Must have kalamata olive tapenade at all times. 1/2 gallon of Blue Bell ice cream in freezer. Also in freezer, big glass beer mugs, so you may have the frostiest of frosty beverages: beer, root beer float, milk, whatevs.

Most everything else I have is pretty standard. I DO have fresh cilantro for my home-made salsa, and you WILL like it. YOU HEAR ME???? Haven't come across anyone that hasn't loved my salsa and you don't want to be the first, now do you? I thought not.

olive oil is the only snooty kitchen ingredient I have. And garlic... preminced. I'm tired of mincing cloves.

*double dips*

i love cilantro, it makes me happy. there's lots of it going in the salsa fresca tonight :]

Things that are must-haves for me that other people might not always have?

- rice wine vinegar
- thai-style sweet chili sauce
- capers (agreed, lonefrontranger!)
- green curry paste

That LFR hearts the cilantro pleases me.

I have ice and vodka, an abundance of spices, and some washing up i'm ignoring.

And some very luxury fruity olive oil i eat with crusty bread.

various infused oils, dried plants for the sniffles and such and for eatin, not just for lookin through. I've some very old balsamic vinny. I cook in cast iron but usually only use the ci wok. It is both the one essential cooking item I have and also singular in its' capacity as a shield against errant mind control waves.

update: i found earwigs in the garlic powder plus i had to beat the hell out of the meat (cheap chuck) so that it doesn't wind up tough as an old shoe. can you believe this? those egregious BASTARDS at whole paycheck wanted FIFTEEN FUCKING DOLLARS A POUND (???...!!!) for flank steak.

man. when i was a kid flank steak was what the po' folks et.

all is serene now tho. smells good too.

I can do without the cilantro, thanks.

I always have sweet and dry vermouth on hand, good balsamic vinegars (white and dark), cider vinegars, corn meal, corn starch, various forms of sugars, couple kinds of sea salt, kosher salt, Vidalia or Mexican sweet onions, celery, good boullion in fish, veg, beef and chicken flavors, canned or boxed broths in likewise flavors, MSG, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, creamy horseradish, various dry and prepared mustards, regular and elephant garlic, good bread crumbs, corn bread stuffing mix, Dale's seasoning, quality pepper sauces, cocoa, good chili powder, butter, cream cheese, and plenty of cheddar, American, Havarti, mozzarella, and parmesan/romano cheeses. I also keep bacon, chorizo, and prosciutto as staples, along with cubed ham in vacuum packs, and mild pork sausage in 1 lb. packages, sometimes in the freezer. There are always frozen ground beef, bottom round or London broil steak, pork chops, whole chickens, and a blade beef roast, or a pork roast in the freezer. Potatoes, carrots, celery and mushrooms are also constant staples, usually fresh, sometimes frozen, depending on season.

paulsc, I would like to prepare my salsa in your kitchen. Even if I have to give up the cilantro.
you won't notice it, at least

paulsc, I would like to take all of my meals in your kitchen.

"... you won't notice it, at least"
posted by WolfDaddy 28 July | 19:17

Fresh cilantro, to me, tastes like soap. Not good soap, either. More like soap froth out of old sweat socks that haven't been laundered in weeks. It may be a genetic thing, but if you think you can sneak the taste of soapy old sweat socks paste my tastebuds in any dilution, be prepared for my strenuous and immediate objections :-\ Many have tried, but none have snuck it by me. Even drowned in garlic, covered with pepper's capsaicin, bouyed by vinegar, and sloshing in MSG, it smells distinctively bad, from arms' length, much less tasting it. I'm not alone in this. People who don't like cilantro, generally in my experience, really don't like cilantro. There are very, very few foods I dislike, so whenever I come across a picky eater, I can sympathize with them readily, by understanding that for them, the world has hundreds of things like cilantro is, to me.

Interestingly, I like and frequently use the dried seeds of the same plant, ground, as coriander spice, in various dishes, but especially in holiday breads and baked goods. It and cardamom are the "secret ingredients" in my "cinammon" rolls.

Huh. We have most of paulsc's list in our kitchen (not elephant garlic though). Goes to show what a moron I am for thinking that most people did as well. (then again, I do that sort of thing all the time).

Olives --- Kalamata or Nicoise.

If we have less than a head of garlic, I start to twitch.

Two or three cheeses: always parmesan and cheddar; often mozzarella or feta.

In the freezer: plastic tubs full of vegetable scraps, heavy on the garlic, for making veg stock.

Nutmeg. It adds a warm rich flavor to dishes with potatoes or cream, and is great with zucchini.

Yeast. I bake a lot of bread, so my sister occasionally orders a 2 lb. tin of yeast (so much cheaper than those little jars!) for me through her bakery, and I store it in my freezer. Guests often ask where I found such nice bread, and I get to beam with pleasure.

Yeah, gaspode, I have most of that list too, although without the meat and some of the cheeses. But on reflection, I think that my "unique [culinary] signature," as lonefrontranger calls it, derives less from the ingredients and more from the techniques and combinations.

Quite often on visits to friends or family, I play Fridge Roulette: I make a reasonably posh dinner from whatever they have on hand. Lately, they’re making it more of a challenge by waiting until the cupboard is bare. Or so they think.

On a recent visit to my mother, she challenged me to a round of Fridge Roulette. I accepted, fridge unseen.

Her produce bin held a wizened navel orange, half a bunch of aging scallions, and half a surprisingly healthy lemon. Imagine my surprise to find a bottle of toasted sesame oil in the fridge door! She reminded me that it was mine, left over from a dinner I cooked at her home a few years ago.

In the freezer, I found a pathetic few frost-robed shrimp

On the shelf: rices of all descriptions! All the staple vinegars and oils, a standard assortment of spices. Approximately ten thousand cans of beets. In her baking cabinet, perhaps a dozen prepared mixes for muffins and cakes, and one crumpled packet with a small handful of almonds.

The dinner: pan-seared shrimp, marinated in orange juice and zest, sesame oil, and cider vinegar with garlic and scallions, served over orange-sesame basmati rice (which I cooked with the marinade after draining the shrimp), all sprinkled with crispy almonds pan-toasted with chili powder, black pepper, and salt. On the side, we had a cold salad of beets, drained and dressed with garlicky lemon dressing.

Frankly, it was gorgeous. I'll make it again someday, with fried tofu in place of shrimp, perhaps.

So, though there are certain ingredients I use again and again at home, my cooking style focuses more on the willingness to try unexpected combinations and to make something delicious with what's on hand.

If we have less than a head of garlic, I start to twitch.

Ha! Yep, I feel that!

My staples pretty much duplicate what others have previously posted, but I also always keep on hand:
-- a round of Siljans crispbread, a plain rye flatbread that I love and that serves as a wonderful base for cheese spreads, sliced turkey, tapenade, etc.;
--a jar of pureed chipotle peppers for infusing into stews and braises;
--smoked paprika (OMG so good);
--a container of refried black beans for quick fry-ups alongside eggs;
--and, in summer at least, I always have a jug of homemade gazpacho in the fridge. In hot weather I think I could *live* on gazpacho.

Paulsc: That soap thing? I know what you mean! I used to think all the food I ordered from a particular Mexican restaurant was a little skunky because of the flavor. Then someone else mentioned how they really like how much cilantro that restaurant uses. Once I realized it wasn't something rotting or whatever, I learned to like it.

It's an acquired taste.

Once I realized it wasn't something rotting or whatever, I learned to like it.

This makes me think of my experiences with Korean food. Every time I try Korean food, it looks so good, but there's this taste that reminds me of the funk in the veggie drawer of a fridge where a head of lettuce has gone mushy, or of that underlying smell you sometimes get in grocery stores where you can smell the decay behind the fresh produce.

Is THAT a spice, or is that a product of the fact that so much Korean food is fermented?

Korean food, especially kimchi, is salt-pickled, and has what appears to the Western nose to be a "dumpster smell" (my description). The spice in kimchi is actually red pepper brought to Korea by the Portugese from the Americas in the 17th Century.

The first time I went to Korea, I HATED all the food. Now I quite like it. Another one of those acquired tastes.

At this point, I'll try just about anything. I haven't been challenged to eat insects or rocky mountain oysters, and those are the two things that still turn my stomach, but under the right circumstances I could see myself trying them.

If you have questions about Korean food, try here. That blog is created by one of our own bunnies (is it stavrosthewonderchicken? I have trouble remembering). But just tell 'im MeCha sent ya and he'll treat ya well.

My kitchen always includes spicy black bean sauce, Worcestershire sauce, whole grain mustard, some kind of hot sauce, horseradish, green olives, about fifteen types of beans, good brown rice, curry powder, cayenne, paprika and trail mix (which goes into my cereal, my yogurt and often meals like fried rice).

I'm not sure he can help, unless he can make it smell like something other than the food that usually gets thrown out, but thanks for the info, Doohickie! I live in a very Korean part of Atlanta, so I'm sure I'll get the chance to dive back in and try it again. "Dumpster smell" pretty much nails it, though... like I said, it looks so good, and then... yikes.

And by "thanks or the info" I meant thanks for explaining that it's salt-pickled. I didn't know that would produce that aroma, but having lived on Georgia's coast... yeah, there's something marsh-y there. :)

There is absolutely zero in my kitchen. Empty. There's a sink and nothing else. We just moved in to a old victorian and the old appliances that the old man had were so gross that we asked them to throw them out before we moved in. I've bought some counters and appliances off of craigslist and a fridge from the Sears scratch-and-dent outlet but haven't installed them all yet.

So for the moment, we're eating takeout. Hopefully I can put together a working kitchen in a few days.

Most of my must haves have been listed but here are a few more:
Pure rice wine vinegar (no salt or sugar added)
red wine vinegar
white wine vinegar
cider vinegar
grapeseed oil
Thai curry paste (red, green, yellow)
fish sauce
several olive oils infused with our own herbs
Fleur de Sel
Brittany grey salt
Asian pink salt
black, white, green, and, pink peppercorns
homemade beef, chicken, turkey, and, vegetable stock
Homemade Moroccan preserved lemons
Our own sun dried tomatoes
Our own grilled red peppers in oil
dried celery tops
homemade vindaloo paste
homemade Garam masala
homemade Balti paste
fresh herbs from the garden for eight months of the year and our own dried for the other four

lonefrontranger, flank steak is about $2.50 a pound at my market.

i also can't *believe* i don't have capers on hand. i love them and they keep indefinitely.

Not true. If my husband is around, he'll eat 'em all up, straight out of the bottle.

I can't say we have anything that hasn't been mentioned, but good peppercorns and a pepper grinder are must-haves. Also, you can't fart around with a crappy pepper grinder... you'll end up buying any number of nasty cheap ones before bowing to the inevitable and getting a good one, so you might as well save the money from the start. Our pepper grinder is made by Peugeot, which apparently made household tools, among other things, long before they made bicycles or cars. I never knew that until I looked up Peugeot pepper grinders on the internet, after seeing the brand and becoming curious.

My larder, it is empty. Except for the staples: Rice, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, chili paste, chili powder, kimchi. Oh, and hot dogs, for some reason.

Everything else in the fridge/pantry is trying to crawl out. I suppose the kimchi might be trying to crawl out, too, but that's the way I like it.