Dixie Caviar's Larder: A Well-Stocked Pantry

I did some serious "spring" cleaning at the start of the new year, working my way through each and every kitchen drawer, cabinet, and secret hiding space. During the week-long process, I managed to throw out the old, inventory the new, and start a running list of what to purchase next. Then I thought, "Hey, maybe some Dixie Caviar readers are interested in what I keep stocked in my kitchen?" (I don't know about anyone else, but I am totally into culinary espionage.)

So here it is, a peak inside of Dixie Caviar's fully-stocked pantry. At my best and most organized, I have all of these items on hand. I know it's a lot, but since I cook (and eat) for a living, it's important that I have what I need at a moments notice. Not to mention that I love nothing more than discovering new ingredients and chef's dirty little "secrets."

I'll add a "larder" tab on my toolbar and add my discoveries as I go. Check back often if you're in need of some delicious inspiration. And since I'm always on the hunt, do you have any pantry secrets I should know about? Share them in the comments!

In the fridge:

  • Beverages: Simply Orange OJ, Odwalla 'Superfood' juice
  • Milk: 2 %, whole buttermilk, heavy whipping cream
  • Butter: Land O' Lakes unsalted, Kerrygold unsalted
  • Dairy: sour cream, Philadelphia cream cheese, Greek yogurt, low-fat vanilla yogurt, crème fraîche, cottage cheese
  • Cheese: sharp cheddar, Parmesan, Gruyere, Maplebrook Burrata, Laughing Cow
  • Free-range eggs
  • Duke’s Mayonnaise (regular and light)
  • Heinz Simply Ketchup
  • Mustard: Maille Dijon, French's yellow mustard, Maille whole grain
  • Sandwich condiments: Wickles sub relish, Phickles Pickles, Horseradish Sauce
  • Store bought salad dressing: Brianna’s French, Kraft Zesty Italian, Cardini's Caesar, Annie's Goddess, Trader Joe's Champagne Pear Vinaigrette, Newman's Own Oil & Vinegar, Ranch, Rao's Balsamic Vinaigrette
  • Homemade salad dressing: Greek, honey mustard, poppyseed
  • Sweet condiments: Bonne Maman preserves, Grade B pure maple syrup, simple syrup
  • Meat condiments: Dale’s marinade, Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, SLAP sauce, Pickapeppa Sauce, Heinz chili sauce
  • Mexican condiments: Chi Chi's chunky salsa, Herdez salsa verde, pickled jalapenos, La Lechonera sour orange juice
  • Grains: Bay's English muffins (plain and cinnamon-raisin), Lender's egg bagels, flour tortillas
  • Rice: jasmine, wild, yellow, arborio, brown, Carolina gold
  • Meat drawer: Wright’s applewood smoked bacon, Hebrew National Beef Franks
  • Produce drawer: spinach, butter lettuce, carrots, celery, lemons, limes

In the freezer:

  • Ice cream: Trader Joe’s coffee ice cream, Ben & Jerry's Phish food, Haagen Dazs caramel cone, Breyers vanilla
  • Homemade beef and chicken stock
  • Meat: ground beef, chicken wings, chicken thighs
  • Rolls: Sister Schubert’s (sausage and parker house)
  • Biscuits: Marshall’s, Callie's Charleston Biscuits
  • Pastry: Trader Joe's all-butter pie crust, Dufour’s Puff Pastry
  • Fruit: mixed berries, strawberries, grapes, bananas
  • Vegetables: corn, peas, lima beans, stir-fry mix, spinach
  • Potatoes: French fries, sweet potato fries
  • Nuts: almonds, pecans, walnuts
  • Shortening
  • Canned Lemonade, limeade

In the pantry:

  • Flours: all-purpose, self rising, cake flour, whole wheat, oat flour, semolina
  • Grains: Geechie Boy grits, yellow cornmeal, farro
  • Thickeners: Wondra flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, cornstarch, arrowroot starch, rice flour
  • Beans: black, Bush’s baked, black-eyed peas, garbanzo, kidney, cranberry, refried
  • Binders: plain bread crumbs, panko crumbs, rolled oats
  • Pasta: spaghetti, whole-wheat penne, orzo, rice noodles
  •  Swanson's natural chicken stock, Pacific Organic beef stock
  • Tomato Sauce: Rao’s, Prego original
  • Tomato paste
  • Canned: corn, green chiles, San Marzano tomatoes
  • Anchovy paste
  • Wild-caught tuna in packed in olive oil
  • JIF extra-crunchy peanut butter
  • Velveeta Shells & Cheese
  • Jiffy corn muffin mix
  • Powdered ranch mix
  • Knorr Vegetable Mix
  • Coffee: Dunkin' Donuts whole beans, Dirty Nekkid Man
  • Salty snacks: Tortilla chips, Lay's Classic potato chips, Ritz crackers, saltines, pita chips, Pretzel Crisps, sesame sticks, Wheat Thins, Marcona almonds
  • Sweet snacks: graham crackers, kettle corn, chocolate covered espresso beans, Nature’s Path pumpkin flax granola, Trader Joe's milk chocolate with hazelnuts, Trader Joe's Gummy Tummies, Haribo gummy bears, Ferrero Rocher chocolates
  • Specialty treats: Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies, Little John's Toffee, Vosges Bacon Pancake Mix, Rooster cookies

In the baking cabinet

In the spice cabinet

  • Salts: Diamond Crystal Kosher, Camargue Fleur de Sel, Lawry's, truffle salt
  • Vinegar: apple cider, balsamic, red wine, champagne, rice, white wine, sherry, tarragon
  • Oils: La Martina olive oil, canola, peanut, walnut, truffle
  • Dry sherry
  • Hot sauces: Frank's Original Red Hot, Cholula, Tabasco, Louisiana, Texas Pete
  • Condiments: Kikkoman low-sodium soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, pepper vinegar
  • Pepper: black peppercorns, white pepper, red pepper flakes, cayenne
  • Ground: chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, curry powder
  • Sweet paprika, pimenton (hot smoked paprika)
  • Colman's dry mustard powder
  • Dried oregano, thyme
  • Bay leaves
  • Poppy seeds
  • sesame seeds
  • Old Bay seasoning
  • Lemon pepper
  • Tony Chachere's creole seasoning

At the bar

  • Vodka: Svedka
  • Bourbon: Bulleit, Basil Hayden's, Makers Mark
  • Gin: Hendick's, Citadelle
  • Tequila: Herradura silver
  • Rum: Meyer's dark, Malibu, Bacardi
  • Liqueurs: St. Germaine, Bailey's, Godiva, Grand Marnier, Chambord, Godiva, Frangelico, Rumplemintz
  • Specialty mixers: Jimmy Luv's bloody Mary mix, Whynatte Latte, Altar 'Chi'
  • Regular mixers: ginger beer, Mexican coke, diet coke, sprite, cranberry juice, lemonade, pineapple juice, OJ, soda, tonic
  • Simple syrup
  • Wine: red, white, prosecco

(Image source: Bon Appetit)

 

Culinary Musings: A Southern Homecoming

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of experiencing a first in my life: a real Southern homecoming. This was no high school football game complete with king and queen, but an actual small town homecoming. Okay, it was technically a church homecoming, but in tiny Bostwick, Georgia, it's one and the same.

Walter and I joined his father, his fathers' father, and quite a few other Thompsons on a beautiful September day filled with food, family, and fellowship. Among the highlights of such a joyous occasion, besides catching up with long lost friends and relatives, was the potluck that brought everyone together. The atmosphere felt spirited, and the attitude was "come as you are and bring what you can," even if it's only your appetite.

An event based entirely around Southern home cooking, in my opinion at least, is nothing short of momentous; in fact, I live for eating experiences like these. As I impatiently waited for the banquet room doors to open, I couldn't help but peek through the glass portholes to admire the rows and rows of country cooking. Despite the tiny windows being fogged with my warm breath, I could see everything from deviled eggs and fried chicken, to countless creamy casseroles waiting before me. (And yes, perhaps I slipped out of church service early to garner a first place in line. But can you blame me?)

In the name of research, I felt obliged to sample every bite I could muster. I found the biggest plate available and scooped heaps from every Pyrex dish I saw. And still it just kept coming. I deliriously devoured whatever food came my way, even if it meant sneaking extra bites from my unassuming tablemates. Walt's family, bless them, watched in shock and awe. Not without judgement but with sheer amazement (I hope). I'm not sure they've ever seen another girl with as much passion to eat!

Everything was wonderful; it was like the best Thanksgiving you could imagine. Right in front of me was the very cuisine that represented the end of a culinary era: bright green jello fluff and canned mushroom soup may not be en vogue anymore, but on that lovely day in that lovely town, nothing could taste better. Delicious food, made with love, and deserving of nothing but praise. Food snobs be damned, this is Southern fare at it's finest.

Hey, I may have gained five pounds that day, but I can tell you one thing. I can't wait until next year! (That gives me 365 days to get in shape.)

 

 

 

Culinary Musings: Which Recipes Do You Know By Heart?

I remember when I first started fumbling my way through the kitchen, and the thought of cooking a recipe from memory was virtually incomprehensible. I didn't think I could ever function without a cookbook splayed open for me to glance at every 6.7 milliseconds. But as I experimented more and my confidence grew, some of those "scary" techniques went from seemingly mythological to pure muscle memory. The very best of those efforts have become classics, recipes that I continue to make time and time again.

In instances of great stress or complete laziness, I often want a meal that is quick and familiar. One that requires no forethought or planning, but also no delivery. You know, a meal that tastes like "home." I rely on a few standbys when those times arise—recipes that I can whip up anytime, anywhere. For me, it's cottage cheese pancakes (a weekend staple), dixie caviar (of course), my mother's turkey spaghetti (made with original Prego and sugar, her secret ingredient), Eric Wolitzky's chocolate chip cookies (the very best), and my homemade vanilla ice cream (the perfect base for endless flavor possibilities). Sure there are others, but these are my no-fail, always guaranteed-to-please favorites.

So here's a question for you as we head into the weekend: What recipes have you made so many times, over and over, that they live inside of you, in your very core? Which recipes do you know by heart?

Image souces: Delish, Martha Stewart, Williams Sonoma

 

 

Culinary Musings: What's Your Guilty Pleasure?

 

Dixie Caviar's Guilty Pleasures

I was scanning my Google reader a few weeks ago and stumbled upon an enlightening New York Times article revealing famous chefs' guilty food pleasures. It made me laugh, because not I only do I crave some seriously trashy post-apocalyptic food every now and again, but so do most of the restaurant industry folks I know.

In the two years I worked at Floataway, I saw more McDonald's cheeseburgers, QuikTrip subs, and "Double Stuf" Oreo's consumed than you even want to know—and not by yours truly! Here I was working with some of the best chefs in the industry, only to discover even those with the most discriminating of palates can have plenty of (legal) vices.

For Friday kicks, I thought it would be fun to spill my ultimate guilty food pleasures (at the risk of considerable embarrassment) to see if maybe you would share yours. I'm sure some of you will turn your nose up at these—or me—but hey, you can you do. Okay, here goes:

1. Papa John's Pizza - I have a soft spot for delivery pizza, and Papa John's has been nursing my hangovers since college. To this day, it is still the only thing that can cure my aching head after the sporadic late-night bender.

2. Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter - I have tried to get into the all-natural peanut butter thing. Really I have. But I just keep coming back to Jif. It's so damn peanut-y, and crunchy, and well, it's just plain good. The only accompaniment you need is a spoon!

3. Lay's Classic Potato Chips - I don't even like potato chips, but I do love me some Lay's. Kevin Sharkey (Martha Stewart's right-hand man) has been known to dump them in a silver bowl and serve 'em up with Lipton's French Onion Dip from the box. Oh snap, girl!

4. Dodger Dogs - There's not a better stadium dog in the world. (And I've been to two, so I consider myself an expert.) Walt and I like the L.A. made foot-longs so much, I smuggle frozen 100-packs in my suitcase for us every time I return from Cali. No joke.

5. Marshmallow Fluff - I like to eat marshmallow fluff plain and by the spoonful, just how some people prefer to eat peanut butter (see above) or Nutella. I am even eating some at this very moment. What can I say? It's all in the name of research...

6. Shells & Cheese - I have two stellar recipes for mac 'n' cheese—one cooked in the oven and the other on the stove. Both are delicious, yet serve very different purposes. But when a craving for "the cheesiest" strikes, there's really just one thing to do. Succumb.

7. Dairy Queen Cake - How'd I know Walt was the one? On my first birthday as a couple, he secretly drove to eight (8!) different dairy queens around L.A. to find me their elusive ice cream cake. He didn't succeed, but the effort was enough to keep me around.

8. Phish Food - So I used to think it was super cool that my favorite food was named after my (second) favorite band. But then I snapped out of my crazy hippy phase and actually tried comprehending their lyrics. The ice cream? Still a fave. The band? Not even close.

Okay, so I just let it all out there. But just so you know, I don't eat all this junk all of the time. (That's why they're called guilty pleasures, eh.) Okay, except for maybe Papa John's. Let's be honest here, I eat a lot of Papa John's.

Okay, now that I've bared it all it's your turn. Go on, spill it. What's your trashiest, most disgusting delight?

 

 Image sources: Row 1 - Serious Eats, Amazon, Amazon, Wikipedia Row 2 - Amazon, Amazon, Dairy Queen, unknown

 

Culinary Musings (A New Column)

Cooking Channel Summer Eats Happy Friday, gang!

Things have been busy this week as I've started hashing out a new blogging schedule (hopefully going into effect next week), in addition to figuring out my day-to-day work/live/play schedule. Having all of this freedom to be my own boss is definitely going to take some getting used to, in addition to learning how to better prioritize my time. After spending a few too many afternoons "tweeting" and "liking" my way past dinnertime, I realized I had better get a reality check, and soon!

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this week, too, for both upcoming projects as well as my regular posts. On Tuesday Walt threw a curve ball request into the dinner pot for Swedish meatballs. Talk about random; I've never once heard those two words come out of his mouth, at least not in the same sentence. Despite being in the middle of a heat wave, I caved and made the man what he wanted. It was actually quite wonderful to cook a meal that didn't involve writing down ingredient quantities or photographing before it got too cold. Just us, Netflix, and a bottle of wine. A girl could get used to that, you know.

Thursday brought me out of the house to celebrate Cooking Channel's second birthday. They threw a pop up bash at Westside Provisions, so I grabbed a couple of girlfriends to help me soak up the scene...both literally and figuratively. The ladies and I pre-partied at Ford Fry's newest venture, The Optimist, where I (over) sampled my new favorite cocktail. The Beach Shanty was a super-refreshing mix of Allagash White beer, Barney's Shipwreck Spiced Rum, lemon, and ginger liqueur. Remind me to beg for the recipe so that I can start whipping it up at home!

Okay, enough of this week's ramblings—just thought I'd share a little bit of the behind-the-scenes in case you were interested. In other news, as you can probably tell from the title, Culinary Musings is the name of my new Friday column. It will be a place where I share what's on my mind, pick your brain, and ponder the deeper meanings of the food world. I know, fascinating, right!? As soon as I figure this thing called Photoshop out (so I can make cool little inspiration boards for you) we will be off and away. Stay tuned, and have a fantastic weekend!