"Basically, if it comes to a boil, you might as well add rinds."
Rebecca Firsker/Today
For a year or more, probably more, I have indeed been doing the by now well-known thing of freezing Parmesan rinds, and then putting them into soups and stocks for extra flavour. Then I fish them out and throw them away. Which is indeed a fine thing to do, but you can do more. Much more.
Before I get into the things you can do, there are two things to ponder on, and I don't really have the answers here.
Many people seem to think that you have to scrape off the outer coating, and the engravings on the outside, then wash, before using your rinds. And possibly you do - depending on what you are going to do with them. But I really don't think you do need to do that if you are just going to flavour a stock or indeed anything.
But it doesn't end there - because when your rind has been stewing away in your stock, your soup, or whatever - literally anything, as my introductory quote says, that boils - it softens. Now I have been throwing this way, thinking that I have done the virtuous thing, but you can go even further by fishing out your rind, chopping it up and throwing it back into your soup or using it to flavour - well anything. You can even fry the chunks in hot oil.
Examples of things that boil? Sauces, chutneys, pasta, rice, risotto, stews, braises, curries, any vegetable that you boil ...
And my second general point is that it doesn't have to be Parmesan. It can be any cheese rind that isn't plastic or wax, although generally you eat the rind of soft cheeses like brie and camembert. But I will come back to that.
As for that scraping off the outside bit - well yes, there are some cases where you need to. Again I will come to that.
As well as flavouring stocks you can actually make a Parmesan broth where the dominant ingredient is Parmesan rind. And here I shall also say, that Parmesan is a relation to those other Italian hard cheeses - Grana Padano, Pecorino, Taleggio - besides - why not cheddar too? What else you put in the broth is probably up to you but obviously there would be some herbs, and some vegetables and aromatics. The website Life as a Strawberry has a good general recipe for Parmesan broth - whose finished product is shown on the right here - and she has a few good pointers in her introduction - including frying the vegetables first for extra flavour. But that's all up to you. I doubt there is an 'authentic' recipe. But I'm guessing that this is one of the authentic broths in which you eat your tortellini or ravioli, agnoletti or other stuffed pasta.
Taking a small step back to those cheese rinds that have been softened in a broth of some kind, you can also deliberately soak the rinds in milk, or hot water from the kettle. Why? Well the options, whilst not quite limitless are certainly many.
La Cucina Italiana has a pretty comprehensive list of what to do, but when it comes to soaking the rinds in milk, they suggest first of all that after soaking for a couple of hours, you cut them into little pieces, and add them to pasta dishes or risottos. Jamie suggested that you could fry softened chunks of rind. Sort of cheesy croutons.
Or - blend them and add to meatballs, to sauces, to focaccia dough, maybe even top pizza. Tom Hunt, in The Guardian, turned them into a version of macaroni cheese - Mac and cheese rinds which looked pretty nice. You can probably think of other things, for essentially what you have now is akin to grated cheese. I think I saw somebody make it into a béchamel sauce.
But you don't have to soften them to fry them - bake them or grill them too. Cut them into little squares - well any shape you like really - and for this kind of thing I think you probably do need to cut or scrape off that very hard outer bit. Then either deep fry or grill or barbecue - hard side down until they soften and char. You can even coat them in flour, egg, breadcrumbs - spices ... But serve them hot or they will go hard.
Mind you Theo Randall - a British chef thinks you should soak before baking:
“Soak the rinds in about a litre of boiling water [from the kettle], then, once they’re soft, cut them quite thinly and bake. The key is to get the rinds nice and soft – you get a much nicer flavour that way – so if soaking them doesn’t do the trick, transfer the lot to a pan and heat on the stove." Theo Randall
He also likes to barbecue soaked chunks:
“Char the outside of the rind, then scoop out the cheese with a teaspoon; it will have melted and taken on a nice, smoky taste.” Theo Randall
The TikTok lot are minimalists, so they cut them into cubes put them on a plate and stick them in the microwave for a minute or so, which makes them bubble up like popcorn and crisp up. though one writer said you should leave to harden a bit before jumping in.
The last genuine suggestion is to make a Parmesan oil, which you make by putting rinds into a jar with olive oil, and maybe some garlic, herbs, chilli ... the rest is up to you. Leave for a month before straining and using as a posh finishing oil. Or gift to friends for Christmas. The more rinds the stronger the flavour by the way. And yes I reckon you could do it with other cheeses too.
The last actual suggestion is another one from Tom Hunt, although I did see others say this too. I don't quite regard it as a genuine suggestion because it's just to add it to fromage fort, which I have written about before. Fromage fort is a blend of little odds and ends of cheese that are lurking in your fridge.
"Blend cheese ends with half the amount of wine, a slice of garlic and a sprinkling of leek tops. Serve on toast." Tom Hunt/The Guardian
Obviously you can add other things like herbs, or spices, maybe even some brandy. I think you would need to soften your cheese rinds first. But yes it would work. I have made fromage fort - and it's really pretty yummy.
Did I mention that you collect your cheese rinds as they come and freeze them in an airtight container? Well that's what they say. Mine are in a thick plastic bag. And that works. I've gained lots more ideas now however.
A last thought. Having been quite impressed by the suggestions made by the reddit lot on what to do with Moscato other than drink it, I checked it out on Parmesan rinds. Nothing. They knew about putting it in soups and stocks, but that was just about it. They didn't even mention the microwave thing. Which is interesting.
One last thing - apparently dogs love to chew on them - as long as they don't have a dairy allergy.
YEARS GONE BY
December 8
2022 - Nothing
2021 - A jug
2018 - Nothing
2017 - Melbourne's Greeks
2016 - A spiralizer
A Cook's explanation of what makes good food taste so good. Quiate a lot of hard work goes into it aswell!