How much of a leek do you use

[rayinpenn]

On the stove right now my leek and potato soup is starting to simmer. (The Mrs isn't a fan of onions so she's no help.)
The recipe came from a NY Times video 'Golden Leek and Potato soup. I bought a bunch of leeks cut off the ends and cut slivers up until the first leaf started. Then I fried them up. Did I cut too far, was I wasteful?

Anyway the aroma coming out of that pot is to die for..plus I'm hungry.


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[Meadbh]

I use the whole leek.

 

[rodi]

I use the whole leek.

Me too. I trim off any bad parts and use the rest.

 

[2017ish]

I use only 1/4-1/3 of the green part of the leek in our chinese and SE Asian styled dishes--up to a bit past where the green "stalks" start to cleanly separate. (Main reason though is that DW doesn't like even this onion much, so that has been a convenient guideline.) If DW liked onion more, I'd likely do the same as Meadbh and rodi.

 

[Nemo2]

I (used to) cut off about 1/3rd of the green......next leek & potato soup....I'll try using it all.

 

[kaneohe]

the whole nine yards..............

 

[Meadbh]

I (used to) cut off about 1/3rd of the green......next leek & potato soup....I'll try using it all.

Inflation is running at 4% in produce in Canada. Why waste it? There is a new law in France that forbids stores to throw out vegetables.

 

[braumeister]

Personally, I use most of the leek, but most recipes I've seen call for just the white part. I've never understood that, but I love onion (and garlic!).

 

[Nemo2]

Inflation is running at 4% in produce in Canada. Why waste it? There is a new law in France that forbids stores to throw out vegetables.

J'ai vu la lumière.

 

[Meadbh]

Personally, I use most of the leek, but most recipes I've seen call for just the white part. I've never understood that, but I love onion (and garlic!).

Cookbook authors will be very selective to achieve restaurant quality (where they can toss the green parts in tomorrow's vegetable soup!). An amateur cook doesn't need to be a perfectionist. It will all taste good. And I love the green circles that you get with chopped leeks! A recipe isn't "your" recipe until you have improvised with it. Some of my favourite YouTube cooks emphasize that.

When baking, on the other hand, it's best to follow the recipe to the letter. Chemical reactions require precise quantities of specific baking ingredients for best results.

Which reminds me of one of my pet peeves: recipes that call for "one cup plus two teaspoons of flour". Cups and teaspoons are not the same everywhere, and the volume of flour varies with aeration. I need a weight, preferably in grams. Everyone who bakes needs a kitchen scale. If you have spent $$$ on a stand mixer, you can afford a $10 scale.

 

[braumeister]

Yes, Meadbh, that's one of my pet peeves as well.

I use the following equivalents I got from King Arthur Flour:

1 cup of	Ounces	Grams
All purpose	4 ¼	120
9-grain	4 ⅜	124
Bread	4 ¼	120
Italian 00	3 ¾	106
White Whole Wheat	4	113
Whole Wheat	4	113
Rye (Pumpernickel)	3 ¾	106
Liquid measures
teaspoon	5 ml
tablespoon	15 ml
fluid ounce	30 ml
¼ cup	59 ml
1 cup	237 ml
Dry measures
ounce	28 grams
pound	454 grams

Also, here is a really good web page of equivalents:
Metric Conversions,Cooking Basics with Metric to U.S. Conversions and Vice-versa

 

[2017ish]

...A recipe isn't "your" recipe until you have improvised with it...

Amen! And then, as your tastes change and you discover new ingredients, modify it some more--to the point you need to reprint that page of your personal cookbook...

DW chides me for not cooking things once before starting to modify, but just can't resist.

 

[AllDone]

I hate, hate, hate recipes that use volume measures for anything that is not liquid. Ounces or fluid ounces? Give me grams and litres, please.

I use most of the leek. When I reach the darkest part where it starts to thin, I peel it off and keep going. The darkest green part goes into the frozen vegetable bits that I use for making stock.

 

[spncity]

Cut off root, remove any bad parts, lay flat. Slicing once down the middle allows me to more easily wash out any dirt. I use it all in soup.


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[Meadbh]

Inflation is running at 4% in produce in Canada. Why waste it? There is a new law in France that forbids stores to throw out vegetables.

I've just read that vegetable inflation is 18%. So use all that leek, Nemo!

 

[Nemo2]

I've just read that vegetable inflation is 18%. So use all that leek, Nemo!

Consider it used!

 

[donheff]

Wow, I have been using the white and about 1/3 of the green. I will have to try using more.

 

[athena53]

I use most of the leek. When I reach the darkest part where it starts to thin, I peel it off and keep going. The darkest green part goes into the frozen vegetable bits that I use for making stock.

We make stock from frozen vegetable bits, too. Good place for any ends or edges that are too fibrous to chew. To answer the OP, I also use the entire leek except the root end, which goes into broth.

 

[Nemo2]

OK....does anyone use broccoli stalks for stock? (We don't, (yet), but depending on the feedback here, we might start.)

 

[Tadpole]

What's the best/easiest way to clean a leek?

 

[audreyh1]

I use 1/2 to 2/3 of the leek. All the white and light green part. As I slice up the leek I remove some of the outer leaves where the dark green is.

 

[audreyh1]

What's the best/easiest way to clean a leek?

It's not easy, but I slash through the center rib of the leaves on each (of two) sides, and then hold upside down under running water washing out the mud underneath where the leaves split from each side. Still lots of washing on each leaf!