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How to Turn Your Veggie Scraps Into a Flavor Bomb

Frank Guerriero

October 03, 2018

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Recipes

Photo: Keirnan Monaghan and Theo Vamvounakis

We love toting a glorious haul of luscious fruits and vegetables home from the local farmer’s market, but when it comes time to face off with those heaps of kale and bunches of beets in the kitchen, there’s one small problem: bountiful produce also means bountiful scraps.

Enter Jason Weiner, chef of New York’s Almond restaurants and L&W Oyster Co. and co-founder of Kimchi Jews. He epitomizes the practice of farm-to-table cooking, so he’s no stranger to that loose lettuce leaf or cabbage core.

Weiner proposes a Korean-inspired solution: kitchen scrap kimchi. Instead of tossing those odds and ends into the compost bin, he wilts them in salt overnight before packing them up with Korean chile powder, fish sauce, and plenty of other aromatics. A few days later, you’ve got a funky condiment that’s sure to liven up any dish it meets. Get the recipe.

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Frank Guerriero is the media assistant at the Beard Foundation. Find him on Instagram.