Secrets of Great Second Meals: Flexible Modern Recipes That Value Time and Limit Waste – A Practical Cookbook for the Home Cook to Transform Leftovers and Save Money

by Sara Dickerman

Learn to cook smarter, save time and money, and enjoy great meals crafted from leftovers in this practical and creative cookbook that teaches you to plan and prepare great “second meals.”

When it comes to cooking and leftovers, James Beard Award-winner Sara Dickerman believes that there is nothing better than figuring out the right way to reframe a good meal into another, potentially great meal. Second meals aren’t just reheating last night’s dinner. For Sara, there’s excitement in introducing new flavors and textures at the next meal—that eureka moment of fitting ingredients you have into a delicious new framework. In  Secrets of Great Second Meals , she inspires use to create fresh, delicious meals using what’s in those containers in the refrigerator. At Sara’s house, re-invention might mean pureeing roasted vegetables into a quick soup, crafting a beautiful salad with some second-day salmon, or stuffing cooked rice into roasted poblano peppers. But unlike other cookbooks that emphasize thrift,  Secrets of Great Second Meals  focuses on creating inviting, sophisticated, and healthy recipes that are open-ended enough to adapt to what you have on hand. Sara shows how to make the most of your food the way chefs by thinking of meals in a more modular way. With a little thoughtful planning, you can look at extra food from one dinner as components to another meal that has already been prepped. Sara provides a list of the top ten most versatile dishes for multiple meals, offers advice on food storage (how to wrap it, when to put it in the fridge, when to freeze it, and when to throw it out), and includes tips on adding freshness and flavor using salt, acids, herbs, and texture. Most importantly, she gives home cooks the tools they need to learn how to improvise confidently. The recipes in  Secret of Great Second Meals  are meant to be flexible, and Sara gives home cooks plenty of cues on how they can be adapted to fit what in the fridge and pantry for dishes such Illustrated with full-color photos throughout,  Secrets of Great Second Meals  makes re-imagining food for a second meal not just a good, cheap, un-wasteful thing to do, but way of making everyday eating more inventive and enticing.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking

352 pages, Hardcover

Published February 12, 2019

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

What might I be called? Some would say thrifty. Others might call me economical. I've even been called cheap (in a good way, I think).

All of these are true. I know how to live big on very little.

Secrets of Great Second Meals is perfect for someone like me.

Look at the opening paragraph of the book:
"Hey, have you checked your refrigerator today? Are there any enticing offerings chilling in there? Some rice from takeout the other night? Maybe a few chunks of rotisserie chicken? Or half a bundle of herbs you bought a few days ago and need to use soon? That stuff is golden: those odds and ends are the seeds of your next glorious meal."

I like this, too:
"I take uncommon delight in putting together memorable meals out of the morsels in my refrigerator: it's creative work with just a hint of virtue embedded in it."

Some important ideas author Sara Dickerman shares: the secrets of great first meals; how to reanimate (her word) stored food; and when to throw things out.

Here are some facts I learned:

1. The number-one source of leftover chicken in the country is probably supermarket rotisserie chicken. But it's easy to make something similar for your own leftover chicken.

2. Always throw fruit that's on the brink of over-ripeness into the freezer---especially bananas.

3. Look this one up if you often have bits and pieces of leftover cheese: fromage fort.

4. Cook in batches large enough for a future meal, and then recombine them in a different manner for a different meal. Cook simply the first time and add complexity later.

5. A dozen eggs in the house is the best possible setup for a delicious second meal.

6. How do you make something out of nothing? The author shares egg moves, soup moves, salad moves, and carb (bread, tortillas, pasta, rice, or potatoes) moves.

7. The author notes that she tries to "rethink the classic casserole mentality." For example, "no canned soup was injured in the making of this cookbook."


Okay, but what about recipes, I can hear you ask. Does this cookbook have recipes? Judge for yourself:



Black Bean Tacos with Mushrooms and Scissor Salsa



Meatball Frittata with Mozzarella and Tomatoes



Mustard-Kissed Chard and Gruyère Galette

I love to read cookbooks that inspire my creativity like this one.

[KC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Preserved lemon recipe-that's it 🍋

[Prima Seadiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. More like 2.5 stars. It's remarkable how so many cookbooks these days look alike. The food styling photos could have been in many others I've checked out.
The basic information was okay especially if the reader is new to cooking. There were some good tips and information about basic ingredients, equipment and procedures. And unlike most cookbooks I've read the last few years, where such information is presented as if it never existed before, the author actually acknowledges that in the past many cooks have used such tips.

At an average of 8 portions, many of the recipes made way more than I would want or could store even considering the purpose is to have leftovers to reuse. A book where I have to adjust quantities for just about every recipe is not one I would reach for often. But if you cook for a family the recipe quantities may be a plus.

Overall anything that can get people to cook for themselves and not waste is a good thing. Food waste is endemic in the U.S. where people are urged to buy more than they will ever use.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this beautiful book more than I did. It emphasizes frugality and conservation, and the veggie-forward recipes are great. However, some of the 2nd meals were obvious, and many were almost as much work as the first. In general, at least half these meals took too long for me to make during the week. So, while I think the ideas behind the book are solid, this wasn't that useful to me.

The desert chapter is great. Also, while I'm only giving this three stars, if you're trying to reuse food and looking for some safety guidelines and ideas, this is worth checking out. It's a good concept, and it might give you some ideas to put into practice.

[Kimberly Mccune · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel really torn on this one. I LOVE the concept, as my frugal side hates food waste but my picky side loathes leftovers. But I felt like the recipes were either too obvious (use leftover veggies in an omelet!) or were asking you to cook an entirely new meal (why use leftovers at that point then, as you're still doing a ton of work). There were also a lot of recipes using ingredients I would never want to have on hand, so having to buy them extra is a lot of hassle.

Anyway, some new ideas but not enough to make me want to purchase a copy for my home.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some things were obvious - some recipes were more work than I wanted to do with leftovers, and sometimes I didn't have what I needed to make the meal, but I always think that cookbooks are suggestions and you wing it from there. If you go by this premise, it's a good read!

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice book that gives ideas to change those little containers in your frig into super meals. Lots of vegetarian ideas.

[Brenda Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found some good recipes I could convert to vegan and gluten free

[Trace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading cookbooks about making the most of leftovers. This cookbook takes leftovers and turns them into pretty swanky second meals.

[Christy Copeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my type of food but beautiful recipes!!

[Candis Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different take on using leftovers, not necessarily how to use the parts and pieces usually thrown away.