Pantry Secrets 101

Part 1: Setting up Your Culinary Treasure Trove

Greetings Friends, 

🐙 received lots of good DM’s and Feedback about many of your Valentine’s Day celebrations. Food is an integral part of showing love to others, glad to see so many delicious meals and experiences being had!

Last Call for Coffee ☕️ :

February Coffee Selections are here and being shipped! 🐙 roasted extra ☕️ this month as demand has been growing. The response continues to be praiseworthy on these coffee’s. 

This month is a crazy-delicious Natural Process Coffee and the First blend we’ve put out! 

Tasting notes:

GUATEMALA (NATURAL PROCESS): Blackberry, Brown Sugar, Graham Cracker

OCTOPOD BLEND (COL/BR/EL) Milk Chocolate, Caramel, Macadamia, Marshmallow

So if you haven’t tried the Octopod Premium Coffee’s yet, “Last Call” to get in on these February Roasts! 

Pantry Secrets 101:

Think of the pantry as a vital-organ of your kitchen. When well stocked, and used often, you have a healthy and productive space. When neglected, dormant and haphazardly stocked… you end up with waste and have to “detox” once or twice a year. 

Pantries should be a daily resource in your cooking. Not a storage space with shelves of boxes and jars that collect dust.

Alas, that is what the pantry is for many cooks.

I remember specifically that my Mamaw kept a completely stocked pantry, at all times. She lived through an economic depression and never forgot where she came from. Meaning, if cans or boxes were used, they were replaced on the next store visit. The classic “FIFO” that is preached in efficient commercial kitchens (First In, First Out). Mamaw used her pantry every day. 

Over the years I’ve noticed a correlation between those who don’t cook well (or enjoy it), and poorly stocked pantries. Having a pantry full of old, dull, outdated ingredients is hardly inspiring for cooking and puts you at a severe disadvantage in the Flavor Department.

The pantry should be viewed as a gold mine in the kitchen. A treasure chest where you  can go at a moment’s notice and pull whatever is needed to spice up, razzle-dazzle, and crank out delicious meals.

THIS WILL BE A MULTIPART SERIES.

Not only will we cover a basic pantry setup, the continuation will cover a dedicated Spice Rack edition, and then stocking your pantry for certain cuisines from around the world:

-China 🇨🇳

-Thailand 🇹🇭

-Japan 🇯🇵

-South Korea 🇰🇷

-India 🇮🇳

-Mexico 🇲🇽

-Middle Eastern 🇮🇷 / 🇵🇸 / 🇱🇧 / 🇮🇱

And many more!

Food for Thought:

Before we break down what to stock in your pantry, we should zoom out and do some preventative maintenance.

Rotating Out:

You should be in the practice of inspecting your pantry every 3 months (at a minimum) to check for any expiring or old ingredients (like spices).

Why 3 months?

This lines up with a pantry check every time the seasons change.

The practice of rotating was an integral operation when 🐙 had his own kitchens. This is a great way to get inspiration for upcoming seasonal food changes and also give you a reminder of what to prioritize (ie use first) as you meal plan over the next few weeks.

Bigger Isn’t Always Better

It’s helpful to keep in mind the pantry space that you have to work with. Many times shoppers will see discounts on pantry staples, buy them all up, and then end up having to stack and overload their shelves. This is how items in your pantry get buried, forgotten about and go stale (or expire).

Non-perishables that make sense to stock up on would be rice, dried beans & garbanzos. These can be kept on lower shelves or on the floor, not covering smaller items towards the top shelves.

This is particularly important with Herbs & Spices. These items can be run higher costs in smaller quantities, encouraging bulk buying. The question is: Are you really going to use that entire quantity in 6 months?

It’s not uncommon to see spice cabinets that have spices from over 2 years ago, just hanging out… gathering dust and taking up space. Most spices and herbs contain essential oils that contribute a lot of flavor. Over time these oxidize and fade.

*Note: if you have old or dull spices, one way to revive them is to gently warm them over low-medium heat. This will bloom any remaining essential oils and “wake up” the flavors somewhat. Do not do this over high heat; if your pan is smoking the spices are surely scorching.

Aside from flavor loss on certain items, space runs at a premium in pantries. Buying that 5 gallon pack of red wine vinegar to save $5… is going to eat up precious space in your pantry and likely take years to use up.

Moral of the Story: Don’t over buy on quantities (see exceptions above), this will save you space and ensure you are using ingredients at peak flavor.

To reiterate: pantry should be rotated every 3 months (seasonal), over-buying will be avoided to conserve precious pantry space.

Basic Pantry 101:

Below are recommendations for a sensible, functional and versatile pantry setup. Keep in mind, so much of stocking your pantry is dependent on what you enjoy cooking and eating. This is why there will be follow-up parts addressing certain Cuisines. Those ingredients can be integrated to your pantry (again, based on your usage).

Vinegars:

This is primarily a matter of taste and what you cook the most. Confession: 🐙 has over 13 vinegars currently because Acidity is such an important flavor to make delicious food, I like having a whole palate available.

Apple Cider: This is a cult favorite among the “health crowd” enthusiasts. As the name implies, the tart acetic flavor has a depth of sour apple to it. Making it good for all-purpose pickling, chutneys, and some salad dressing. You can also use in bone broths (see last Substack!).

White Wine: A vinegar that is bright, clean and great for adding acidity without other overpowering flavors. Perfect for salad dressings, balanced pickling solutions, and one of the secret ingredients in 🇨🇺 Black Beans 😉

Sherry Vinegar: In 🐙 opinion, the most underrated vinegar. For a while this was hard to come by but is widely available now. Made from the fortified wine, Sherry, this vinegar delivers terrific acidity and deep flavors ranging from berries, wood and leather. Perfect to add to braising liquids, salad dressings, complex pickling liquids, chutneys, and makes for a killer Kale Salad.

Labeling is basically unregulated so “30 years”, “50 years” can be misleading and disappointing. Check Napa Naturals Brand, Capirete & also O Sherry Vinegar. These both have 1-2g of Sugar per TB, not because sugar was added, but because more Sherry was used in the vinegar making process; giving a wonderfully round Vinegar.

Malt: A personal favorite for pickling vegetables. Unmistakable flavor and perfect for dousing chips or fried fish with.

Balsamic: Most balsamics are thin, watery yet still taste sweet and overpowering. For this reason balsamic is rarely used in 🐙 kitchen. Real Balsamic is worth seeking out, properly aged and racked, it’s closer to a magical syrup that should be used to finish very special pastas, stews, or poured over quality Parmesan/Pecorino.

Oils:

To keep this simple: High Heat & Olive Oils.

High Heat Oils: Avocado, Peanut, Palm or Coconut Oil. You don’t need all of these. Coconut has a very distinct flavor that can be nice in certain curries. Pick what works best for you.

Olive Oils: See Previous Substack

Olive Oil Guide

*Note: Saw an olive oil producer recently remark that a new study showed heating olive past smoking point didn’t effect quality. As somehow that justified using burnt oil. Newsflash: Olive Oil that is heated over smoking point develops an aggressive bitter and unpleasant flavor.

Condiments:

Mustard: An important emulsifier when making mayo and also salad dressings. Useful to add a punch in cream sauces or just spice up a sandwich!

French’s 🇺🇸 , Dijon 🇫🇷, Whole Grain, Spicy Brown, Honey Mustard or Beer Mustard.

🐙 likes all mustards: Frenchs and Dijon in Dressings/Mayo. WholeGrain/Spicy served with charcuterie and on Muffaletta sandwiches. Dropping you a Beer 🍺 Mustard Recipe below for you to make at home!

Ketchup: There’s a No-Sugar Added (Also no HFCS) from Heinz that works very well for that classic flavor. Make a quick BBQ sauce, or use on a burger patty… whip up a Louis Sauce for your Crab 🦀 Salad 🥗 . Good to have a bottle on hand.

Soy: Being an Asian Cuisine fanatic, there’s 8 Soy Sauce derivatives that have distinct properties. To keep this simple: Supermarket, get Kikkoman or Lee Kum Kee. If you’re in an Asian Market, Pearl River Bridge is nice.

*Will end up doing a whole Substack on Soy Sauces as well as Vinegars…

Fish Sauce: Umami funk on steroids. Perfect for wet rubs, quick marinades and as a component in snappy serving sauces… it’s one of those ingredients you can also add to soups or braises. Adds that special “it” factor, without being obtrusive.

Worcestershire: Another Umami Bomb 💣 , this is an integral seasoning in certain dressings (think Caesar Salad!), marinades BBQ sauce, and also an OG version of Scampi sauce that is insane 👌

Tabasco: The go-to for adding a dash of heat/acid/kick to any sauce, dressing, stew, etc. Unobtrusive and effective.

Herbs/Spices:

(The next Substack will be covering this)

Soup/Base Seasonings:

Chicken Bouillon: Cubes or powder (avoid the jarred paste). Used as a seasoning base in many vegetable dishes (🇨🇳 Cucumber 🥒 Salad). Add to under seasoned broths or stocks, soups, and gravies to give an extra punch of flavor. (Chef’s do this all the time).

MSG: An indispensable flavor booster, see previous Substack

Kitchen Cocaine

Cans/Jars:

Tomatoes: Whole Canned Tomatoes give you the most options, if you’re just making braises and sauce, crushed may be the way to go. The San Marzano hype and misleading marketing labels means 🐙 will write a Substack on this too!

Tuna: In general, go with water packed, as a lot of oil-packed tuna suffers from the oil-rancidity.

Anchovies: Salt Packed, tend to hold up best and just need a quick rinse. Spain exports delicious salt-packed anchovies.

Capers: Essential for some pan sauces, salad garnish and blended into some aioli’s. The juice is also useful as a salty-type vinegar.

Preserves/Pickles:

Preserving will be another entire Substack. The tradition of canning and jarring produce that is in-season makes for absolutely delicious preparations on hand, at a moments notice. Just twist the lid off!

Currently in 🐙 Pantry, Preserves:

-Quince

-3-Citrus Marmalade

-Green Tomato Chutney

-English Pickle Relish

What you buy/stock will be solely based on your flavor preference but having some pickles (dill or bread & butter) and one or two jams/jellies are nice to have for the occasional toast, or making a fruit gastrique sauce.

Grains/Starches:

Rice: Keep up to 3 types on hand for a broad number options. Basmati, Jasmine and Sticky are 3 faves. Sub Carnaroli Rice for Sticky if you want Risotto frequently.

Rice Rice, Baby

Pasta: Since pappardelle, linguine, ravioli, agnolotti can all be made with fresh pasta, I save dried pasta for shapes that are more difficult to make without an extruder. Penne, Bucatini, Rigatoni, Elbow, etc. Keep 1 or 2 on hand and rotate new shapes in.

Lentils: Protein dense; French and Indian cuisines both excel with Lentils. Absolutely delicious. Puy Lentils have a wonderful peppery-earthy flavor.

Beans: Totally your preference, Black Beans are a go to and have very diverse uses. Red kidneys and Navy Beans are also good for Soups.

Chickpeas: One Word… Hummus: Best on the planet comes from dried chick peas. Wanna make it? See below… prepare for for your mind to be blown ⬇️

Life Changing Hummus

Baking:

Chocolate: Helpful to have a nice quality dark chocolate on hand (for making Mousse!)

Perfect Chocolate Mousse

Leaveners: Baking Soda, Baking Powder (Aluminum Free), Instant Yeast

Flour: All Purpose (King Arthur is a good brand)

Cornstarch: For baking, dredging, etc

Sweeteners:

Honey: Ideally Raw from a HoneyFarmer (available on Octopod Culinary). Honey has a distinct flavor. A little goes a long way.

Maple Syrup: Pancakes or Fruit Desserts are luxed-out with a little drizzle of Maple. Get the real stuff; avoid those containing HFCS 🤢 .

White & Brown Sugar: The reality is, these sweeteners are useful in low doses. The problems arise from overuse. Basic pickling liquids are rounded out wonderfully using brown or white sugars. And Plum Pudding, wouldn’t be Plum Pudding without brown sugar.

A Little Extra 👌 :

As promised, here’s a delicious and simple recipe to make your own beer mustard at home. Been making this for years and you can jar it up for canning too.

• 2/3 cup yellow mustard seeds

• 1/2 cup brown mustard seeds

• 1 cup cider vinegar

• 2 cup beer (brown ale; recommended. IPA wouldn’t be best) 

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/4c honey

• 2 tsp sea salt

• 1 teaspoon turmeric

• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

   

Method:

-Soak mustard seeds with cider vinegar plus half of the beer, over night in fridge (they will absorb most of liquid)

-Next day heat remaining beer with spices, honey, salt and sugar. 

-Blend mustard seeds with hot beer/spice liquid until the mustard seeds are coarsely ground. (Adjust seasoning as needed; If possible allow to age 2 weeks)

This should set you up for success to have a Treasure Trove pantry that will truly make cooking life easier for you.

Friday is the First Curry Deep Dive! Been waiting to start down this one for a while and excited to share with you… if you want the recipe it’s gonna be laid out for all the Paid Subscribers.

Until Next Time! 🥂