Essential Ingredients
I ganked this from Sassy Radish, who occasionally posts on The Accidental Hedonist. Since at least some of my readers are avid cooks, I'd like to know what your cooking essentials are - those items you're lost without. Here's my list:
1. Pasta
2. Canned tomatoes
3. Canned beans
4. Eggs
5. Olive oil
6. Lemons
7. onions
8. Celery
9. Pine nuts
10. Vermouth
11. Wine vinegar
12. Beer
13. Carrots
14. Honey
15. Garlic
16. Rice
17. Thyme
18. Rosemary
19. Bay leaves
20. Chicken stock
Read the responses to Sassy's post. I was happy to see someone else cooks with vermouth as a replacement for white wine. No one else mentioned beer, which I use in my red sauce and my pasta e fagioli.
What's your list? I listed 20 items, but yours can be as long or as short as you want.
Comments
1. Lemons
2. Garlic
3. Ginger
4. Cilantro
5. Cumin
6. Basil
7. Olive oil
8. White vinegar
9. Kidney beans
10. Canned black olives
11. Eggs
12. Cucumbers
13. Dijon mustard
14. Cayenne
15. Broccoli
16. Corriander
17. Texas Pete
18. Vegetable stock
19. Rice
20. Fresh tomatoes
If you checked out the comments to Sassy's post, you'll see there are lots of repeats. It's a reminder that cooking doesn't have to be terribly complicated. The basics will get you through most of the time. What interests me even more are the items that I don't need, but other people do. I love cucumbers and broccoli, but they're not an essential.
Oh, I forgot Dijon mustard. I have to amend my list.
I thought about: An acid or lemons, but I can let some wine go sour and make vinegar; Canned beans, but beans could be the vegetable; Another starch like pasta or rice (or potatoes), but I guess I could make some pasta from the staples if I really had to; Yeast, but I can make bread as sourdough; Some kind of meat.
I wasn't sure if these were supposed to be pantry staples or not, but I assume not totally. If so, I guess I'd lose the milk products and want maybe nuts, or preserved milk (cheese), or preserved meat (Spam). ;)
1) coffee
2) olive oil
3) flour
4) sugar
5) brown sugar
6) baking soda
7) milk
8)eggs
9) butter
10) an onion or two
11) garlic
12) stock (chicken or beef)
13) pasta (if pushed, cavatappi)
14) mushrooms
15) seasoned salt
16) a good Italian bread
17) ranch dressing
18)
Hi Geology Byotch. I don't know why it cut off my last few - a couple of good cheeses, and dill pickles (I like a good sandwich). And I see I left vanilla off. That's not good. For me it's the cookie bug.