The Starter Pantry: Twenty-Five Jars to Begin, in the Order to Buy Them
The pantry that makes someone a cook is not large. It is about twenty-five things, chosen so that almost any four of them make dinner and so that nothing on the list needs the refrigerator until it is opened. It fits in one cupboard. It can be bought in an afternoon for about what a good dinner out costs, or built one shelf at a time over five trips. This is the list in the order to buy it, so that if you stop after five you still have the five that matter most, with what each is for, a modest version and a serious one, how long it keeps, and what it unlocks. The storage guide covers where each one lives; five dinners from ten jars is what the first two trips cook.
Trip one: the five that matter most
1. Extra virgin olive oil. The fat for cooking and the sauce for finishing; nothing on the list is used more. Modest: a liter tin of a good everyday oil from this year's harvest. Serious: that, plus a small bottle of a robust single-estate oil for the table. Keeps three months opened, in the dark. Unlocks everything.
2. Fine sea salt. The seasoning for water, dough, and everything by the pinch, per the salting guide. Modest: a box of fine sea salt. Serious: that, plus a jar of flaky salt for the plate. Keeps forever.
3. Sherry vinegar. The single most useful acid in the kitchen and the fix for most flat dishes, per the acid guide. Modest: a good Reserva. Serious: that, plus a bottle of white wine vinegar for delicate things. Keeps for years.
4. Dried pasta, one long shape and one short. Spaghetti and rigatoni cover most sauces, per the shapes guide. Modest: a good bronze-die pasta. Serious: a Gragnano or Abruzzo pasta from a named maker. Keeps two years.
5. Oil-packed anchovies. Salt and umami in one tin; they dissolve into sauces, dressings and braises and nobody tastes fish, only depth. Modest: a tin of Cantabrian fillets. Serious: a jar of the large fillets from a named salting house. Keeps years unopened, weeks under oil once opened.
With these five and a lemon, a head of garlic and a bag of onions, you can make pasta with anchovy and garlic, a vinaigrette for anything, and a plate of almost anything roasted, seasoned and dressed. That is more than most kitchens can do.
Trip two: proteins and body
6. Dried white beans. A pound makes four meals; the brothy beans are the first. Buy this year's crop. 7. Tinned whole tomatoes. Two tins; the base of half of Italian cooking. 8. A tin of tuna in olive oil, ventresca if the budget allows; salads, sandwiches, pasta, the Tuscan beans-and-tuna. 9. A tin of sardines in olive oil. Lunch, per sardine toast. 10. Cooked chickpeas in a jar, the good Spanish kind; stews, salads, hummus in ten minutes.
Trip three: the seasonings
11. Black peppercorns and a grinder. Pre-ground pepper is dust. 12. Chile flakes, a fruity one like Aleppo or Espelette rather than the pizza-box kind. 13. Cumin seed and coriander seed, whole, toasted and ground as needed per the spice technique. 14. Smoked paprika. The fastest way to make anything taste of a fire. 15. A cinnamon quill and a nutmeg, for the sweet side and for a few savory dishes that want them. Whole spices keep years; buy from a source that dates them.
Trip four: the sharp and the sweet
16. Dijon mustard. Acid, heat and an emulsifier in one jar; the vinaigrette depends on it. 17. Capers. Salt-cured if you will soak them, brined if you will not. 18. Honey, a wildflower for the spoon and the sauce. 19. A jar of jam or marmalade, for toast and for glazing. 20. Hot sauce, one vinegar-based bottle you like. Between them, this trip supplies the fixes in the diagnostic: acid, sweet, heat.
Trip five: the ones that make it a serious pantry
21. Mushroom garum or a good soy sauce: depth in a bottle, vegetarian. 22. Harissa or a chili crisp: heat with spice and body attached. 23. Risotto rice or farro: a second starch. 24. A bar of dark chocolate, 70 percent, for eating and for the emergency dessert. 25. A tin of loose-leaf tea or the coffee of your choice, because a pantry should also make something to drink.
The list, at a glance
| # | Item | Job | Keeps | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Extra virgin olive oil | Fat, finish | 3 months open | Everything |
| 2 | Fine sea salt (and flaky) | Salt | Forever | Everything |
| 3 | Sherry vinegar | Acid | Years | Dressings, beans, fixes |
| 4 | Dried pasta, long and short | Starch | 2 years | Twenty dinners |
| 5 | Anchovies in oil | Umami, salt | Years sealed | Pasta, dressings, braises |
| 6 | Dried white beans | Protein, body | 1 to 2 years | Brothy beans, salads, soups |
| 7 | Tinned whole tomatoes | Body, acid | 2 years | Sauces, stews, shakshuka |
| 8 | Tuna in olive oil | Protein | 5 years | Salads, sandwiches, pasta |
| 9 | Sardines in olive oil | Protein, omega-3 | 5 years | Toast, pasta, salads |
| 10 | Jarred chickpeas | Protein | 2 years | Stews, hummus, salads |
| 11 | Black peppercorns | Heat, aroma | 3 years | Everything |
| 12 | Chile flakes | Heat | 1 year | Pasta, oils, eggs |
| 13 | Cumin and coriander seed | Spice | 3 years | Beans, stews, roasts |
| 14 | Smoked paprika | Smoke, color | 1 year | Eggs, potatoes, romesco |
| 15 | Cinnamon and nutmeg | Warm spice | 3 years | Baking, braises, drinks |
| 16 | Dijon mustard | Acid, heat, emulsifier | 1 year open | Vinaigrette, pan sauces |
| 17 | Capers | Acid, salt | 1 year open | Pasta, fish, salsa verde |
| 18 | Honey | Sweet | Forever | Dressings, glazes, tea |
| 19 | Jam or marmalade | Sweet, fruit | 6 months open | Toast, glazes, cheese |
| 20 | Hot sauce | Heat, acid | Years | Eggs, beans, everything |
| 21 | Mushroom garum or soy | Umami | 1 year open | Beans, sauces, dressings |
| 22 | Harissa or chili crisp | Heat, spice, body | 6 months open | Stews, eggs, vegetables |
| 23 | Risotto rice or farro | Starch | 1 year | Risotto, grain salads |
| 24 | Dark chocolate, 70% | Dessert | 1 year | The end of dinner |
| 25 | Loose-leaf tea or coffee | Drink | 6 months open | The morning |
What is deliberately not on the list
Truffle anything, until you cook enough to know when you want it. Balsamic, which is a seasoning rather than a working vinegar and belongs on trip six. Specialty flours, because baking is a different pantry. Coconut milk, curry pastes and the rest of a second cuisine, which come once the first is comfortable. Anything in a size you will not finish in three months. And any duplicate: one oil, one working vinegar, one pasta of each shape. The point of twenty-five is that you use all twenty-five.
Two ways to buy it
All at once, the twenty-five come to roughly the cost of a good dinner for two, more with the serious options, and they fill a single cupboard. Or one trip at a time, in the order above, which is how most kitchens are actually built and which leaves you cooking well from trip one. Everything on the list is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and ships nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com, and if you would rather it arrived as a box, the housewarming pantry is this list packed for someone else.
