Is there a Hell for Ingredient Accumulators?

[plum tart]

I guess I'll be in Hell for a long time because I accumulate many kinds of ingredients "just in case" I might want to cook a dish with them some day. This is not a past habit that I am swearing off, it is an ongoing obsession.

The ingredients, I need change with the latest cookbook I am reading and the shipping guys at Kalustyans and Chef Shop know me by name. I have bags and bags of various kinds of hot peppers from all over the world, a number of varieties of dried legumes, spices and flavourings for most of the major cuisines of the world, losts of Asian pastes and sauces, vinegars and oils (I once spent $40 to ship a small bottle of strawberry vinegar from Germany); varieties of grains, and many kinds of rice, flours and meals. And a number of cheeses that I am going to consume soon...

I do use these ingredients as I journey from one cuisine to another and I store them sealed in cool dark places to reserve their flavour and freshness. I don't want to be sentenced for ingredient abuse during my stay in Hell. But as others have pointed out, I don't use all of a spice in one go, and I don't like to repeat dishes too often - I am too busy exploring and trying new cuisines and new recipes.

I do like to look in my condiment fridge, my freezer (which contains a large tub of leaf lard) and my shelves in the basement filled with fascinating jars and cans and bags. My taste buds perk up and I think of how many dishes I have yet to try.

[andiesenji]

Plum Tart said it all, as far as I am concerned.

I am guilty of just about everything mentioned in this entire thread.

However, I don't think I am going to Hell for it, I simply decide, after a certain number of items have accumulated, that I am "collecting" and that is it.

In other threads and in my blog I have written about collecting peppers and salts but I also have "collections" of other spices, spice mixtures, and God, have I got a lot of condiments.

My "collection" of hot sauces pales in comparison with a guy in Valencia who has hundreds and has carefully constructed custom shelves to hold them, fronted with a plexiglass section to keep them safe in an earthquake. (He lost a few in '94 and is determined that it won't happen again.

So don't consider it a waste, consider it an advantage!

[ScoopKW]

Lately I buy things thusly:

"Well, I have that Virginia ham in the freezer, and it's getting cold outside. So I guess I'll buy split peas and cream next time I'm at the store."

After the pea soup is gone, I pick some ingredient I have, and buy stuff to match.

When I find a "deal," I buy as much as makes sense. (Recently, I found pork shoulder mispriced at $0.15/lb. So I bought all of it and made sausages.)

[Kouign Aman]

I have a can of artichoke hearts I got because they were marked down. I use them in pasta salad but it didn't occur to me that I usually use marinated ones. I will probably use them eventually.

Drain them, add italian dressing, and they'll marinate quite quickly.

[andiesenji]

I have a can of artichoke hearts I got because they were marked down. I use them in pasta salad but it didn't occur to me that I usually use marinated ones. I will probably use them eventually.

Drain them, add italian dressing, and they'll marinate quite quickly.

I use either the canned or frozen, non-marinated, artichoke hearts all the time in a strata or similar breakfast/brunch casseroles.

I chop them roughly, etc.

I also use them as filling in crepes, also chopped and combined with some kind of cooked meat and for those who can eat seafood, I include them in dishes featuring scallops - they go very well together.

Think of something similar to Coquille St. Jacques and substitute them for mushrooms for folks who don't like or won't eat mushrooms.

[CaliPoutine]

I finally trashed a box of matzo ball soup after a couple of years. I bought it on a whim thinking "Gee, I've heard of this so many times in my life, I ought to try it." Having never had it, it was hard to ever be in the mood for it. I probably should have made it that day, but I was at the grocery for more immediate needs anyway.

Finally, I had to admit to myself that a two year old, boxed, dry, matzo ball soup mix was probably not going to be a fair representation of the dish.

Still leading a matzo deficient existance.

I'm glad your first experience with matza ball soup, wasnt from a boxed mix. Those are just aweful.

[CaliPoutine]

When I moved back to California from Ontario this summer, I found so many items. Its almost embarasing how much I "hoarded" ( that is the term my ex used to describe me). I found an 11lb bar of guitard chocolate that I dragged back from Chicago in 2008 ( remember that Kerri?). I was very limited in what I could bring with me back to the US so I ended up leaving a lot of condiments and other grains at my former home. I'm sure my ex has already thrown them out. In my new home( Condo)my kitchen is tiny so no room for hoarding. I also have easy access to my favorite stores( not so in Ontario) so no hoarding here. We also seemed to have a pantry bug problem so that cured me asap too. Everything is now in sealed containers.

[toolprincess]

As I recently cleaned my refrigerator and threw out anything that was pre-2009, I can attest that I have the sickness - with condiments, pickles, jams, nuts and dried fruits. 3 full trash bags later the fridge looked sparer than it had in many moons. In my pantry I have a plethora of chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, almond bark, butterscotch chips and other baking supplies for my fantasized holiday baking spree that never happened last year (maybe this year?). I have a bag of whole wheat flour that I 'had to have' and haven't used. Oh yes, I look forward to meeting you all in that special place reserved for us!