The Pantry: A Timeless Tradition

To this day when I hear the word pantry, I think of my grandmother's kitchen. You walked in the back door of her house and faced a small room lined with shelves brimming with ingredients. Every food item that didn't need to be refrigerated lived there.

Babci (grandma in Polish) didn't have any cupboard space as we know it today. Her only cabinet, which she called her szafa (sha-fa) was where the china, flatware and cookware were stored. The szafa was wooden, built into the wall, about four feet wide and extended from the ceiling to the floor. The top section had shelves behind glass doors, in the middle were two enormous drawers and the bottom had shelves with wooden doors.

Today's kitchens are laid out quite differently. A separate room for ingredients doesn't exist unless you live in an old farmhouse. Yet the spirit of the pantry lives on.

Cookbooks frequently include a section titled "Stocking your pantry," or "Basic ingredients for your kitchen." The idea is identifying ingredients that you should always keep on hand; items frequently used in many recipes. You can store them in a cupboard, under a counter or inside the fridge. It doesn't matter, just as long as they're handy when you need them.

Anyone who is interested in cooking on more than a "now and then" basis needs to keep some ingredients in their kitchen. There's plenty of advice out there on putting together that "basic pantry." It will include milk, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, pepper, flour, coffee, mustard, bouillon cubes, herbs.... A very comprehensive list can be found in The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.

You don't have to buy everything at one time. Add an item or two to your cart when have a light order, or pick them up the first time you need to use them. Buy quality products in small quantities. The trick is to restock after you empty the jar or container - keeping ahead of the demand, if you will. In a short time, you'll have the right ingredients handy to cook almost any recipe.

And now, a small twist.

I thought it might be fun to add some ethnic ingredients to your pantry. Do you enjoy Asian? Italian? Tex-Mex? Many of us do, so here's my list of some additional items you'll want to consider buying. With just a few extra products in your cupboard, you'll be able to prepare dishes from around the world.

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