What "uncommon" item do you stock that others don't?

[Anonymous]

How do I keep shallots fresh? I only buy them when i need them.
Buckwheat ofcourse. Lasts forever.

[Anonymous]

How do I keep shallots fresh? I only buy them when i need them.
Buckwheat ofcourse. Lasts forever.

[Anonymous]

Reading this thread made me realize that I have a pantry full of things a lot of people consider uncommon except apparently the folks posting on here.

Things you all have listed I DON'T have:

cilantro (hate)
marmite (see above)
kaffir lime leaves
pomegranate syrup
MSG
and maybe a couple of other things, but most of the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marmite. Always, and many extra jars.

I think you win.

[Anonymous]

Lyles golden syrup. It is magic in some baked goods.

[Anonymous]

I bulk buy fresh ginger and keep it in the freezer. Same for garlic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bulk buy fresh ginger and keep it in the freezer. Same for garlic.

I do this too. Grate ginger and freeze in 1 tsp cubes, peel garlic cloves (or buy pre-peeled) and freeze, wash and cut lemons and limes into wedges and freeze. Plus all number of fresh herbs that I don't get around to finishing in time. Is it slightly less fresh flavorful than prepping fresh? Maybe, but the time saver is well worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think I would consider anything from the produce aisle to be staples. We meal plan for the week and buy what we need.

One thing that’s pretty uncommon I always have is pasties. We buy a bunch at once from The Perfect Pasty in Vienna and keep them in our deep freezer for random nights we’re running late or don’t feel like cooking.

Which flavors do you recommend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bulk buy fresh ginger and keep it in the freezer. Same for garlic.

I do this too. Grate ginger and freeze in 1 tsp cubes, peel garlic cloves (or buy pre-peeled) and freeze, wash and cut lemons and limes into wedges and freeze. Plus all number of fresh herbs that I don't get around to finishing in time. Is it slightly less fresh flavorful than prepping fresh? Maybe, but the time saver is well worth it.

Another ginger-freezer here. I buy a ton of fresh baby ginger in the fall, cut it into pieces, and freeze it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep Turkish ingredients on hand at all times because that’s our primary food culture:
Pepper paste (we bring this back in bulk but get the rest of these locally)
Tomato paste
Bulgur — both fine and full size
Red lentils
Tahini
Pomegranate molasses
Sumac

Other items I usually have but aren’t common:
Curry paste (locally made Malaysian style)
Palm sugar
Flavacol popcorn seasoning
Black bean garlic sauce (need this for one recipe in my rotation I make about once a quarter)

Is there a particular brand of the pomegranate molasses you recommend? I have several recipes I’ve saved but haven’t made because they call for it and I don’t know what to get.

Same question for the black bean garlic sauce. It sounds delicious. I love blank bean sauce, I love garlic, I would like to try this sauce.

I would buy whatever you can find with the fewest additives. I finished a bottle of pure stuff recently, and replaced it with an Azeri brand I found that just had citric acid but no sugar added.

The black bean sauce is Lee Kum Kee.

[Anonymous]

I will give you the bottarga and pickled watermelon rinds. And maybe the Marmite (I have Vegemite, used to live down under). Most other things are fairly common, no?

[Anonymous]

Raw pig fat. I love to melt fresh lard for cooking, especially the pig loin/leaf lard.

[Anonymous]

We are sort of obsessed with making pizza at the moment so our weird ingredient is probably the Napoli 00 flour that you get at wegmans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will give you the bottarga and pickled watermelon rinds. And maybe the Marmite (I have Vegemite, used to live down under). Most other things are fairly common, no?

As OP, that's why I posted - I though shallots were common - and my friend said they weren't. Several other responses have indicated the same (one person said they had to google what a shallot was) - it's interesting to se what is totally commonplace in one household and nonexistent in others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do I keep shallots fresh? I only buy them when i need them.
Buckwheat ofcourse. Lasts forever.

I store mine in a paper bag in the pantry with the rest of the onions. I don't buy bushels of them - 5 or 10 at a time - and I use them often enough that they rarely, if ever, go off before I get to them.