La cucina di povertà

All cooking starts in poverty, and ends up in a fancy restaurant.

The above quote, unhumbly concocted by the CC, so accurately sums up the idea behind so many dishes around the world that we may safely take it to be the First Principle of World Cuisine™.

Featured below is the rind of parmigiano-reggiano. What's left behind after all the cheese has been grated away. (Please note that you can still see the characteristic stamping of the name.)

This humble rind, negligible to look it, is still filled with enough "flavor" that it is traditional to add this to pasta sauces and broths to give them a little "something" extra. (The rind is fished out at the end, and tossed.)

That "something" is amping up the umami if you want to get all scientific about it. Parmigiano-reggiano contains the much desired isosinates in off-the-chart quantities.

Also, put this in your sauces, and your friends will swear that this is a meat sauce. Why? Because one of the purposes of the prosciutto, guanciale, etc. is to get you the afore-mentioned isosinates.

If there was one trick that fancy chefs use over and over and over and yet over again until the CC is ready to scream at the top of his lungs, this is it. Why it's not commonly known is a bit of a mystery!

So save your rinds, and watch your broths and sauces bloom. (ziplock + freeze works exceptionally well.)

Speaking of saving private rinds (har-de-har), now that it's summer and all, you should learn to save your watermelon rinds too but that, of course, is a tale for another day.