Cooking with Scraps Cookbook

The parts you used to throw away, put to delicious use.

Lindsay-Jean Hard, who writes the Cooking with Scraps column for Food52, shows how good the often-discarded parts of food can be. Seeds, stems, tops, and rinds: the bits that usually land in the compost bin become the start of something worth eating. Eighty-five recipes that turn what looks like trash into real cooking, reducing waste one dish at a time. Frugal, resourceful, and quietly clever.

The ideas are simple and the results are surprising. Carrot greens, bright and peppery, make a zesty pesto. The water from a can of beans whips up like egg whites into a vegan mayo that even non-vegans will reach for. Broccoli stems, olive-oil poached and set on lemony ricotta toast, earn a place of their own.

Why We Chose It

We love a book that changes how you see what's already in your kitchen. This one teaches us to use the whole plant, from root to leaf, stem to rind. Doing this is for the good of our palate, our pocketbook, and our environment. It's the kind of thinking we try to bring to everything we do, and Lindsay-Jean makes it feel easy.

"A whole new way to celebrate ingredients that have long been wasted. Lindsay-Jean is a master of efficiency, and we were inspired to follow her lead." —Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, cofounders of Food52

"I love this book because the recipes matter, showing us how to utilize the whole plant, to the betterment of our palate, our pocketbook, and our place." —Eugenia Bone, author of The Kitchen Ecosystem

"Packed with smart, approachable recipes for beautiful food made with ingredients that you used to throw in the compost bin." —Cara Mangini, author of The Vegetable Butcher

Details

• Author: Lindsay-Jean Hard
• 85 recipes
• Grew out of the Cooking with Scraps column for Food52
• Built around whole-plant use, frugal cooking, and waste reduction
• Recipes for seeds, stems, tops, rinds, and everything usually discarded