The Perfect Pantry®

Canola oil (Recipe: potatoes with aioli dressing)

In the kitchen where I grew up, oil was oil.

Not flax seed, safflower, truffle or rice bran.

Not virgin, and certainly not extra virgin.

Oil was vegetable oil, a healthier alternative to the traditional chicken fat, and a pareve (neither milk nor meat) staple, in my grandmother's kosher kitchen.

And canola oil?

Hadn't even been invented yet.

Syrian spice, a Pantry Special (Recipe: chicken shish kabob)

Pantry Specials are great ingredients that find their way into my pantry from time to time, but not all the time.

Syrian spice, Syrian allspice, Arabic spice, baharat: what's in a name? The basic ingredients in the Syrian version of this popular North African spice blend -- black peppercorns, allspice berries, cinnamon and nutmeg -- can be enhanced with a bit of sumac, cumin, cardamom, cassia or cinnamon, paprika, cloves, rose petals, dried lime, saffron or mint. A rich and peppery (spicy, not hot) mix, Syrian spice makes a delicious rub for grilled chicken, or the base of a flavorful dip for roasted vegetables. My local Middle Eastern market blends its own, letting the pungent, complex flavor of allspice take center stage. I love it.

Ground black pepper (Recipe: chocolate double ginger cupcakes)

On my list of 23 pantry items you absolutely, positively, have to have, black pepper sits at #3.

Now that I think about it, pepper should be #1. Tied with salt.

Because salt and pepper are an item.

Whoever first paired salt and pepper was a genius, like the person who cast Ginger Rogers with Fred Astaire, or Doris Day with Rock Hudson. Or the person who discovered that chocolate always tastes better with a tiny bit of vanilla.

Other People's Pantries #65

From Shelley (My Mountain Home) in McCall, Idaho:

Our freezer is stocked with berries, jam and peas from the garden. My husband also makes wine from the berries. Being at 5,000' we can grow a limited number of crops.