Kitchen tips #12 - All in the rind

Sunday, February 03, 2008
I was about to throw away the parmesan rind when I had grated it all. The Italian chef I was working with at the time stopped me.

He kept at it - saving the rinds - till we had a decent amount in the cheese fridge then he handed them over to the fish section who made all the risottos (fish sections never have enough work), and instructed them to add the rinds to the risotto as it was made, and, as it cooked, they would melt, and the left over hard rind could be removed.
In a restaurant or hotel kitchen risotto is often par-cooked fresh every day due to the time it takes to cook - you soften your onions, pearl the rice, add the parmesan rinds, white wine then little amounts of warm chicken stock whilst stirring it in, moving the rice contantly till it's about half cooked, then chill it. It sits in the service fridge to be finished with more stock, marscapone, parmesan etc later when the order comes though.

Nothing should be wasted in a kitchen that cares.

1 comment

Claudia said...

This is one of the few memories I have of my time in Italy as a child, that the rind of the parmesan was not thrown away! I still put it in things such as vegetable stews.
Claudia.