Essential Ingredients

Every day we look through the pantry to see what to make for dinner, but without these ingredients you would have a rough time. These are the essential ingredients we need to have in our kitchen so that our food isn’t missing that key note. I chose to separate kitchen essentials from essential ingredients even though these ingredients because your essential ingredients are much more than just a kitchen essential, but a lifeline in your arsenal of culinary prowess.

-Salt-

Salt is that one of the most essential ingredients to have in your pantry, and I’m not talking about iodized table salt, unless you are baking. There are plenty of different salts out there from flaky salt and kosher salt, to finer salts such as fine sea salts. Salt is a flavor enhancer, it takes the flavor profile and ups the ante on it. Salt may be introduced to stocks and used to season meat to add depth to the flavor profile of our dishes. Salt even enhances sweets, such as cookies and brownies. If you don’t believe me, Sprinkle a pinch of salt onto a piece of chocolate and watch as it takes that chocolate flavor to another level.

-Pepper-

Pepper is the second most useful seasoning in the kitchen, lending it’s aromatic presence to any dish, and a tiny kick. When used in combination with salt, pepper adds a complexity to any dish that you use it in.

-Garlic-

You can add a lot to a dish with this bulbous plant related to shallots, leeks and onions. You can use garlic in different inspired dishes. Different Asian dishes make use of garlic in interesting combinations, which are fresh and complex, while Italians use garlic in pairing with other vegetables to give hearty sauces and pasta combinations.

-Onion-

There are plenty of uses for onions while in the kitchen. Onions from the same type, such as sweet onions, have their flavor influenced by the soil that they are grown in. You could grow a yellow onion in the United States, and one in Italy, and the onions flavor would be influenced by the locale and the nutrient content in the soil.

You could use raw onions in sandwiches, or on burgers, or sauté them to get a charred onion. If we take a little more time, we have pickled onions, which pair phenomenally with slow cooked meats, and smoked dishes. My personal favorite use of onion is a caramelized onion, slowly cooking the onion so it doesn’t burn, yet fully caramelizes all the sugars in the onion.

-Rice-

Rice is a universal side, or a Staple main course. Risotto, which usually consists of Arborio rice, pairs wonderfully with different cuts of slow cooked meats, seeing that it is a slow cooked rice that relies on the starches from the rice and butter used to coat and toast the rice to thicken a stock that is slowly introduced. Rice pairs so well with multiple dishes, that some cultures use rice with almost every meal. There are even some Asian cultures that eat rice at breakfast time.

-Potatoes-

Boil em’ Mash em’ Stick em’ in a stew. Potatoes are a universal starch with endless possibilities. There are different kinds of potatoes, such as starchy potatoes or the waxy variety, each with delicious potential. Potatoes also taste slightly different, just like onions, from where they are grown, and what nutrients are in their soil.

you have easy dishes like mashed potatoes, recipes that require knife skills for evenly cut potatoes like fries, or chips if you are in a European country. You even have possibilities from French cuisine such as Au Gratin that are delicious. Next time you are at the store, consider buying some baby potatoes and cut them in half, toss them in some oil, salt and pepper, and throw them in the oven to roast, or air fryer if that’s your preference for an amazing side to any dish.

-Citrus-

Citrus is commonly overlooked when it comes to the home cooks kitchen, and its understandable. Oranges, lemons, and limes are 3 of the many citrus we can use in our every day culinary journey. These sweet and acidic fruits grow and mature on trees. They can and should be implemented in every single persons kitchen, being utilized for mixed drinks, virgin and alcoholic, as well as jams or lending their flavor profile well to baked goods. The wonderful thing about having citrus on hand is being able to use the juices to help season or marinade your proteins as well, having the ability to enhance the flavor of just about anything.

Lemons may be used in marinades that incorporate garlic and other herbs to season chicken, or cuts of beef. Lime tends to be used in a bunch of Spanish cuisine, added a slight acidity and bright flavor to all sorts of dishes. Oranges come in different varieties, and are used in many different applications, like marmalades, orange zest on a mixed drink, or just peeled and eaten like a caveman.

It is good to note that if you have a food that will discolor or oxidize given some time, squeeze some citrus over it. Guacamole is one of those foods that will turn brown and look like sewage if you let it sit there, but if you squeeze some lime juice over it, and mix it, you’ll have a guacamole that won’t change color for a longer period of time.

-Flour-

We are coming to an end with these last two items. There is one main reason I have flour in this position ahead of butter. Flour is one of those universal ingredients that can be utilized in multiple ways, just like any of the ingredients on this list. There are main dishes, side dishes, desserts, and even sauces that all have flour in them.

Flour can be used when baking. Baking flour and a few other ingredients will deliver you a hearty bread, a tangy sourdough, or a sweet roll. You also have the possibility of making desserts such as brownies, cookies, cakes, and pastries by using different techniques and methods.

This ingredient may be incorporated to even weights of butter over low to medium heat to create a roux, the basis of most of the French Mother Sauces. A roux is one of the first things any home cook should learn at the beginning of their journey, for it has implications in stews, gumbos, and thickening gravy and sauces.

There are individuals who can’t eat items with flour or wheat in general. Celiac disease is a detrimental disease in which the body can’t process gluten, a glue like substance that holds flour together, and is why a good bread has a spring like quality and chew. For these individuals, there are many different opportunities when it comes to substituting traditional wheat based flours, and hopefully we can figure out a way to make any and all foods without gluten formation for these affected.

-Butter-

Last but certainly not least is the one ingredient everyone should have laying around, whether you make it yourself, or buy it at a store or local farm, butter. Butter is that rich and creamy milk by-product that elevates the richness of all dishes. Butter is the one ingredient that you may use to lubricate your pan, build a roux, or implement in a recipe to give it a rich and nutty flavor. You can brown butter, which is a slow way of cooking the butter as not to burn it, but imbue that deep nutty aroma and complex flavor into your dishes. You can also clarify butter, or make ghee to use with seafood. In general, butter is one of those ingredients that would make your kitchen feel empty if it is left out.

There are many more ingredients that complete our kitchen and our pantries, and this is just the bare bones that I personally feel that everyone should have at their disposal in their home. Experiment with ingredients, and try new things. Other ingredients I would suggest having on hand in your pantry would be different oils for frying, sautéing, and emulsifying, sugar for baked goods and sweetening, condiments like ketchup and mustard(extra points if they’re homemade), different fruits and vegetables, and different proteins in the chill-chest(a popular term for refrigerator used by Alton Brown in all of the good eats series, one of my favorites).

I hope you all enjoyed my Kitchen Ingredients journal entry, and would love your input. What ingredients are a must have for you? What belongs in your pantry and do you use it daily? Contact me, and let me know.

-Nobrega’s Kitchen, est.2021-