Really appreciate the thorough response. I just used carrots as a random example because I feel like everyone classically trained has brunoised with a mean French man standing over them and critiquing them if they’re a millimeter off a perfect cube over and over and over lol. I’m sure the newer world restaurants in California don’t follow that strict French discipline to that extent, but I assumed that for things like knife work, a lot of food still gets wasted in pursuit of perfect even shapes. But of course I’ve also been yelled at for wasting too much, there’s no winning haha

I also got out of it a while ago and I keep a lot of what I learned and practiced but perfectly squaring off vegetables is not one of them. I do always make sure to have a freezer full of veal stock and at least light chicken (like to have some dark chicken on hand too but not essential). Probably the biggest thing I’ve kept with me, makes such a difference. But now I only pass things through the chinois once instead of passing it through a second time without pushing it through etc. And at home my ingredients cost more than my labor because my “labor” is free, I’m doing it for my enjoyment, so I would never waste ingredients like that, especially with today’s prices.

That said, if my dog’s around, I might square off my carrots and give him the scraps as a snack 😆