Three staple items in your fridge that probably aren't in most folks...

This is a pretty unique and food-centric group. I always felt to a certain degree what you keep in your icebox is a reflection of who you are…at least culinarily.

Three things that are almost always in my fridge?

1. Kewpie Mayonaise ~ the ultimate for dressing sandwiches.

2. Simple syrup that I make and keep on hand for iced tea. I can’t believe people actually buy this!

3. Kretchmer Honey Crunch Wheat Germ. I sprinkle it on lots of stuff, not the least of which is peanut butter toast.

1. The BIGGEST jar of pitted calamata olives. I use them everywhere, much to my wife’s dismay.

2. No less than 5 types of Italian hard cheeses

3. Butter. Real Butter.

These are probably in most folks fridges to some capacity.

Always:

1. Freshly squeezed lime juice
2. Simple syrup made from organic, evaporated cane juice
3. Big bottle of Sriracha

More often than not:

1. Several heads of roasted garlic mashed into a paste
2. Some form of cured ham
3. Heavy cream

That most folks don’t have?

Whipping cream
Chipotles en adobo
Bottled lemon juice for marinades

a jar of veal demi glace
seafood base for stock
whole grain mustard


“3. Big bottle of Sriracha”
does this need to be in the 'fridge?

Seems to keep fresher.

These are always in my fridge…

Lardo, Guanciale, Pancetta and other assorted cured meats
Sambal
Fish Sauce
Duck/Goose Fat
Veal Demiglace
Various Stocks
Bone Marrow
Badoit
Anchovy Paste

Mine is. Couldn’t hurt!.

Not in most people’s fridge:

Fermented bean curd
A ham hock or fatback
Habanero paste

If the freezer counts, I also keep several large freezer bags full of assorted, frozen chile peppers.

I would have said chipotles en adobo, but Wood beat me to it.

If we are talking freezer…

All manner of Flannery Beef & Lamb
Several pounds of butter
Bones for making stocks

Nothing horribly exotic on my end:

Jar of bacon fat
Veal demiglace
Fresh squeezed lime and lemon juice

• I keep my Sriracha in the pantry

Porcini Butter
Variety of Tapenades
Homemade Limoncello

“Red Sauce” made from dried chiles (ancho, pasilla, chipotle, e.g.) cooked with tomatillos and garlic, then pureed

Heavy cream (used most often in the iSi whipped cream maker)

Maple syrup

Butter, natch, but I hope that is a universal staple…

Tons of fresh fruit and vegetables
Pickapeppa sauce
Several types of mustard
Variety of cheeses
Good beer

Kombucha
Every Asian/Korean/Japanese dipping sauce/marinade/grill sauce known to mankind.
Weed Wine.

Sorry.

In the freezer:

Blueberries
Mom’s tamales
Iced Vodka

In deference to Tex’ and Wetrock’s digestive tracts, I will not list my normal items.

1. Oyster Sauce
2. Green Onions
3. Rice wine

gotta have em for my everyday chinese cookin!

I could probably list about 20 of other people’s “unique” items that are in my fridge but here are some not mentioned yet:

Takuan – yellow pickled daikon radish – and burdock root
Beetroot juice – to reduce for a Keller dish
quail eggs
both Japanese shiso leaves (home grown) and Korean “kkaenip” leaves (from store)
blue corn tortillas

More than three -

In the refrigerator:

Oyster Sauce
Thai Fish Sauce
Ponzu Sauce
Black Bean Sauce
Various Soy Sauces
Various Red & Green Chile Salsas
Salt-preserved Capers
Champagne Vinegar
Yuzu Rice Vinegar
Cheeses - Raw milk Morbier, Epoisse, Affine aux Chablis, Old Chatham Sheep’s Milk Camembert and Blue, Bleu d’Auvergne, Drunken Goat, and many others on a regular rotation
Ojai Pixie Tangerines
SF Farmer’s Market Rainbow Chard, Salad Greens, baby arugula, beets (w/greens), and other stuff as available

In the freezer:

Guanciale
Pork Belly
Duck legs confit
Mexican Lime Juice (for Margaritas)