# What are the worst leftovers?



## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

I vote onion rings.


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## pullmanpair (Sep 29, 2009)

I have to go with green salad that has sat in a dressing overnight. Onion rings/french fries are both very bad, as well.


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## a_mak (Aug 27, 2009)

For me it's fries. Whether I refry, microwave, or warm up in the oven I can never get the fries to taste good.


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## suzanne (May 26, 2001)

I never met a leftover I couldn't reuse or recycle with at least some success. For me, the key is not trying to make it taste/look/feel like it did when fresh, but using it in a way that takes advantage of its core qualities. For example: I would probably chop up l.o. onion rings, recrisp the bits, and use them as a topping for a casserole (hey, more leftovers! eace. French fries, I spice them before reheating in the toaster oven until they are really really crisp -- most fries are too soft for me in the first place, so getting them very brown and crisp in reheating is getting them to where I like them. :lips:


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

You beat me to it, Suzanne. 

I'd never understood the antipathy many people have towards leftovers, until realizing that they use the term differently than I do. For many people, "leftovers" means having the same dish over and over again. For me, leftovers become an ingredient to use in a new dish. As a result, there are no bad leftovers, let alone worse ones. 

Pullmanpair: The way to resolve that problem is to dress individual servings, rather than the whole salad at one time.


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## mastersniper (Apr 14, 2005)

Left over fries are great for hashbrowns. Fry up a couple strips of bacon then while working on the eggs and toast chop up left over fries then fry crispy in the bacon fat with salt (if needed), pepper, paprika, and onions.


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## shelta (Sep 16, 2009)

Paraphrasing Boy's Town, LOL, I agree with "there's no such thing as a bad leftover"! There's always a way to make them tasty and kinda fun to try and devise new methods.


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

I hardly ever waste food--but some things I just won't attempt to revive or reuse.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

I challenge anyone to re-cycle a left-over bowl of trifle


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## missyjean (Nov 5, 2009)

I have to agree with you on that. I usually send left-over salad in dressing home with one my my guests


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## justpj (Feb 24, 2009)

I am the biggest waste not , want not type of person you ever will meet, but I still have a hard time with left over liver....

Someone tell me a good use for it!!! other than warmed up liver that is.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Cut the liver into thin strips, sort of like julienne, fry with diced potatoes, onions, chili peppers (if you like), maybe some garlic and whatever herbs/spices you like.


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## justpj (Feb 24, 2009)

oh thanks that sounds like something i will have to try for sure.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

Mash it up and turn it into a pate-like spread.


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

Leftover lutefisk!!!


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## justpj (Feb 24, 2009)

KYH we tried that and noone here was thrilled with it. it was a bit to dry in texture. i know that probably dont make sense but that is the only way i can discribe it.


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## cyberdoc (Nov 1, 2009)

Considering that fresh lutefisk is hard to take, I think I got to go with you on that one.:lol:


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I'm sure there are good uses for it, but I won't eat left over no matter how it is prepared. Maybe shrimp, but that's about it. And tuna is ok too, if I sear too much tuna and there's left overs I will cook though whatever is left, and then chop it up and make it into a tuna salad immediately for the next day.


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## kirstens (Jul 3, 2009)

White bean dip with green onion and soup after a week in the fridge. I should freeze it but I always think I'm going to eat it the next day but never do.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Add some mashed avocado and use it for a face mask


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## kirstens (Jul 3, 2009)

I like your thinking


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## cyberdoc (Nov 1, 2009)

Leftover Haggas would probably be challenging. :lol:


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## mikelm (Dec 23, 2000)

I've had moderate success reheating fries and onion rings in a convection oven. That tends to re-dry them to a considerable extent, though never to just-out-of-the-fryer condition.

Mike


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Challenging to eat in the first place  hehe j/k never tried it, I'm sure it's ....lovely.

Easy one to recycle - haggis and potato croquettes, crumber & deep fried, of course(well they are Scottish!)


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

#1 - Extreme leftovers - Friends mum made rissoles for dinner and i promise, I found the very same peice of grissle from a pork chop I'd left on my plate at lunch. (it was distinctive. She'd simply scraped the lunch plates into the mix)

#2 - Chinese food. I look at it longingly the morning after and wish i had the cast iron stomach my sons seem to have inherited from somewhere.


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

Ew, leftover gristle . . . bughut, I say you win so far.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Gristle...that's not recycling...that's just GROSS!

Anyone got something to better that?


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## thekitchensink (Aug 4, 2009)

No way, Chinese and Italian make for thebest leftovers. I'm of the opinion that Chinese food is often _better_ once reheated and I think I once read some kind of Scientific study that explained why this is.


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## chefhow (Oct 16, 2008)

there is NOTHING worse than reheated pasta! I have never once seen a reheated pasta dish that was worth eating.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Recycling is the name of the game, and in many cases difference between profit and no profit on a commercial basis. Years ago in the old hotels this was the main job of the chef Garde' Manger.


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

heres another gross one for you...

We just came home from a fabulous dining experience at a newly opened mediterranean restaurant in Dundee...The Byzantium. Food was amazing. Altogether a great night.

Then I noticed a couple using the lovely plastic, prysm-like spears that are left on all the tables as toothpicks... They ate their olives and sundried tomatoes with them, then placed them back in the container they came from...Well we were using ours too and then we were suddenly using our fingers instead.

I know its not leftovers/re-cycling per say, but yeuch!! How often have they been re-used???


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

No, not really. It can be formed into 'meat' balls - it can be used as part of a skirlie... Versatile, that's our national dish!

And, by the way....? It's haggIs


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Oh, BH...


BOAK.....


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## cyberdoc (Nov 1, 2009)

Sounds Intriguing.


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

Well it gave me the dry boak for sure... BTW To the un-initiated. Re. Scots translation...~The dry boak is the gagging reflex. As opposed to the BOAK which constitutes an up-chuck.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Mine would have been the full 'technicolour yawn', BH :lol:


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Haggis is a tasty dish... I mean, could millions of Scots be wrong?

But that croquette thing? Naaaaah, full on boak, never mind a dry one - and I've never heard of it!


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

c'mon now Ishbel. Haggis croquettes? Sounds good to me.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

It's the frying part that gies me the boak...! :lol:


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

if you eat pasta and chinese food cold the next morning that would still constitute a leftover?.....
love reheated fried rice, congee, pad thai, lasagna, pesto pasta, mac and cheese.....

recycled picks & grissle are just bad form.....gross.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

100% with shroom. 

And a big thanks to Ish and BH for adding such a useful term to my vocabulary. As it happens (failed actor that I am), I've got quite a few accents -- among them several Scots' -- which I use to bedevil perfectly innocent people. Boak will make it so much the better.

BDL


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

As most Scots would say

'We've goat a millyun mair'.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

....I'd be willing to bet some of your accented Scottish involve Misshh Moneypenny :smiles:

Hey what happened to this thread??

It's turned into a boak-fest.


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

Sho, Mish shunshine, you've dishcovered BDL'sh dashdardly plan. We've been ecshpecting you...

...Nah! its still all about leftovers, I checked. He He!


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Fur Goad's sake....
Izzat sumbdi tryin tae bring wur Sean (aka Tommy) intae ra mix? He's fae Tollcross.... he's no goat much o a Scots accent, mair yer backstreet milkman kinnna hing!


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

I think this would make a really great "Iron Chef" or "Chopped" knockoff: _Here's a bunch of leftover food. Now make a decent meal out of it!_

You heard it first here. eace:


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

Including gristle.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

I think this would make a really great "Iron Chef" or "Chopped" knockoff: Here's a bunch of leftover food. Now make a decent meal out of it!


Where do I sign up? It's what happens everyday around here.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Yesh I hassh dischcovered thisch, BDL will sshortly schupply shixty shix schucculent shaute reschipes. :rolllusch schauses...schaken, not shtirred.
Perrrrhapsch shatay schaushe with a shishkebab.

Ah nuts! It's Friday...one deserves to be silly.

Ok leftover challenge:

BBQ'd sausages (and not just straight from the fridge as midnight snack - no fair!  )


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Here too, not much goes to waste. Didn't Top Chef do one episode on leftovers?


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

I'm reminded o' wee Craig Ferguson doin' "the worst Sean Connery impression I ever heard," in _The Big Tease_.

Can that be healthy in a food forum?

BDL


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

I've had hit and miss success with morphing one meal into another, but this week was a win for sure. We just got back from a 2-week trip, and were ready for a home-cooked meal. 

I made a small sirloin boneless beef roast (on sale) with root vegetables, and there was plenty left over. However, I had no usable juices to make a sauce with, so I ran to the store, bought a small sirloin steak (also on sale), seared it in the pan, and deglazed with wine. After some fussing I added small bites of the roast and slices of the steak and the vegetables to the pan, covered it and put it in the oven at 275 degrees for an hour while I tutored a student at his home. By the time I got home, it was done. All the meat was tender and the sauce was perfect. There was enough left to portion and freeze four meals for my mother-in-law.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

(Not real healthy...too much sschpittle.
Ok ok I'll schtopp
Stop)


Mezz...that re-make is a winner for sure


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Thanks, Moneypenny.

BDL


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Welcome 00sheven
DC

(I must explain why I've gone on with this (but I couldn't help that last one)...my teens and I play a driving game where we try and outdo each other with Sean Connery impressions. We get ourselves into fits of silly laughter, makes the drive go faster too. Not taking the you know what out of you, it was just too tempting as we do this, and often).

So...who is going to recyle the bbq sausages? Assume they aren't burnt to a crisp and have some life left in them


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Easy. Cut them into fine dice and use them, along with shrimp, scrambled egg, and green onions in fried rice -- using glutinous rice.

BDL


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

Chop the sausages and add them to the leftover baked beans for lunch.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Hadn't thought of those.....thanks


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## cyberdoc (Nov 1, 2009)

Yeah, I fat fingered it.


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## cyberdoc (Nov 1, 2009)

I've never actually tried Haggis, but I have heard that it can be quite tasty. I probably should give it a try since I am of Scott decent on my mother's side.


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## allie (Jul 21, 2006)

Caramelize some onions and peppers, add the sliced peppers, and make a sweet/sour type sauce or a tangy mustard sauce, pour over and serve on a hoagie!


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## bubbamom (Jan 30, 2002)

Gosh, and all this time I've just eaten the left-overs cold for breakfast (or lunch) the next day. The worst - - the furry one on the bottom shelf of the 'frige that I obviously didn't like the first time or it would have been on the top shelf. :smiles: Oh, and depending on the left over, the dog may get it added to his kibble for a delicious, nutritious additive to his diet!


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Ooh tasty  Got a big end of college bbq at home coming up this weekend - friends all going their various ways across the planet afterwards. Will more than likely be leftovers so...hey, that can be the hangover breakfast


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## pembroke (Sep 26, 2009)

A late night doner kebab microwaved the following morning, lettuce and all- A great British Tradition!


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## kirstens (Jul 3, 2009)

What is a doner kebab??


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## chefray (Sep 29, 2009)

Think Gyro, on a plate, minus the tzatziki, and extra delicious because of the roasting method for the lamb.


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## soup_dictator (Jan 21, 2008)

Has anyone mentioned Bubble and Squeak?

Probably one the greatest traditional Great Britain leftover dishes.
All the left over vegetables (carrots, peas, brussel sprouts, turnip etc...) and potatoes from a roast dinner. Mash together and fry the vegetable potato cake. Probably in some sort of grease. Voila!

Though, that is a great leftover and the name of this thread is "worst leftovers"
My vote might be along the lines of leftover sunny eggs. I was trying to think of the worst type of cooked eggs. Sunny with the yolks all dried up and crusty but still runny on the inside.


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

Oh yum :lol: I suppose if we made a cafeteria-size batch of something, we could mash that up and slip it in with nobody noticing.


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

Soup_dictator, your user name makes me think of some of the things that make the best leftovers imo--broth made from leftover veges and meats, and some soups and stews rewarmed the next day.


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## suzanne (May 26, 2001)

I've got several containers in my freezer of potential ravioli/pasty/empanada fillings. In other words, mashed-up bits of meat, sauce, vegs that will someday go inside dough to live again. :lol: Sometimes when I've brought my mini empanadas to a party, people go nuts over them. Little do they know . . . 

I like haggis. :thumb: But I've never had it at home. I imagine if I had leftover, I'd treat it the same as polenta/cornmeal mush/grits: let it solidify in the fridge, slice, coat the slices with flour, then sauté to crisp them up. Sch. . . oops, Scottish scrapple!

Those eggs? Cut in thin strips and add to fried rice, along with the other bits and pieces. After all, fried rice absolutely requires leftover, cold rice! The starch on the outside of the grains needs to firm up, otherwise you get fried moosh. I know; I've made that mistake. 

And leftover pasta? Unsauced, it can be the basis of a frittata. Lasagna and the like: that's not left over, that's breakfast!

Doesn't anyone else remember the Christine Lavin song, "Cold Pizza for Breakfast"?

YouTube - Cold Pizza for Breakfast


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

cold pizza any time...not just for breakfast.


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## soup_dictator (Jan 21, 2008)

If leftovers can't be used as an ingredient for soup they can probably be used in the stock. 
A lot of people see leftovers as garbage but a Saucier sees a gold mine for flavour. Toss them in the big pot to simmer over night with the bones. Not everything can be used in stock though, especially the gaseous green vegetables like cabbage and broccoli. pwew.


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