THE STORY OF LEFT-OVER RANCH
Johnson Hole
The Leftover Ranch philosophy is based on some simple concepts around food procurement, food management, and meal planning techniques that incorporate opportunistic shopping techniques and the limiting or eliminating of waste.
This approach was originally focused on limiting the times we would have left- overs or vegetable/fruits go bad because we either did not have a meal plan, or a planful way to integrate them into upcoming meals. Part of this strategy includes not limiting the menu to traditional “breakfast” or “dinner” items, be ok eating whatever, whenever. Then while having a new kitchen countertop installed, I picked up a bucket of fried chicken from a local chain, for the hefty price tag of $37.00, and figured there was an opportunity to develop ways to stretch “on sale” items as far as we could- then share this process with others.
OUR FIRST STEPS
Bob cooking on the grill
Our first step was to develop the “weekly” or longer meal plan based on two meals a day, since it’s hard for us to carve out time to prepare a meal and eat midday, while taking care of the animals and chores around the property. The seven-to-ten-day plan is put together and written down, so we don’t end up at 5 o’clock saying “now what are we having for dinner tonight?”. The plan is based on what is on hand in the refrigerator, what’s left over or nearing its end date, a quick look at the fresh fruit and vegetables (hate to see an avocado go south) on the counter, and which bread products are available such as hoagie rolls, biscuits, Italian/French bread loaf, hamburger buns. Carolyn maintains a freezer inventory list that is broken out by item, date frozen, and then organized by oldest to newest (and color coded) which hangs on the refrigerator. We maintain a current shopping list in the “COZI” app, which gets updated live time by either of us when working in the kitchen and always includes opportunistic sale items such as pork butt, whole chicken, ham, and tuna loin.
COMPOST
My wife Carolyn set up a compost station where our food scraps go, along with ashes from the wood stove and other products (like pine shavings from our chickens) which has produced literally a couple tons of excellent dirt for planting.
GARDEN AND FRUIT TREES
This last year we finally had a productive garden, and even planted some fruit trees, while battling the plethora of hungry animals roving around our property which includes deer, foxes, squirrels, pack rats, javelinas, and a million birds.
“RUNNER” & OTHER ANIMALS
Some scraps such as tomato ends and cores, watermelon, red pepper, and cabbage are saved for the chickens and ducks, our resident young deer “Runner” who lives in the front wash, and of course a periodic bacon strip or ham slice for our dogs Nala and Hagen.
EATING IN
We really do not eat out (except for sushi) and have made some one-time investments in a couple key kitchen tools like a stand mixer with pasta attachment, meat grinder, and good quality knives (all based on recommendations found in cooking magazines). Over the last 10 years or more we have consistently watched several different food related shows and competitions, read food related magazines, and purchased a few cookbooks. We tend to use a “Chopped” philosophy for using left-overs and repurposing ingredients, while paying attention to knife cuts, presentation, and of course taste! Recently I started testing recipes sent by The Test Kitchen and have gotten some great ideas there as well.
OUR INFLUENCES
My culinary point of view was primarily driven by folks like Emeril Lagasse and more recently Tareq Taylor and Andreas Viestad- basically Southern, Italian and Nordic/Scandinavian which all use similar type ingredients. I grew up in Philadelphia and worked at Moe’s Deli up on Frankford avenue, then became a produce man at a local market during high school (started out unloading milk trucks and managing the cold box). Once I started working full time, I spent a lot of time in the South Philadelphia neighborhoods and waterfront, so I am a big fan of scrapple, pork roll, soft pretzels, creamed chip beef (SOS), Italian grinders, and steak sandwiches (provolone please, wit). Almost every corner down in South Philly had a sandwich shop and I remember eating pickled pig’s feet at 15th and Federal streets early on in my career (it is an acquired taste) and spent lots of time getting to know the “Italian Market” on 9th street. Down near the Delaware river I immersed myself in a multitude of breakfast sandwiches, all on fresh amoroso rolls (which we ship to AZ regularly) and had my favorite lunch/dinner spots like D’Nicks and Tony Luke’s on Oregon avenue. Depending on the neighborhood I was in, local cuisine was representative of the culture and heritage in the area- like the E&A Tavern in Port Richmond who made the best liverwurst and onion sandwich around, or the Schooner Tavern near Old City where mussels in garlic white wine sauce were a staple, along with the elderly gentlemen at the bar singing Dean Martin songs…what a great experience.
Later we lived in Chicagoland which is when we learned to make our own pizza since we could not get good NY style there or get it “pie cut”. Next, we moved down near Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay with its tremendous seafood and where we met and spent time with the “Sushi Master” in Bel Air who taught me a lot about integrating flavors from different cuisines. We have also had the opportunity to travel and sample local food in England, France, Finland, Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands, in small towns and the large cities. All these experiences “molded” my culinary point of view and improved our skills for overall food management, preparation, and ultimately taste!
GROUND RULES OF THE LEFT-OVER RANCH
Use an opportunistic approach of buying something on sale (particularly meats and fish) and figure out how to use/reuse some and freeze the rest for later, so our cost per meal stays way down.
OUR SYSTEM
Keep track of the oldest fresh meats and vegetables (like avocados) on the counter and in the refrigerator and use the oldest frozen items first.
Create a meal list for the next two weeks and shop just for those items.
Utilize local and fresh ingredients to make our own mayonnaise and aioles, whipped cream, marinades, Russian dressing, fermented pepper hot sauce, prickly pear salad dressing, peach pepper jelly, sausage, biscuits, sauces, soft pretzels, pizza dough, and pasta. Use fresh horseradish and sweet and sour onions (instead of prepared mustard and ketchup) and fresh herbs from our “herb wagon”.
OUR RECIPES
Here is a list of some of the recipes you’ll find here on this site.
