A Cooks Garden

[elleng]

Don't Toss Tops; Leave the Leaves.

'It's called "nose-to-tail" eating, to borrow the subtitle of British chef Fergus Henderson's wonderful book, "The Whole Beast," and it was the way everyone ate in the days when you raised a yearly hog and used "everything but the squeal." In recent years I've enjoyed buying a whole lamb, pig or side of beef from a neighboring farmer, learning ways to cook trotters and finding I prefer flavorful short ribs to steak.

My adventure with meat is not typical, but as more budget-conscious folk take up food gardening, a similar expansion of the larder has occurred. Just as shoppers are used to seeing meat animals deconstructed as the familiar roasts and chops, they are also used to vegetables trimmed and groomed for the most common uses. The home grower, on the other hand, has an intimate relationship with everything from the seed to the fruit, with roots, stems and leaves in between.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/29/AR2009042901219.html?hpid=smartliving

[eleny]

1. There's a British restaurant that serves only "nasty bits"

All the stuff that isn't the usual cuts. I'd like that adventure. Although it would probably be like the food mom made routinely.

We always made an aspic made with the meat from pork tails, fresh knuckles and such. I guess the Germans call it sulze. We'd serve it up sprinkled with salt and vinegar or fresh lemon juice with rye bread on the side. Just one example.

Oh, and the best beets soup is made with the top greens included.