, that if it is used in another dish, it isn't a leftover; it's an ingredient. I also like Scott's notion, that it's not a leftover when it's better reheated. The exception is when there is only a very small amount left after a meal and it just goes on a supper plate so it won't go to waste.
 
When we are finished with dinner, assuming there are 'leftovers' of eachcompnent of the meal, we usually make up a complete ' leftover' meal all in one container ( like the millions of Chinese plastic take out containers we have accumulated). So its basically a mini version of what we had.

If the items dont make up a complete meal, then they are stored separately and would considered them a snack or an ingredient for future use.
 
I eat leftovers constantly; in fact, probably more often than not, esp. since the pandemic started, and I don't have friends coming by to help me eat as often.

Sometimes I change something slightly, like when something that I grate some cheese on, I'll grate a different kind on the next day. Or with a taco filling, I'll have some different condiments with it. But they're still leftovers. And I have a bunch of frozen dishes, from when I make a lot (almost always!), and I'll freeze them in one or two portion amounts, to make a quick meal with in the future. Eating another bowl of this the next day would be a leftover, but eating it a month away, thawed, and reheated, most people would not think of that as a leftover, would they?
 
I eat leftovers constantly; in fact, probably more often than not, esp. since the pandemic started, and I don't have friends coming by to help me eat as often.

Sometimes I change something slightly, like when something that I grate some cheese on, I'll grate a different kind on the next day. Or with a taco filling, I'll have some different condiments with it. But they're still leftovers. And I have a bunch of frozen dishes, from when I make a lot (almost always!), and I'll freeze them in one or two portion amounts, to make a quick meal with in the future. Eating another bowl of this the next day would be a leftover, but eating it a month away, thawed, and reheated, most people would not think of that as a leftover, would they?

I wouldn't call it a leftover. I'm reminded of a cooking teacher who called that "planned overs". I like the idea of a specific name for that, but I hate the term.
 
Hmmm, that's a very thought provoking question Andy!

Many times I'll have half of a serving of one dish or another,
and I just can't bring myself to throw it out... old habits die hard,
never waste, ya neva know what tomorrow will bring.

So, I'll collect up multiple small portions to create what we
in Hawaii call a "Mixed Plate", a little of this and a little of that
along side "two scoop Rice".

DH is a traditional breakfast food kinda guy, where I am not.
(Eggs and I don't always get along)
In Hawaii, we'd eat whatever was left from last night.

When I make other dishes, such as Meatballs, Meatloaf, etc.
before I ever cook them, I divvy them up in 2
portion sizes and freeze them for later. I mean, 1lb. each
of Ground Beef, Veal and Italian Sausage makes a mini
Meatloaf for us two and then Meatballs galore!

meatballs1.jpg

This, I don't consider leftovers, because it has been specifically
put aside for another meal.

The issue with something rather large, like a whole Turkey, hmmm...
I'm not sure on that one. I re-purpose a Tom multiple ways,
as most of us do, so.....
 
There are weeks that as the week is coming to an end, and the fridge is filling up, we will have a ' left over' night dinner just to get rid of the things that didnt get eaten and won't store well.

I do a weekly refrigerator clean so after leftover night , it gets fed to the chicken, put in the compost or tossed.
 
I guess I take the word leftover too literally. If we don't finish it the first day, it's a leftover, and usually relegated to lunches.
 
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