Sahr, from the Cotton Tree asked a good question in my comments – What should a novice chef have in their pantry?
The simple answer is – the ingredients you need to make the base of the type of food you like. Tomato paste if you like Italian, coconut milk if you like Thai etc. However as your repertiore grows, and your skills increase, so does your pantry. I’ve got stuff in my pantry that I bought in asian markets, that I don’t even know what it is.
A pantry is more than just a place to keep staple ingredients on hand, it also should serve as an emergency food cache. Not so much in the hard-core survivalist sense, but in cases where you may be slightly sort on cash, or some circumstance prevents you from being able to shop. or more likely, for those times when you just don’t feel like cooking or prepping food, you’ll have what you need to throw something together. For more sophisticated meals, having an armoury of varied foodstuff that can be used when a dish ‘needs something extra’ really helps.
But here’s a simple list of things any chef needs on hand to be able to make the basis of most meals. These are ingredients that, for the most part, have long enough shelf life that you won’t need to worry about planning when you’re going to use them.
Essentials (stuff you can’t cook without)
Oil, you can’t cook without oil or butter, no matter how good your non-stick pans might be. I prefer peanut oil for general cooking and pan lubrication, olive oil and sesame oil for flavoring and dressings. Once you start getting fancy you can either buy or make flavored/herbed oils.
Salt and Pepper, every cook will tell you that food most be seasoned properly. While I don’t believe in the overuse of salt (some TV chefs will tell you to salt lettuce for God’s sake!), you really can’t do without it. Kosher salt is preferred for taste over iodized table salt. Black pepper from some sort of grinder is essential as well. White pepper is essential for subtler dishes.
All-purpose flour, while I don’t bake much, flour is essential for roux and gravies, and batters. I’ve been using rice flour lately with good results. I’ll include cornstarch here, since it’s vital for thickening some sauces. Also I know some people would consider bisquick, and some sort of pancake mix important to have on hand.
Spices, an entire category, and I could cover this with several posts. But for basic cooking you should have oregano, basil, paprika, tarragon, sage, rosemary and thyme. If you like hot stuff, you should have some cayenne. The simple cook or novice should have things like onion flakes and garlic powder until they learn that there’s no substitute for having those two ingredients fresh. I shy away from spiced-salt mixes (with the exception of celery salt) but if you only have one or two things or your spice rack, you may need some of this stuff. Other spices realy depend on preferences. For instance, I couldn’t do without ginger, although most of the time it’s fresh or ginger juice.
Canned soup, for quick or emergency meals, and for novice cooking. Cream of chicken, cream of mushroom etc. have been used for generations to make tasty meals. And often the can iteslf comes with a recipe printed right on it. Put some chicken in a pan, plop some soup on top of it, and put it in the oven until it’s cooked. Thats the basic traditional home-cooked American meal. Here’s some Campbell’s recipes if you really need them. Also I should include the dry soup/gravy mix envelopes in this category. While I’d prefer to make my own, having something on hand that make a sauce with some water in a few minutes definitely would help the novice. Also you never know when you need to make an emergency chip dip.
Vinegar, for flavoring chili, sweet and sour sauces and dressings. Simple white vinegar will do, but I always have rice wine, cider and some balsamic on hand.
Tomato paste, for pasta sauces and chilis. Novice cooks or those who are really in a rush should stock up on pre-made pasta sauces and canned chili.
Stock items
Rice, buy big bags of it, and wait the 10-20 minutes it takes for the real stuff to cook. It’ll give you time to make the rest of the meal. I’ll make exceptions for the true novice cook, but don’t by the instant unless you really only have a minute and like stuff that tastes like styrofoam-lite. I prefer jasmine rice, but always try to have some brown rice around.
Pasta, another topic for an entire post. I like big shaped pasta, twirls, ziti, rigatoni etc. Not just for italian type sauces, use them topped with chili or in all kinds of creative salads and casseroles. Pasta is something every novice can handle.
Noodles, oriental types – udon, soba etc. Vital for asian cooking. Novices or college students should have plenty of Ramen, but know when its time to graduate from that stuff.
Couscous, a little exotic for the novice, but boxed couscous takes only a few minutes to cook and makes a great change of pace if you have a limited cooking repertoire.
Dried beans and grains, a little more work but these will be vital for the vegetarian meals. Dirt cheap and very filling, beans can be used in anything from stew to salads and grains like millet make great casserole pies.
Potatoes, slightly out of the pantry category because of the shelf life, but for the price, ease of cooking and variety of meals you can use them with, everyone should keep a bag of ‘em around.
Not Quite Essential, but Important
Stock, while you can get away without using stock while making sauces and soups, stews or for braising, a few cans on hand come in handy for many dishes.
Cooking wine, while not essential for basic cooking, they bring sauces to another level of sophistication. Ignore the salty ‘made for cooking’ wine and stock up on cheap port and sherry (both dry and sweet). I always have some sake around, both the cheap drinking type, and the asian cooking sake. I’m also never out of Marsala and Madeira, both vital for my pasta sauces and some chicken dishes. I’ll also include mirin in this category.
Canned fish, namely tuna, salmon or mackeral. Some of this, a can or two of something else in your pantry, some rice or pasta and voila, a meal. Also sandwiches, salads and countless other things can be whipped up with this cheap staple. Some cooks swear anchovies are an essential staple, but I prefer mine in a jar, in the frig, since I can’t see myself ever using an entire can of them at once.
Canned and dried mushrooms, most of my dishes benefit from mushrooms, whether its a chicken Marsala, or a hot curry. They’re cheap and they add bulk to the meal, without adding more meat.
Canned veggies, I will always endorse fresh veggies over canned, but a few cans of peas or green beans, not only serve as side dishes, but can be used creatively in things like pasta salads and casseroles.
Canned fruit, for me, I always keep some pineapples and mandarin oranges for sweet and sour dishes, dressing up hams, etc. Also recommended in case the bomb hits, and your pantry serves as a fallout shelter since you’ll need to fight off scurvy.
Condiments, mustards make great sauces and mayo is vital for the potato, tuna, chicken or pasta salad. Soy sauce, teriyaki, tabasco if you cook dishes that require them. You can build from there especially with hot sauces, BBQ sauces etc. But if you really need to stock up on ketchup, I’ll bet you don’t need anything else on this entire list.
I haven’t covered anything you’ll need for baking, since that’s another science entirely, but even if you venture into things like pancakes, or packaged muffin/cookie mixes you should have some vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg etc to spice thing up once in awhile.
Sometime I’ll try to post some more of the stranger items I have in my pantry, including some ‘banana sauce’, canned lychees etc.