The Perfect Pantry features ingredients used in everyday cooking -- common ingredients like salt, pepper, butter, flour -- and ingredients fundamental to a wide range of ethnic cuisines. I write about and photograph the actual things I keep in my pantry -- the brands and sources I prefer -- and each post includes a recipe using the featured ingredient, as well as several links to interesting recipes on other food blogs. Some of the recipes are my own; others come from or are inspired by cookbooks, web sites, articles, and tradition.
If you have a spice or grain or other ingredient in your pantry and don't know what to do with it, use the search box at right to find several recipes for any of the more than 250 ingredients I keep on hand.
About me
My name is Lydia Walshin. I live in Rhode Island most of the time, in a small log house with a great kitchen where I teach cooking classes and love to gather groups of friends to cook together. (Sometimes I live in Boston, too.) For the past 18 years I've been a food writer, but I've been a writer, mostly for nonprofit organizations, for my entire career. And I've been writing The Perfect Pantry since June 2006. (You can go back to the beginning and read every post, starting here.)
I'm the founder and director of a nonprofit organization called Drop In & Decorate. I hope you'll go to the site and read more about how we decorate and donate cookies for donation to food pantries, family shelters, and other local agencies serving neighbors in need. It's a wonderful program, and you can be part of it.
Comments and replies
Do you like something I've written about an ingredient? Does the recipe appeal to you? Do you have your own recipe for the ingredient, or a twist on the standard? Did I make a mistake in a recipe? Do you know more about the ingredient, to add to our knowledge? Please share your feedback in the comments. Not only does it let me know that you're enjoying and finding good information in the post; it also opens the conversation to other readers.
If you leave a substantive comment or ask a question about the post or the recipe, I'll always respond to your comment publicly, in the comments, so that all readers can see the response. I respond to some comments by email, too. If you comment on a post written by a guest blogger, that writer will respond to your comment. Please know that I read each and every comment, and appreciate, more than you can imagine, the time you take to write and share your thoughts and enthusiasm.
While I welcome comments that might not agree with something I've written, I request that comments be polite and considerate of others. Comments that contain profanity or nastiness or are rude to others will be deleted. Comments the sole purpose of which is to promote your web site or other commercial venture will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be blocked. My blog, my rules.
Questions about ingredients
One of the ways I learn is by trying to answer your questions. When I don't know the answer, I'll read and ask and find the answer for you, or refer you to a more qualified source. The best way to ask questions is to leave a comment on the relevant post. However, if your question is off the topic of a specific post, please email to me at lydia AT ninecooks DOT com.
Reprinting content or photos
The content of The Perfect Pantry is protected by copyright laws of the United States, and by a Creative Commons 3.0 license. If you would like to reprint text or photographs from this blog for noncommercial purposes, you are welcome to do so, with credit given and a link back to this site.
If you would like to use my content (text or photos) for commercial purposes (including television or radio appearances, books, magazine articles, or blog posts for which you are getting paid or which readers must pay to access), please ask for permission. In most cases, permission will be granted.
Please do not steal.
Links and link exchanges
Every post on The Perfect Pantry contains links to recipes I think you might enjoy on several other sites. I use Food Blog Search to search more than 3,000 food blogs for recipes that use the ingredient I'm featuring in any given post. It's a great way to discover new blogs and new recipes. (Please note that if a blog uses profanity or obscenity, I probably won't link to it. That's just me.)
Also, I don't do link exchanges. Every blog I link to is one I read, enjoy, and think my readers would enjoy. If you request a link exchange, I'll probably follow your blog for a while before deciding whether to add it to my blogroll. If I do, I'll send you a note to let you know.
About the advertising
The companies that advertise on The Perfect Pantry help to subsidize the cost of producing high-quality content, and the cost of keeping that content free to readers. I try to incorporate advertising in a way that doesn't impede your enjoyment of this site, and I carefully monitor the ads to ensure that the content is appropriate for blog readers of all ages.
Thank you so much for visiting The Perfect Pantry.
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