What Chefs Know Best: Chefs' Value Guide

By Food & Wine
Updated March 08, 2017
Professional cooks need to be incredibly thrifty. F&W asked some of the best for spending tips—and came away with a hankering for stale bread, fish heads and bouillon cubes.
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Chef Tip: Inexpensive Entertaining

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"If someone gave me $25 for a party, I'd go to the farmers' market and buy the best vegetables, grill them, then set them on the table like a bouquet of flowers." —Wolfgang Puck

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Scraps & Freebies: Stale Bread

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Inspired by her grandmother, who used up bread "until the dear end," Italian master Lidia Bastianich of NYC's Felidia turns leftover loaves into creamy, nutty parfaits.

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Buy This Not That: Crawfish

Credit: Photo © Cedric Angeles
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Instead of a big, bland lobster, opt for tiny, tasty crawfish. Bryan Caswell of Houston's Reef prefers crawfish because it's more flavorful—and half the price.

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Bruised Fruit

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When he has less-than-beautiful fruit, Matthew Accarrino makes this Watermelon-Strawberry Agua Fresca with it.

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Scraps & Freebies: Broccoli Stems

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Ilan Hall cuts broccoli stems into slices, blanches and grills them, then tops them with sage butter while they're still warm.

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Picks For a Chef's Pantry: Pop Rocks

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Chefs invest in high-end ingredients that can make a huge impact, even in small amounts. Michael Voltaggio slips gently fizzy "pastry rocks" into desserts.

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Buy This Not That: Domestic Truffles

Credit: Photo © Earthy.com
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Matthew Dillon of Seattle's Corson Building loves local truffles, which cost one-third the price of imported.

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Picks For a Chef's Pantry: Saba

Credit: Photo © Antonis Achilleos.
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Nancy Silverton of Los Angeles's Osteria Mozza finishes dishes with a little saba (cooked grape juice). She says its syrupy, sweet complexity is similar to balsamic vinegar's. $26 for 250 ml; ilmercatoitaliano.net.

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Bang for the Buck: Leftover Herbs

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Rick Bayless of Chicago's Frontera Grill keeps extra cilantro from going to waste by using it in this pesto, which can stay in the fridge for two months. Try it on fish or add a little to soup.

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Buy This Not That: Smoked Paprika

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Saffron tops out at $315 per ounce. Traci Des Jardins of Jardinière in San Francisco uses only a pinch in paella, adding smoked paprika for color.

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Picks for a Chef's Pantry: Dashi Packets

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For a late-night snack, Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago uses instant dashi to make a soup with yuzu juice, soy sauce, sesame oil and scallions.

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Bang for the Buck: Pickled Radishes

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Charles Phan of the Slanted Door in San Francisco uses inexpensive radishes from Mon Chong Loong importers to give dumplings some zip.

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Chef Tip: Baking Powder

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"If you want to get into molecular gastronomy, bake a muffin. The fact that baking powder leavens batter is about as complex as it gets." —Grant Achatz

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Inexpensive Gadgets: Heatproof Spatula

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Saul Bolton of Brooklyn's The Vanderbilt buys spatulas that are stain- and heat-resistant.

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Gadget: Rice Cooker

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Laurent Gras of Chicago's L20 makes this dish with a rice cooker and organic bouillon cubes.

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