The Perfect Pantry®

Rice paper wrapper (Recipe: fresh Vietnamese salad rolls)

Updated October 2011.

Every now and then, I realize that some people must confuse food writing with food styling. Why else would anyone, anywhere, ever think that I'd be good at making Vietnamese salad rolls? I'm a writer, not a wrapper.

Goi cuon (or nime chow, the Cambodian name that's more popular here in Rhode Island) are fresh (not deep-fried) spring rolls, typically filled with rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, lettuce, mint, cucumber, shredded carrot, and sometimes shrimp or pork, enveloped in a rice paper wrapper and dipped in nuoc cham or peanut sauce. Can you imagine a more elegant way to eat a salad?

Fish sauce (Recipe: nuoc cham)

Updated October 2011.

When you taste something wonderful in a restaurant, and you ask for the recipe, and the owner himself shares the recipe with you — and you've written it down, so you won't leave anything out — you expect to be able to recreate that wonderful taste in your own kitchen.

So why did it take me years to make nuoc cham, the mother condiment of all Vietnamese cuisine, that tastes like it does in a restaurant?

The answer is in the fish sauce, and, as I discovered, all fish sauce is not created equal.

Seasoned salt (Recipe: baked potato wedges)

Little-known fact: My mother did not invent seasoned salt.

I always wondered about that. Seasoned salt — specifically Lawry's brand — was the main spice in her kitchen and she put it on everything: tuna steaks, beef steaks, lamb chops, burgers, chicken breasts. Seasoned salt livened up almost every meal, and I loved it. I still do.

Grandanina couscous (Recipe: vegetarian couscous with dried fruit)

When I first moved to Rhode Island, potluck ruled. It seemed like every weekend was another potluck occasion, and the pressure to come up with new dishes was intense (and entirely self-inflicted).

In our first full summer here, Ted and I offered to host a party for our local arts organization. We figured it would be a good way to meet people, so we sent out invitations and I started cooking for a huge buffet dinner that we planned to serve outside under the pear trees. The invitation asked everyone to bring a beverage to share — and their favorite bug spray. No potluck. Well, this caused a stir in our little community! No potluck? Indeed!

A few years later I learned how to turn grandanina couscous into a perfect potluck dish, and now it's always in my pantry.