Oh, the pantry. The daily games of Tetris, trying to find that one can of something that I swear we have in here. The almost monthly re-arranging of stock, moving lesser-used items to a higher shelf only to need it again the next day (or later that night). But most importantly, always having the hot sauce out front. Always.
With a well-stocked pantry, I can take on the world. Well, the world of my kitchen, I suppose. It’s the largest source of pride in said kitchen when it’s fully stocked and organized, and I know that with it, at the very least I can have something worth eating on my table tonight.
While this list is not exhaustive, it’s enough to augment your meals and at its base level, keep you from eating processed food garbage every night. Not to say that you shouldn’t have some boxed mac and cheese or canned soup on hand for those “fuck it” kind of nights or when you realize you forgot to buy half of dinner at the store and you’ll be damned if you’re going back there again, but on the whole, that stuff isn’t the best for you. And to be honest, you can make something better than some pre-packaged crap.
Behold the glory of the pantry!
- Salt & Pepper: I like to start with the obvious things first. Above all else, keep table salt and pre-ground pepper on the table, if you keep them at all. Invest in a pepper mill and some good ol’ sea salt. And please learn to season with salt from your hand and not the container. Don’t learn the hard way when the cap comes off or you didn’t know you had it open too far and now that tomato sauce you’ve been working on for 4 hours is completely fucked. Put it in your hand and then where it needs to go. This will help you get a visual sense of how much you need. Hell, I haven’t measured salt since the late 90’s.
- Spices: Again, another obvious mention. Your spice shelf should be based on what you use and what you like. Don’t keep them around forever. Buy them and use them; they don’t get better with age. Also, get used to not measuring things. Using a ring of measuring spoons when you’re cooking isn’t a good look. Measure things out into your hand while you’re learning so you see what it looks like. Then stop measuring. Measuring is what bakers do. Shoot for less than you think you need and add more if you need it. You can always add more. That being said,here is a list of things that are usually crowding my spice shelf: Onion powder, garlic powder, paprika (get the good smoked kind), cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, berbere (an Ethiopian spice blend), cumin, a multitude of spice blends, dill pollen (which is the best thing on fish), dried herbs de province, bay leaves, ground mustard, curry powder, ground ginger, Old Bay seasoning, and probably a multitude of things I’m either out of right now or forgetting about. The point of it is, have fun. Play around with spices and see what you like.
- Oils & Vinegars: Together they are essential to making vinaigrettes, while oil is a must for cooking. Let’s break these down with some recommendations:
- Olive Oil: Get cold-pressed olive oil. Get something light enough to use on the stovetop and in salad dressings, but you might want to shy away from using it in the oven at higher temperatures. This should be a staple in anyone’s kitchen.
- Avocado Oil: This is one I recommend for higher temperature cooking as it has a higher smoke point. What’s a smoke point? Read this to find out more. Didn’t read that article? Essentially, it’s the temperature where your oil starts to break down and taste burnt and unappealing.
- Grapeseed Oil: A cheaper alternative to avocado oil, this one has a fairly high smoke point and works well in salad dressings. It’s a workhorse of oils.
- Canola Oil: A must for salad dressings. Frankly, I don’t use this for much other than that. It’s cheap, you can use it in bulk (like for dressings), and it has a really neutral flavor.
- Vinegars: There is nothing better than crusty bread dredged through a plate of quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It’s always worth having some balsamic around, even if just for that purpose. Cider vinegar is great for many all-around uses and is a favorite for brining meats. Rice vinegar is great for quick-pickling things and is a “gentler” vinegar, but can run a bit more expensive than the others. There are a multitude of vinegars (white balsamic is a personal favorite) in the world and the acidity in them makes most food so much better.
- All-Purpose Flour: AKA AP flour. After you open it, store the rest in an air-tight container (like a deli cup) and put a dump date on it.
- Cornstarch: A great alternative to AP flour if you need to thicken a soup or stew and can’t have gluten. It’s honestly easier to work with than flour and makes for some amazingly light fried shrimp. Also keep this in an airtight container.
- Sugar: Brown sugar and white sugar should be all you really need. Unless you go through an ungodly amount of white sugar, spend the extra couple of bucks to get baker’s sugar. It measures the same as granulated sugar, but dissolves with less effort and when used correctly, makes the best fresh juice daiquiri in the known universe. As with the flour, air-tight containers are king. While we’re talking sweet things, a good honey and some quality maple syrup are nice to have on hand too.
- Butter: Unsalted vs. salted? Depends on the recipe and how you like your butter. I like to control how much salt goes in to things so I usually opt for the former. Just invest in a butter dish and keep it in the fridge when not in use. If you or someone you like is lactose intolerant, duck fat can be used as an alternative for sauteing things. I don’t know if I would bake with it. Why don’t you try that out and get back to me on it…
- Carrots, Celery, & Onions: Otherwise known as mirepoix (mere-pwa) by the French, these three aromatics are the foundation of… everything. Keep the first two in the fridge and the onions at room temperature. When buying carrots, spring for nice ones with the tops still attached and avoid the orange clubs found by the bag. There are, or course, several variations of this foundation of cooking. Here’s an amazing (and fairly short) article about it.
- Stocks: At any given time, a cursory glance of the freezer in my home will reveal several deli cups of frozen chicken stock. The fewer containers of chicken stock one finds, the greater the chance is that there is also a chicken carcass and a small package of chicken feet as well. These three things rotate in and out of my freezer consistently and having stock on hand is a must. Think of it this way: you’re making some chicken thighs and some brown rice to go with it. A fairly straightforward dish. You’ve brined your chicken and payed it all the respect it deserves and it turns out juicy and flavorful. So why would you make rice to go with it with water? See what I’m getting at? Stock is flavor. Buy it if you have to, but make it if you can. My only caveat with this is if you’re making risotto. For that, I would buy some low-sodium stock and combine some of the fattier, more flavorful stock you made yourself. Otherwise you’re rolling through a mountain of stock that takes a while to make. If you’re really ambitious, you can save vegetable scraps to make vegetable stock.
- Sauces: Again, file this under “duh,” but sauces can really make the difference in a lot of the things you cook or make to eat. You need to have things like mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and other basics around. Some other things I keep around are horseradish, soy sauce, A1 (yeah, I love it on my steak, so what?), Worcestershire sauce, and BBQ sauce. More selective things would be tonkatsu sauce, ponzu sauce, hoisin sauce, peanut sauce, and other funky stuff.
- Garlic: It’s always good to have a few bulbs of garlic around. Keep them out of the fridge at room temperature. Keep them with the onions. Why not?
- Beans/Legumes: Canned or dried, whatever is easiest for you. Keep a variety on hand and you’ll be amazed with what you can do with them. Dried beans can be a real pain in the ass, but allow you to be a little more in control concerning how they’re cooked. They can be amazing if you have a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. Canned beans are super easy and allow you to do a lot with soups and stews and as a quick side dish.
- Canned Tomatoes: Another versatile staple that you shouldn’t be without. Diced and tomato sauce will work wonders for you and it’s not a terrible idea to keep a big can or two of peeled, whole tomatoes around to make pasta sauce with. When it comes to tomato paste, get the stuff in the tube so you can use what you need and store the rest away.
- Rice and Other Grains: Keep a variety of these on hand as well. This, along with the last two items, and the right kind of spices, can create a meal worth eating all on their own. Various grains like barley and buckwheat add a break to the monotony.
- Dried Pasta: Another staple in almost every American pantry. When I was a child, I swore that my mother survived off of elbow noodles and butter. Dried pasta and jars of pre-made sauce, as boring as it was, got me through my late teens living on my own. Buy good dried pasta – if it’s Italian, buy pasta made with semolina flour. Don’t be afraid to experiment with some Japanese soba or udon too. Cold soba with peanut sauce and vegetables is a cheap, easy meal worth taking to work for lunch. Cold Japanese noodles and ponzu sauce are 100% better than any pre-packaged ramen crap.
- Hot Sauce: “But Matt,” I can hear you saying, “I don’t like hot sauce!” Well, some of us like to live a little. Like, I don’t know, let’s say, maybe that person you were bumping uglies with last night and now you want to show them you want to do more ugly bumping down the road, so you decide to make them eggs in the morning as an incentive to do this more often? Better have that hot sauce ready, kid! Even if you don’t use it personally, it’s something that you need to be able to offer guests in your home. If you don’t know which kind to buy, get Crystal. It’s got a perfect balance of tomato, spice, and vinegar and isn’t super overpowering.
- Nuts/Seeds: Things like walnuts, pine nuts, and pumpkin seeds add texture to anything from salads to steaks. They keep for seemingly forever and can always be used as a snack.
- Citrus Fruits: Lemons & limes will keep at room temperature for about 7-10 days, long enough for you to pick up a couple at the store and have them around. Use citrus fruits to breathe some life into dishes when they need a little something to perk them up. Or fuck it, just use them to take shots of tequila.
- Mustard: Not only is this condiment the best in sandwiches and a great way to rescue dry, lifeless pork chops, it’s a necessity as an emulsifier in vinaigrettes. Get what ever kind makes you happy.
- Canned Fish: Look beyond tuna in a can (although that can turn even a sad box of mac and cheese into an impromptu casserole). Anchovies are a must in Caesar Salads.
- Frozen Peas: Not necessarily an essential, but an easy way to add a vegetable to a meal if you’re low on fresh stuff. One of the few frozen vegetables worth having. The other is frozen collard greens, a healthy vessel for hot sauce. Seriously though, beans & greens is one of my favorite side dishes.
- Instant Mashed Potatoes: Weird, I know, coming from a guy championing fresh food, but sometimes quick and easy stuff like this doesn’t totally suck and is nice to have around. And to be fair, they’re good to have in case of an emergency. Feel free to add things like bacon bits or cheese or something to liven them up a little.
- Quick Grits: Okay. I’m not a Southern boy, so I probably do these wrong all the time. But fuck it. They can be amazing to have around. Grits with cheese and a fried egg is something I would eat regardless of the time of day. They go well with shrimp and, quite honestly, are delightful on their own with a bunch of cheese and hot sauce.
- Panko (or other bread crumbs): I prefer panko (a Japanese style of breadcrumbs), but really, any type will do. Just make sure you’re up to date on the expiration date on it.
- Tahini: If you’ve never had it, it kind of tastes like peanut butter, but less sweet. It’s amazing in a lot of things and is lovely to have around.
Wow. Please keep in mind that everything above is not the end all/be all of your pantry needs. And of course, you don’t need to have all of these things on hand at every given moment of your day. There are a bunch of things that are on here that I maybe use once or twice a year, but maybe they don’t go bad super fast and are cheap and should be kept on hand. Just know that the majority of your successes in the kitchen depend on your pantry.