The Leftovers You Should Always Take From A Restaurant

Few questions are as difficult to answer as "do you want a box for that?" in a restaurant setting. "Have you dined with us before?" Whether yes or no, the whole schema will more or less remain the same. "Still or sparkling?" Neither! Tap is fine. "Will that be a wet or dry martini?" This could not get any easier. But negotiating the difference between leftovers and food scraps, evaluating the future use you might get out of whatever remains on the plate versus its eventual prep time and labor, not to mention any packaging that could get wasted in the process? The decision requires more arithmetic than dinner out ever should. The good news is we can make things slightly simpler, as there is one thing you should never leave behind on the table: bones.

Naturally, you probably won't be able to enjoy those lamb, pork rib, and veal bones unadorned for a groggy breakfast after a big night out. But they will endure much longer than something like a couple of ounces of cold potatoes. Once you've collected enough in airtight containers stored in the freezer, you can use them to improve stock or broth for soups and stews, or, in our favorite application, to zhuzh up a Sunday gravy, also known as tomato sauce.

Not only does using leftover restaurant bones to enhance your tomato sauce extend the memory of what was hopefully an excellent evening out, it extends that extension, when you make a whole big pot of the stuff and save some for later still. Now, plenty of sauce recipes call for particular bones, and that specificity is always welcome. But we also like to use up what we've got (particularly when those lovely meat selections were accompanied by the dreaded "MP," or market price, on a restaurant menu), and we haven't had any complaints about our more casual approach so far. Because the bone in the cut you initially ordered would have typically retained its flavorful marrow, you can tap into it after the fact with barely an extra step.

Adding leftover bones to your sauce could scarcely be easier. Bring the frozen bones back up to room temperature while you get your preferred sauce prepped. Once it's all ready to simmer, give the bones a few good whacks with a kitchen mallet to let the marrow seep out. Toss them in until the end and remove before serving. And because this is most commonly used for heartier preparations, pair the resulting sauce with a dried rather than fresh pasta to really stand up to its heft.