The Perfect Pantry

[mulebear]

I posted this on another forum that shall not be named (though one which Dr. X occasionally spreads his ghey), but I thought some here might find it interesting too.

According to Allrecipes.com this is the perfect pantry. Curiously, we stock most of the things on the list. The exceptions I marked in Red (we don't stock) and Blue (we are currently out of stock).

I noticed that there was no listings for yogurt or sour cream. Both of which we keep a supply of. No peanut butter either. What about cornmeal? That didn't make the list. Ditto on whole wheat and cake flour. Hmmm...

Is there anything you keep in stock for your kitchen that didn't get included?

The Bare Minimum

These are the essential six staples to always have on hand.

* Salt
* Pepper
* Olive Oil
* Vegetable Oil
* All-Purpose Flour
* Granulated Sugar

Canned Goods

Low-sodium chicken broth and beef broth are recommended if you make gravies, sauces, and dishes in which the liquid is cooked down, or "reduced." The salty flavor becomes more concentrated and pronounced. Low-sodium products allow you to control the seasoning.

* Chicken Broth
* Beef Broth
* Canned tomatoes
* Tomato sauce
* Tomato paste
* Can/jar of marinara sauce
* Canned beans: white, black, kidney
* Tuna

Starches and Dry Goods

Does your family eat a lot of pasta? Do you prepare stir-fries and other Asian dishes? Stock up on what you like to eat.

* Spaghetti
* Linguine
* Corkscrew pasta
* Penne or other short pasta
* Egg noodles
* Long-grain white rice
* Jasmine or basmati rice
* Lentils
* Split peas
* Dried bread crumbs

The Root Cellar

Onions and potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark, well-ventilated area--don't keep them in plastic bags or in the refrigerator.

* Potatoes
* Onions
* Garlic

Condiments

* Vinegars (balsamic, cider, white, sherry, and wine vinegars)
* Soy sauce
* Worcestershire sauce
* Salsa
* Hot sauce

The Spice Rack

* Dried basil
* Bay leaves
* Cayenne or
Crushed red pepper flakes
* Chili powder
* Cumin
* Cinnamon
* Garlic powder
* Oregano
* Paprika
* Dried parsley

The Almost-Bare Fridge

* Eggs
* Milk
* Butter or margarine
* Ketchup
* Mustard
* Mayonnaise
* Parmesan cheese
* Other cheese

The Freezer

* Frozen corn
* Frozen spinach
* Frozen peas
* Ground beef
* Chicken breasts

Extras

Flavors and ingredients that keep well and are nice to have on hand.

* Herbs and spices: allspice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cumin, coriander, dill, marjoram, dry mustard, italian seasoning, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme
* Lemons
* Fresh ginger
* Shallots
* Olives
* Capers
* Canned chiles
* Tortillas
* Couscous
* Fish sauce
* Rice noodles
* Coconut milk
* Prepared horseradish
* Anchovy paste
* Parmesan cheese
* Dry sherry
* Almond extract
* Kosher salt
* Cooking spray
* Cornstarch
* Confectioner's sugar
* Honey
* Brown sugar

Global pantries

Mexico

* Corn
* Rice
* Dried Beans
* Tortillas
* Chile Peppers
* Avocado
* Tomatoes
* Salsa
* Tomatillo
* Jicama
* Nopales
* Pumpkin Seeds
* Cilantro
* Chayote Squash
* Garlic
* Lemons/Limes
* Cotija Cheese
* Pork
* Lard
* Mexican Oregano
* Cumin
* Annato
* Chile Powder
* Vanilla
* Chocolate

Japan

* Fish
* Chicken
* Tofu
* Green Tea
* Soy Sauce
* Sesame Oil
* Rice Wine Vinegar
* Plum Wine
* Mirin
* Dashi
* Nori Seaweed
* Udon Noodles
* Ramen Noodles
* Tempura Batter Mix
* Rice
* Panko
* Mayonaise
* Miso
* Sesame Seeds
* Daikon
* Japanese Cucumbers
* Ginger
* Shitake Mushrooms
* Enoki Mushrooms
* Japanese Eggplant

Italy

* Oregano
* Flat-Leaf Parsley
* Basil
* Fennel
* Rosemary
* Sage
* Semolina Pasta
* Polenta
* Arborio or Carnaroli rice
* Olive Oil
* Balsamic Vinegar
* Tomatoes
* Eggplant
* Porcini Mushrooms
* Cannellini beans
* Lemons
* Parmigiano-Reggiano
* Mozzarella
* Ricotta Cheese
* Capers
* Pinenuts
* Almonds
* Prosciutto di Parma
* Anchovies
* Olives

China

* Plum Sauce
* Soy Sauce
* Black Bean Sauce
* Hoisin Sauce
* Peanut Oil
* Sesame Oil
* Rice Wine
* Chinese red and black vinegars
* Chili Paste
* Five-Spice Powder
* Sesame Seeds
* Ginger
* Pork
* Tofu
* Rice
* Wonton or spring roll wrappers
* Straw Mushrooms
* Bean Sprouts
* Shallots
* Bok Choy
* Green Onions
* Red Chiles
* Garlic
* Cilantro
* Cabbages

[Qingdai]

There are quite a few things on the list we don't keep in stock unless we are preparing a certain dish.
My husband does a 7 dish menu and shopping list and we use that to stock our kitchen. I don't even think we have room in our kitchen for all that stuff.
Also no frozen meats and we don't use cooking spray. Tempura batter is pretty easy to make from scratch, chayote tastes like ass-potatoes to me, so on and so on.

[livius drusus]

There are definitely some odd choices on that list, imo, like canned beans being a must instead of dried beans. I think it assumes convenience=speed rather than low cost and ease of storage. Dried beans are cheap as hell, keep forever without taking on any weird can flavors and you can fit pounds of them in the same space a few cans take up.

I mean, if you keep canned tomatoes and tomato paste in your pantry, why in Uterus' name would you also need jarred marinara? Surely the entire point of having the tomatoes is so that you can make tomato sauce on demand. Also, vegetable oil as a bare bones basic? I have a Costco vat of the stuff that gets used like twice a year.

[mulebear]

I agree that dried beans are a much better choice over canned. I also agree that marinara is an odd addition. Salsa too, since it is so easy to make.

As for oil... Depends. I use different kinds of vegetable oil (e.g. canola, peanut, blended, et cetera) for a variety of things, but I don't go through gallons of the stuff.

[livius drusus]

I'm an olive oil girl all the way. I have Safflower and Canola in the pantry for my high smoking point needs, but they've been there for years. If I were starting from scratch with a bare bones pantry, non-olive oils would be way down on the priority list, certainly not in the essential six.

(Not that I'm saying my way is the Right Way™ or anything. It's just a matter of style and taste and what kind of food you like to cook, of course.)

[mulebear]

I love a really good olive oil, but I tend to think of it as more of a flavoring agent. Of course, when making your own pasta, accept no substitutes.

[Doctor X]

I'M NOT T3H GH3Y!!11!!

--J.D.

[Pinecone]

Yeah... kick out the vegetable oil and replace it with chocolate. That is an essential and not to be buried down in the Mexicos!!

I use butter most often as an oil and coconut oil next often. Vegetable oil hardly never unless some remote recipe calls for it.

[wildernesse]

We are still re-constituting our kitchen from our move, so we don't have two shelves of spices anymore and a lot of things that had accumulated. It makes it easy to see what we actually use.

Our spice pantry:
salt (kosher and table)
pepper (black, white, cayenne, crushed red)
smoked paprika
chile powder
oregano
ground cinnamon
allspice
whole cumin
thyme
ground coriander

The only thing I need and don't have are some bay leaves. I'm so glad that there are places with bulk spices, because I can buy .09 worth of ground coriander and have enough to make the only recipe that needs it about 4 times.

One thing I didn't see on the list (maybe I missed it) is roasted red peppers. We always keep a jar of those in the pantry, and then we have them to chop up and put in pasta or on pizza or cheesy toasts. Tasty.

[mulebear]

When I started this thread I decided to count how many spices and spice blends we had. I stopped at 70. Oh my.

[livius drusus]

[Janet]

I don't have a lot of things on that list. I have allocated a tiny space in my limited cupboard capacity for canned goods, so I tend not to stock up. If I am making a marinara sauce I buy what I need and only buy it when the frozen sauce runs out, so I would never have both at the same time. I also don't like cooked vegetables, with the exception of artichokes, so I never buy frozen veggies.

But I am glad I read this, since it reminded me that I'm out of mirin and need to go to the Asian grocery. Getting low on dried shitake mushrooms as well.

[mulebear]

Do I really need Balinese Long Peppers, Grains of Paradise, or Peri Peri? Well... No, but I like using them anyway.

And I love my Blair's Chipotle Death Rain Spice. Ingredients: Ground chipotle chili, cayenne chili, garlic, onion, paprika, red savina habanero. Yummmm...

[livius drusus]

Sounds toasty.

[mulebear]

Originally Posted by Janet

But I am glad I read this, since it reminded me that I'm out of mirin and need to go to the Asian grocery.

We're out of mirin too. We used to be able to get it at our regular grocery store, but I guess I'll have to make a special trip to the local Asian market. [facetiousness] Oh what a chore it will be to have to go and shop there... [/facetiousness]

[mulebear]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Sounds toasty.

I love Blair's. I used to eat bags of their Habanero Potato Chips in one sitting. I need to get a new bottle of their After Death Sauce since I had a tendency to put in on almost every sandwich I made.

Side note: The Significant Other and I grow lots of hot peppers. This includes Bhut Jolokias and my mega-favorite Hawaiian Sweet Hots. YUMMMMM. I use the Sweet Hots in my Fire Brownies. Double YUMMMMM.

[livius drusus]

I'm a total heat coward. My father, who lived in Pakistan for some time and nothing more than a blazing hot curry, is very disappointed in me.

[mulebear]

My Significant Other tells of a time when he ordered an extremely hot curry in Nairobi. He says he almost passed out from the first bite. Since then his tolerance for heat has greatly diminished. He likes it just hot enough that his lips tingle.

It takes a lot of heat to get my lips to tingle and I've never had hot spicy break me out in a sweat like some people. Still, I'm not so stupid that I'm willing to eat a Bhut Jolokia by itself.

[Qingdai]

Rendang, my man, the only recipe for meat that I know of that one can carry for 7 days in the tropics without it going bad.
Beef Rendang Recipe (Rendang Daging) | Easy Asian Recipes at RasaMalaysia.com

I bet you could substitute the peppers (or add if you are crazy like me) with that Blair's death sauce. I was just remembering with a friend of mine, who also lived in Indonesia, about how every village would have it's blend of peppers they'd sell in the market. Just like the French have wines, each has a special cachet.

I'm eating a low carbohydrate diet right now, so the amount of pasta seems excessive.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

I'm a heat coward, too. I can take it medium-ish.

I once ordered a Jungle Curry at a Thai place, and it was so damned hot my teeth were sweating.

So what is this person's solution for those of us with very limited space? I have a decent mix of spices (salt, ground pepper, garlic powder, cumin, lemon pepper, Mexican chili powder, cayenne, turmeric, garam masala, seasoned salt, curry powder, red pepper flakes, basil, oregano, thyme, black peppercorn grinder, and white pepper).

I kinda-sorta meal plan, and we just buy what we need for the next couple of days, so we don't keep a whole lot on-hand.

[mulebear]

Oh my. I haven't had beef rendang in ages. It's one of my favorite dishes. I'm also a big fan of Larb or Laab.

[seebs]

That's INSANE. I keep almost nothing on hand except for easy frozen stuff. If I wanna cook, I wanna think about what I'm making and go buy stuff for it. Otherwise food goes bad -- I don't cook sufficiently often to go through that much stuff.

Hell, if I had that much stuff, and we cooked fresh stuff for every meal, some of it would go bad before we got to it.

[lisarea]

I thought it looked p. insane at first, too, but we have the vast majority of those things, until you get down into the 'global' part.

I don't keep all those different pastas around, I use homemade, frozen chicken stock instead of canned broths, and I don't have store-boughten marinara for the reasons that Mr. drusus pointed out.

But I wouldn't even consider fresh foods like dairy and unpreserved meat and produce to be 'pantry' items. I thought pantries were for more shelf-stable foods.

[livius drusus]

It's actually a lot cheaper to cook with a stocked pantry than to plan a couple of meals in advance and buy specifically for them. The variety you can achieve with just a dozen standard ingredients is remarkable. I spend a lot less now that I get staples from Costco and a box of in-season local produce every two weeks and my meals are far more varied than they were when I lived off of recipe plans.

[mulebear]

And when you have a full pantry, it is far easier to take recipes in new directions by simply adding or substituting from the things on hand.

It is also a bummer to shop for a specific recipe, get home, start cooking and then find out that you forgot to buy one major component.