Science and psychology of "warmed-over flavor"

[IowaGirl]

Don't usually have leftover fish, but on the few occasions that's happened, I'll remove the breading (if present), crumble it, and make fish salad (like tuna salad, only not tuna). That's often pretty decent.

[dubob]

I have mastered the art of using a microwave. It took YEARS of practice and more than a few failures. But BOY, you should see me now. 🤣🤣🤣

[dubob]

I like your attitude FireMan.

[FireMan]

Since I am now cookin for 4, me, myself & I with an occasional bit for the Derb, I count on leftovers. I still haven’t got passed the givin a rip about cookin fer myself yet. When I do I always remind myself that I’m a pretty decent cook. I used to cook all the time, no motivation now. With that said, I thrive on leftovers & most often the chili/soup rule is in effect, better the second day. Pizza, I used to say "the breakfast of champions".

[dubob]

It doesn't happen very often, and it isn't really 'seafood', but on the rare occassions that we have left over oven baked yellow perch (panko crust), we love it warmed up the next day or 2. Boiled crawdads (mud bugs) are good any time, hot or cold. But that's just us. I don't recall we ever had any fried catfish leftovers; now what I mean Vern. 😄

[bardsleyque]

left over steak works well in steak salad!

[Oak Smoke]

With just two of us we end up with leftovers regularly. The first thing I do is store them in ziplock bags. If I decide to move them to the freezer or to discard in a few days then they are ready to go. I'm reluctant to warm leftovers in the microwave, they can develop an old taste with just a bit too much time in there. Much of our leftover meats go into Mexican dishes. Steak or chicken make great fajitas. Green chili chicken enchiladas are a favorite. We love brisket tacos. I like mine with pico and a slice of avocado. As I've discussed here several times I think tamales are one of the best uses of pulled pork. All these add enough flavor to make your leftover meat taste great.

[Michael_in_TX]

(the only exception to this now that I think about it might be a seafood stew or something)

[Jfrosty27]

Agreed. I had a lot of lobster meat leftover from a feast on Saturday. Mad an omelet out of it. Just eggs, LOTS of lobster, S&P. So yummy. But it was about a $70 omelet so it should be!

[MarkN]

My favorite use of leftovers is breakfast. Mix it into and omelet, wrap it up with scrambled eggs to make a burrito or just reheat and drop a fried egg on top. And maybe for lunch. OK, sometimes supper too.

[Jfrosty27]

Agreed

[Jfrosty27]

I agree with you on warming meat. Just enough to take off the chill. Usually the microwave on 40%, covered, does the trick.

[Old Glory]

Soups, chili, and stews are great leftover we always make extra. Grilled foods can be okay. Always the risk of over cooking when re-heating. I do like sliced leftover steak and eggs. We will make chicken salad out of leftover roast chicken. Always save the bones for stock. Boneless thighs make a nice sandwich for lunch the next day.

We also make extra spaghetti sauce and meatballs for the freezer.

[Skip]

We were told by a friend several years ago that we cook in bulk. Ha ha. We thought that was funny, but like several have mentioned already we sometimes do cook to have leftovers. I do agree that leftover meat is best not over warmed. Also agree that a Vac Sealer is a good friend at our house.

[Michael_in_TX]

In my world, seafood is the one thing that is just not leftover friendly.