My French Pantry

Here is a list of ingredients I try to keep on hand for my alimentary pleasure, for use from basic seasoning to last-minute flourishes.

Dry Goods

Baking powder 

Baking soda 

Beans – black, pinto, white (lingots, tarbais, or cannellini)

Chipotle chilis in adobo – sent in care packages from home

Coconut milk

Curry pastes – green;red

Fish sauce

Flour – unbleached all-purpose, whole wheat

Granola – I like the kind with chocolate bits in it 

Honey – one plain; one with some character

Nuts – for snacking or garnishing 

Oils – Olive (Spanish extra-virgin), Peanut, Sesame, Sunflower (or other fairly neutral vegetable oil) 

Pasta – variety of shapes 

Peanut butter

Pepper – black (whole peppercorns for grinding fresh – there is no other way);  ground cayenne; ground white; red chili flakes

Popcorn – or, more specifically, “popping corn”

Rice – brown; wild; long-grain white; basmati or jasmine; arborio

Salt – sel gros de Camargue (basically one small step below fleur de sel, but much cheaper)

Sesame seeds

Spices – Cinnamon (ground and whole); Cloves (whole); Cumin (ground); Curry powder

Sriracha chili sauce – a little goes a long way

Sugar – granulated; turbinado/cassonade

Tomato products – diced; purée; whole peeled

Vinegars – Balsamic; Chinese black; Cider; Rice; Sherry

Wine – red; white; sparkling

Yeast – instant/rapid-rise

Refrigerated

Butter – unsalted; with grains of fleur de sel for spreading on bread

Cheese – hard grating (Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano) ; fresh goat; Swiss-style (Emmenthal, Gruyère, Comté); blue

Cream – fresh, not UHT, preferably without stabilizers/thickeners 

Crème fraîche 

Eggs 

Fromage blanc (can stand in for crème fraîche or yogurt) 

Jam/Preserves – Griotte (Morello Cherry), mixed berry or whatever strikes my fancy

Mayonnaise 

Milk – whole, preferably organic, not UHT

Mustard -Dijon, obviously

Soy sauce

Yogurt – plain

Produce

Carrots 

Celery 

Citrus – oranges; grapefruit (in season); limes; lemons 

Garlic 

Ginger 

Herbs – bay leaf, thyme, parsley (flat leaf preferred over curly, but I buy whichever smells the best at the time)

Olives – whatever looks good at the market

Onions – yellow are the best all-purpose onions

Peppers – Scotch bonnets/habaneros; long green Moroccan hot peppers; homemade roasted piqillos

Potatoes

Salad greens

Shallots – indispensable for vinaigrettes and pan sauces

Frozen

Ice cream

Ice cubes – these seem to be something of a novelty here

Stock – Chicken; Fish; Veal

Originally published on Croque-Camille.

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