By Mark Bittman
The problem with much of the hype about cooking today is that the focus is often not on the simple, straightforward, good dishes that comprise the repertoire of most home cooks, but on the overly fancified recipes developed by chefs to impress us when we spend fifty dollars per person in their restaurants. Home cooking is a different story: Simple, basic, and easily accomplished using a variety of on-hand ingredients along with one or two things brought home from the market. With this kind of approach, anyone can cook almost anything -- and most people are usually surprised at how easy and rewarding real cooking is.
The Well-stocked Pantry
Preparing fast, good-tasting, and healthy lunches and dinners is a lot easier if you maintain a well-stocked pantry -- and this means more than a couple of cans of tuna fish, a jar of mayo, a bag of chips, a bottle of salsa, and a slew of microwaveable food. There are a couple of dozen ingredients that belong in every kitchen all of the time. Fortunately, most of these ingredients keep nearly indefinitely. Even better, taken together, these ingredients can go a long way toward preparing literally hundreds of different dishes in thirty minutes or less. Although the list is far from arcane, I am often surprised at how few people recognize the importance of permanently stocking and re-stocking these staples.
Personally, I am never without:
- Pasta and rice
- Canned beans, canned tomatoes, and canned stock
- A good selection of spices (which ideally would be renewed annually)
- Olive oil, a couple of different vinegars, soy sauce
- Flour, cornmeal, and the like
- Onions, potatoes, garlic, and other long-keeping vegetables
- Real Parmesan cheese (which keeps, well wrapped, for months and months)
- Baking soda, baking powder, yeast, and sugar
- Anchovies, capers, red peppers
