Editor’s Note: This post is a companion piece to our September/October 2020 issue, featuring articles about living green in the region. You can read Layla Khoury-Hanold’s feature, “Waste Not, Want Not” here to learn more about restaurants and their efforts in sustainability. See more in our digital guide here. Thank you for reading!
RND’s Quincy Randolph shares his top tips for extending ingredients’ shelf life at home.
Before teaming up with his brother to open RND Coffee, Quincy Randolph was a chef at Blackbird in Chicago, a fine dining institution that has sadly shuttered amid the pandemic. But once a chef, always a chef, and part of the ethos that Randolph has brought to RND and his home kitchen is maximizing ingredients with an eye toward flavor.
Here, Randolph shares his cheffy tips and techniques for extending the shelf life of ingredients—some are quick and easy, while others might make for a fun, new kitchen project.
Discover Dehydrating
Randolph recommends using a dehydrator to preserve fruit and vegetables, even citrus peels. But you don’t need a fancy machine to get into dehydrating. According to Randolph, dehydrating stale bread is a superior way to make croutons. Simply cube bread, toss with oil and salt, then bake on low heat till toasty. Store in an airtight container. They’re a natural salad topper, but Randolph is partial to snacking on a bowl of croutons straight up.
Adopt Juicing
Those veggies languishing in your crisper drawer might not be suitable for drinking juices, but you can still juice them and put them to delicious use. Add the juiced veggies to stock to make a “vegetable stock on steroids” that works well as a base for vegetable soups or as a warming liquid for poaching. You can also use them make vegetable-forward butter sauces. Randolph recalls making a turnip butter sauce at Blackbird that was reduced until it obtained a caramel-like consistency. An easy one to try at home is simmering carrot juice with pats of butter to yield a “super luxurious butter carrot sauce.”
Try Curing
Randolph isn’t suggesting you start making your own charcuterie, but he is a big fan of cured egg yolks. Egg yolks are something he routinely sees go in the garbage, but once you cure the yolks, they’ll hold up almost indefinitely in the fridge. Mix equal parts salt and sugar in a container and bury the egg yolks inside and let them cure for a week in the refrigerator until they harden. The cured yolks offer a dairy-free, cheese-like quality to dishes; try grating them over pasta. You can also experiment with dried herbs and spices or play with the sugar-to-salt ratio. One wildcard idea that comes to mind for Randolph is a cumin-and-cinnamon cured egg yolk to grate over cherries.
Experiment with Quick Pickling
Quick pickles, also known as refrigerator pickles, are a great way to extend your farmers market haul but don’t require canning or a surplus of produce.
“People would be surprised at what you can pickle and how great it is. I’ve gone through phases where I’d pickle anything I could get my hands on: grapes, potatoes, veggie stems…” Randolph says. “It will take some of the bite or bitterness off and quick pickles are great for charcuterie boards or adding an acidic element in any dish.”
Make a simple brine by dissolving salt (and optional sugar) in a one-to-one ratio of vinegar and water in a pot over medium heat, then pour brine over jars packed with the veggies (plus spices, herbs, and aromatics). You can play with the proportions to suit your taste and experiment with different vinegars or spices, too. Let the brine and veggies cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge; you can eat them pretty much right away, but they’ll get better in a couple days’ time.
About the Writer:
Layla’s food obsession started early; growing up in cities like Paris, Aberdeen and Jakarta, Layla counts escargots, Haggis and beef rendang among her first memorable meals. She’s always looking for the next exciting bite—and relishes uncovering the story behind it. Her work has appeared on Saveur, Food Network and Refinery29 and in The Chicago Tribune, Drinks International and Our State. Follow her on Instagram @theglassofrose or on Twitter @glassofrose.
