In Our Kitchen

Kitchen Essentials

One of our friends (and readers) requested that we post a list of the things we find essential for our kitchen. We thought that was a fun idea, and I know I’m forgetting things, but I think this will be a good start! This is the stuff we use most often. (Yes, we do use all this stuff, and often…)

Pantry:

• Flour: All Purpose, Cake, Whole Wheat, Bread, Pastry (we like to use whole wheat here too), Corn Meal, Wondra
• Sugar: White (organic is better), Hawaiian Cane Sugar, Dark Brown, Light Brown, Demerara
• Light Corn Syrup
• Baking Powder/Soda
• Real Vanilla Extract (we make our own!)
• Corn Starch
• Chocolate! We buy the best we can afford at the time and always try to buy organic or fair trade. We like to keep dark (65% or higher) and white (if we want milk, we mix them unless we can afford Valrhona Tanariva which offers a hint of caramel!)
• Cocoa Powder
• Rice, we tend to always have several varieties of brown and white on hand at all time
• Pasta, when we aren’t making our own, we buy whole wheat blends
• Variety of dried and canned beans
• Graham Cracker Crumbs
• Peanut Butter
• Assortment dried fruit
• Oats
• Breadcrumbs (store bought and home made)
• Gelatin Sheets (powdered is okay too)
• Molasses

Fridge:

• Yeast
• Milk
• Eggs
• Butter (lots and lots of unsalted butter)
• Sour Cream
• Plain Yogurt
• Sauces (chocolate, caramel, toffee – all made from scratch)
• Jelly/Jams
• Just about every hot sauce available (it’s sort of a habit for John)
• Ketchup (if you have this, you can make any condiment you need)
• Mustard

Equipment:

• Stand mixer (we love our KitchenAid)
• Immersion blender
• Good set of pots and pans (our favorite is All Clad)
• 2 good non-stick pans (nice, heavy bottom, we have Calphalon): one in 8 inch and one in 12 inch
• Our favorite utensils are a sturdy wire wisk, wooden spoons and Tupperware’s Saucy Spatulas

Spices/Seasonings:

• Dried Anaheim Chilies
• Paprika (regular and smoked)
• Salt, Table and Sea Salt
• Black Peppercorns
• Italian Seasoning Blend (shocking but we use it all the time)
• Curry Powder
• Chili Powder
• Dried Oregano
• Dried Basil
• Dried Marjoram
• Dried Thyme
• Dried Ginger
• Dried Nutmeg or whole ones
• Cloves
• Cinnamon (sticks and powder)
• Five Spice Blend