Seems like you are the only one participating that is having a hard time understanding what we are talking about.
No one here is saying to use rotten or spoiled food or just random leftovers to make soup. But basic kitchen economy, even in fine restaurants, makes good use of suitable trimmings to make sauces and soups. Jacques Pepin mentions it frequently, and he has the experience to back it up. Many of our grandmothers did the same. And there are those for whom money is tight and they do what they can with what they have. Perhaps they were able to purchase pricey kitchen items in the past, then they lost a job or their spouse fell ill.
I am being kind when I say you are being pedantic.
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I would add that — while I’m certainly interested in refining my skills & always appreciative of learning new tricks/methods for my home-cooked meals — I do not aspire to cook like one would in a professional kitchen.
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I have found that I can make quite good stock with less than pretty bits trimmed off of onions, carrots, celery, etc. and decent bones leftover from roasts that still have a bit of meat on them. Can I make a better stock if I go out and score some veal bones or the like? Yes. If I am going to take it on to a demiglace, the higher quality ingredients will certainly help. They will also help in a very simple soup where the stock really shines. However, many of the soups I make incorporate other strong flavors, and plowing big bucks into the stock ingredients would be excellent but not needed.
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There was a beautiful video on Youtube of a Japanese France-based chef who was making a braised lamb dish. I’m not remembering the name, as I’ve never studied French. Essentially, he pulled out lovely just bought vegetables - carrots with tops, leeks, turnips, tomatoes, etc. and then a hunk of lamb. He meticulously trimmed and cleaned his veggies and that used his big leek leaves to wrap all of his vegetable trimmings (carrot and turnip tops, etc) and tied that, making a beautiful bouquet garni. He added that into his base on the stove and poured his water in to make a tomato-vegetable based broth that was also going to use to braise his lamb. I don’t even really like to eat lamb and that dish looked amazing!
So, to each his/her own - using veggie trimmings seemed like a brilliant idea here, and I’m going to steal, even if I don’t know if I can make as pretty a bouquet garni. Secondly, this guy makes awesome, relaxing cooking videos - no dialogue, but captions on screen, and just sounds of his cooking. I’ll see if I can find that and share.
Edit: Found it! – He posts ingredients and some tips in Japanese and English as captions.
お鍋一つでフランス伝統料理その名はナヴァラン・ダニョー How to make very tender French lamb stew “Navarin d’agneau”
Realized I also missed the part where he used other trimmings to make a quick vegetable stock rather than just plain water into this stew/braise.
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