Ingredients you always have...

[BadRabbit]

I've been working on cleaning out my spice cabinet, my sauce cabinet, and the doors to my fridge. In the process, I've realized that I keep a lot of things that I seldom if ever use but always feel the need to have on hand.

For example:

I had two small jars of Cream of Tartar though neither was opened. It's just something I expect to have in there so I do. Apparently, I feel it's so necessary that I bought a second jar without checking to see if I had some and apparently without a recipe in mind (or at least I never made said recipe).

Others:

Shaoxing wine (though I'm about to remedy this one with the Master Sauce recipe in the China Forum)

Nori

Dried Chipotle (I make my own chipotles that I freeze or use the canned)

Chinese Five Spice

Rice Flour

Light brown sugar (I prefer dark or piloncillo in virtually every possible application but still for some reason keep light on hand)

Epazote

Whole Annato Seed

What's wasting away in your cabinet that you will just replace when it goes bad despite never using it?

Edited for grammar

[Mjx]

Anchovies. I just never use that many in a given time span, but they add so much to the savoury dishes in which I do use them . Why can't they sell then in some easily frozen format?

[Shel_B]

Paprika ... I have two or three kinds on hand, but rarely use them. Can't say that I never use the stuff.

[Shel_B]

Anchovies. I just never use that many in a given time span, but they add so much to the savoury dishes in which I do use them . Why can't they sell then in some easily frozen format?

Won't anchovy paste in tubes do the trick for you?

[andiesenji]

In my pantry are dozens of ingredients that I seldom use but keep on hand for the "just in case" event.

Pickled walnuts, for instance. They are rarely used but fortunately keep practically forever so replenishing is not a crucial task.

Some of the thickening agents - kuzu (kudzu) powder - rarely used as I have several others, but I do have some friends with celiac disease and this seems easier to use in some recipes than some of the other thickeners.

Hot sauces. There are some that are much too "spicy" for me to use but I keep them on hand in case a dedicated chile-head visits and wants some fire in the food.

Too man others to list.

[BadRabbit]

Hot sauces. There are some that are much too "spicy" for me to use but I keep them on hand in case a dedicated chile-head visits and wants some fire in the food.

Being a chile-head, I do the opposite. I keep some weaker hot sauces around (Tabasco or Crystal) for others when I never use anything weaker than El Yucateco.

Edited: Spelling

Edited February 24, 2012 by BadRabbit (log)

[andiesenji]

Hot sauces. There are some that are much too "spicy" for me to use but I keep them on hand in case a dedicated chile-head visits and wants some fire in the food.

Being a chile-head, I do the opposite. I keep some weaker hot sauces around (Tabasco or Crystal) for others when I never use anything weaker than El Yucateco.

Edited: Spelling

I have a bottle of Holy Jolokia hot sauce that isn't going to be opened unless a tin-throat visits!

[Carlovski]

I always have multiple forms of chilli heat on hand - I've come back from shopping before to realise I have bought 6 or 7 variants!

I'm similar with mustard - normally always have at least prepared english, french, a wholegrain plus mustard powder on hand. Normally have at least one or two artisnal or flavoured mustards on hand too.

[Kim Shook]

I have literally over a dozen jams, jellies, preserves, etc. And the truth is that I usually prefer just butter on my toast - especially if it is an egg meal.

[Lisa Shock]

I have literally over a dozen jams, jellies, preserves, etc. And the truth is that I usually prefer just butter on my toast - especially if it is an egg meal.

Same here. I keep telling myself that I'll use them for glazing pastry or something, but I have lots of unopened jars of things like pear jelly in the cupboard.

[andiesenji]

I have literally over a dozen jams, jellies, preserves, etc. And the truth is that I usually prefer just butter on my toast - especially if it is an egg meal.

Same here. I keep telling myself that I'll use them for glazing pastry or something, but I have lots of unopened jars of things like pear jelly in the cupboard.

Me too - this was mentioned in another thread, I think by all of us.

Just the ones that have not been opened...

[kayb]

Personally,I'm intrigued by the garlic jelly.

[Hassouni]

oh god....

Yellow bean paste? Or whatever it's called - used in Malay-type food

Thai curry pastes

Also rice flour...

Kecap manis

Chinese dark soy sauce

Chinese thick soy sauce (not sure if I've EVER used that)

corn meal...

The list goes on....

[annachan]

Rice flour - keep buying them thinking I will get to them someday....still sitting here after a year....

And random things I might have seen when looking for recipes and then see at the store. Last time, it was a jar of Korean shrimp. Sat in the fridge for a year and finally had to throw it out because we're moving. I have a few more of those types of items in the pantry still.

[Mjx]

Anchovies. I just never use that many in a given time span, but they add so much to the savoury dishes in which I do use them . Why can't they sell then in some easily frozen format?

Won't anchovy paste in tubes do the trick for you?

Eh, I'd still have the same problem; last time I had a tube, I tossed it after a couple of years, still mostly full. What I've been dragging my feet on doing now is taking my current jar of anchovies, blotting them, laying them out between strips of parchment paper, rolling that up for compactness, and freezing.

[Snadra]

I currently have aging tins of hominy, chestnut puree and green peppercorns as well as three different kinds of rice flour (two asian flours for I can't remember what and a ground rice for shortbread, which I have made exactly once in the past two years). Wholegrain mustard and carrots both tend to go unused. I'm not quite sure why...

I find I go up and down in things going unused, but I do best if I force myself to look up a recipe that uses whatever aging ingredient is hanging about and just use it up. Now if only I could not buy those things until I *really* needed them...

For MJX, I've been making a sort-of salsa verde with anchovies to top parmesan chicken from Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food for a while now and it's delicious on anything hot and green as well. Inspired by that I now make a butter with anchovies, parsely, lemon and capers in it and keep it in the freezer in little disks. Excellent over grilled meats or fish, plain boiled potatoes or green vegetables, AND it uses up the whiskery little things before they go off.

And Hassouni, kecap manis is delicious drizzled over fried rice (my husband also like to top his plain rice with a bit of butter and kecap manis when he goes back for seconds).

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I have a bottle of ground achiote that is just occupying space at the back of the spice cupboard, from when I was still getting the hang of Ecuadorian cooking. I use whole-seed achiote now for almost everything, but I can't seem to bring myself to toss the powder, which by now will be completely flavourless and bleh.

I've also got a mysterious shaker labeled only "red seasoning" that I don't use, but that I keep because it smells awesome.

[teapot]

Rice flour - keep buying them thinking I will get to them someday....still sitting here after a year....

I use rice flour all the time. If you make fresh pasta or bread, it is a great way to prevent noodles or bread from sticking.

I have a jar of alum that I bought for making pickles but apparently there is no real need for it. Should I toss or is there any possible use for it?

I have so many jars of chutneys, jams, pickles, etc that I now have two refridgerators - which may be a little excessive for a two-person household.

Edited February 25, 2012 by teapot (log)

[patrickamory]

Mjx, won't anchovies keep forever anyway? I always have a good jar of Italian anchovies for puttanesca or just adding a bit of umami to a stew... the purpose of the salting is to preserve in the first place.

My problem is mustards. I have about 14 of them.

Also:

mustard oil

sesame oil

various flours

tons of different dals

molasses

[David A. Goldfarb]

Still working on that 20+ year old bottle of Wright's Liquid Smoke...

Running a bit low, actually. I might have to buy some more in the next decade.

[Snadra]

My parents had a bottle of kirsch that lasted about 20 years. It was only used in fruit salads and fondue, a teaspoon or so at a time.

[andiesenji]

Rice flour - keep buying them thinking I will get to them someday....still sitting here after a year....

I use rice flour all the time. If you make fresh pasta or bread, it is a great way to prevent noodles or bread from sticking.

I have a jar of alum that I bought for making pickles but apparently there is no real need for it. Should I toss or is there any possible use for it?

I have so many jars of chutneys, jams, pickles, etc that I now have two refridgerators - which may be a little excessive for a two-person household.

I keep rice flour in a shaker and use it to prevent stickiness in pasta and on sheets of filo dough when I don't want them to stick together.

Alum will keep forever so just hang onto it. I've got some lump alum that I bought when I lived in Canoga Park, CA and I sold that house in 1978!

I rarely use it but for some whole pickles, especially the baby ones, it will insure that the remain crisp. The amount used is fairly small in the soaking solution and is completely rinsed off before the pickles go into the pickling liquid. Alum is toxic in high doses.

Edited February 25, 2012 by andiesenji (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

My problem is mustards. I have about 14 of them.

Also:

mustard oil

sesame oil

various flours

tons of different dals

molasses

You could send that to me and it would all be gone by the end of the month.... I can't believe you don't use molasses!

[annabelle]

Capers. I always have a jar of them in the refrigerator. The one in there now isn't opened yet. I only use them in tartar sauce and chicken/veal piccata, neither of which I make very often. To add to that, by eldest son hates capers with the fire of a thousand suns and can track them down and pick them out no matter how finely they are chopped.

Also, for some reason I have umpteen jars of black bean paste.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Anchovies. I just never use that many in a given time span, but they add so much to the savoury dishes in which I do use them . Why can't they sell then in some easily frozen format?

Won't anchovy paste in tubes do the trick for you?

Or anchovies in olive oil. They seem to last "forever", for better or for worse.