{"id":3415,"date":"2026-07-08T16:23:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=3415"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:23:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:23:39","slug":"5-things-in-my-kitchen-id-never-be-caught-without","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=3415","title":{"rendered":"5 Things in My Kitchen I\u2019d Never Be Caught Without"},"content":{"rendered":"


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What ingredients do you always<\/em> have in your kitchen? I love asking friends this question \u2014\u00a0it gives a fun peek into someone\u2019s daily life. Cookbook author Dan Pelosi<\/a> once gave us this list<\/a>: olive oil, rigatoni, Castelvetrano olives, lemons, anchovies. (Just reading it made me wonder how I could get myself invited for dinner.) Poet Kate Baer\u2019s list<\/a> includes tortilla chips, feta, roadside fruit, frozen peas, \u201cand sourdough bread from my sister in law,\u201d which is somehow the most delightfully Kate-Baer answer ever. So, this year, I thought I\u2019d share my own five must-have items in my kitchen\u2026<\/p>\n

White wine vinegar<\/strong>
There are typically 6-200 kinds of vinegar floating around my cupboard, but one I ALWAYS have is white wine vinegar. I don\u2019t know how balsamic and red-wine vinegar became the staples, when this one is even more useable. Not only is it an excellent base flavor for vinaigrette or chicken salad dressing, but it subs in well with recipes that call for white wine<\/em> (which I don\u2019t always have). Smitten Kitchen\u2019s dijon chicken<\/a>, for example? It\u2019s one of my all-time favorite meals. Don\u2019t tell Deb, but I swap the 3\/4 cup of wine for 1\/3 cup vinegar, and I think it\u2019s even tastier. <\/p>\n

Frozen edamame<\/strong>
Specifically, in-shell edamame<\/a>. The shelled kind can get mealy and bland after a few months in the freezer. In-shell edamame, though, seems to endure forever and comes out of the steamer bright and plump and tender. Edamame is the hero ingredient that saves me from all sorts dinner predicaments: when the broccoli I\u2019d planned to make has gone yellow; when I\u2019m scrounging for an after-school snack; when I need lunch<\/a> but don\u2019t have time to make one. Edamame, to the rescue!<\/p>\n

Kerrygold butter<\/strong>
I know there are fancier butters out there,\u00a0and every now and again, I\u2019ll get one, just for fun. We\u2019ll all enjoy it!<\/em> I\u2019ll think to myself. I\u2019ll then spend the next week guarding it like a wolf, making sure no one finishes my Very Fancy Special Butter with the Flaky Salt Bits. Yup, a blast for everyone, right? The thing is, Kerrygold is not just good, but consistently<\/em> good (and pretty consistently priced). It\u2019s rich and creamy, and the saltiness is just right.<\/p>\n

Passata tomato pur\u00e9e<\/strong>
When husband started adding this to the grocery cart a few years ago, I was stumped. Why not just get the same canned tomatoes we always get? It looked the same, except it came in a tall, glass bottle. But, I quickly learned, it\u2019s better. Passata is strained uncooked tomato pur\u00e9e, and the flavor is both richer and smoother than canned cooked tomato puree. You can use it as a sauce on its own, with very little doctoring, and when I started swapping it into my usual tomato-based recipes, WOW, I could tell the difference. Somehow, the price is better, too? (The Wegman store brand<\/a> is $3.49 for a 24-ounce bottle!) And, unlike canned tomato, I can open a bottle, use a cup, and put it right back in the fridge without decanting it into another container. Win, win.<\/p>\n

Dutch-process cocoa<\/strong>
When I was growing up, my mom worked as a chef and a caterer, and we always had boxes of \u201cDutched\u201d cocoa around. Now, as an adult, I use it for virtually every recipe<\/a> that calls for cocoa powder: hot fudge<\/a>, cake<\/a>, brownies<\/a>, hot chocolate<\/a>. The flavor is chocolate dialed up to eleven: rich, intense, unadulterated chocolatiness. I used to keep both Dutch and regular cocoa around, but at some point I realized I\u2019d stopped using the latter and gone all-Dutch. Cocoa preference is a matter of taste (and in some cases, the chemistry of the recipe), but in my house, if we\u2019re making chocolate cake<\/a>, we\u2019re making CHOCOLATE cake.<\/p>\n

Eeek! That felt weirdly vulnerable to share! Now, if you\u2019re so inclined, please tell me \u2014\u00a0what are the things in your kitchen that you\u2019d never be caught without?<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. A kitchen gadget that upgrades everything<\/a>, and the secret to a great dinner with friends<\/a>. (Plus, holy cow, Joanna first asked this question 10 years ago<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t<\/p>\n

23<\/span> COMMENTS<\/p>\n

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What ingredients do you always have in your kitchen? I love asking friends this question \u2014\u00a0it gives a fun peek into someone\u2019s daily life. Cookbook author Dan Pelosi once gave us this list: olive oil, rigatoni, Castelvetrano olives, lemons, anchovies. (Just reading it made me wonder how I could get myself invited for dinner.) 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I love asking friends this question \u2014\u00a0it gives a fun peek into someone\u2019s daily life. Cookbook author Dan Pelosi once gave us this list: olive oil, rigatoni, Castelvetrano olives, lemons, anchovies. (Just reading it made me wonder how I could get myself invited for dinner.) 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