It's a very "January" thing to do, to sort out your shelves and check your kitchen cupboards - another aspect of the penitential resolve which seizes us at the start of the New Year.
Aside from the ritual of self-abasement, there are good, simple reasons why your kitchen needs to be well stocked, and well sorted.
Firstly, no one has the time, inclination or opportunity to shop every day.
Secondly, a well-stocked fridge, larder and freezer is a godsend to good cooking, and essential to cooking creatively and simply. As Patience Gray and Primrose Boyd pointed out in their classic book, Plats Du Jour, an efficient store cupboard allows you to "provide meals at short notice without shopping, and, equally important, leave one free to select the piece of beef for gulyas or boeuf a la mode without having to search at the last moment for paprika pepper or a handful of juniper berries".
Finally, it is wise to buy good labels because there are so many fine foods today which are, to be blunt, better than you can make yourself - even if you did have the time. You will not make a better tomato and chili jam than Roisin Ingle's Dibbles label: even if your ice cream is fantastic, is it really worth all the effort when Tom and Anne Collins's ice cream is so good? Is your tomato relish better than the great Ballymaloe relish? And, after all, nobody can make ketchup like Heinz.
But do note that not all jars, packets and tins are the same. Certain brands stand out as offering unfailingly dependable quality. Kikkoman, for example, produces a wonderful range, first for soy sauce, and also their instant miso soups and Japanese dressings. Mustard has to be Champs, a French label. Pataks make excellent Indian curry pastes and sauces. I think Sharwoods mango chutney is the best you can buy, and Lee Kum Kee is good for all things Chinese.
And then there are the timeless classics, revered not just for their consistency, but as for their beautiful design. Lea And Perrin's Worcestershire sauce. McIlhenny's tabasco sauce. It's enough to make you want open shelving. Well, almost.
What follows, then, might be described as The Well-Stocked Kitchen, suggestions for the best of the foods we find we need frequently. It is worth remembering, however, that a well-stocked kichen could comprise no more than half a dozen things.
Nigel Slater picks his three desert island ingredients as: lemons, olive oil and Parmesan. Allowed six, he adds anchovies, dried mushrooms, and either fine dark chocolate or a box of rose or lemon Turkish Delight. Linda Brown, in The Cook's Manual, goes along with this Mediterranean slant, and adds Patak's Spice Pastes, saffron, preserved lemons ("These are invaluable"), harissa, root ginger, and sun-dried tomatoes and olives. Viana La Place, in The Unplugged Kitchen, a book which concentrates on very simple cooking, writes: "If you strip my pantry down to the items that are absolutely essential, this is what you will find: Bottled spring water; fine and coarse sea salt; black peppercorns; dried, small, hot, red peppers and red-pepper flakes; ground espresso; extra-virgin olive oil; Italian dried pasta; arborio and basmati rice; a variety of dried beans; organic canned beans; organic canned tomatoes; dried bread; lemons; garlic and onions".
The point is to have in your larder what you need in your cooking. The following, expansive list, is for those who like to cook in a wide variety of styles, and for others to sample from.
But remember, the fundamental rule for any larder is, if in doubt, chuck it out.
Shopping Key
(S) - available in supermarkets
(D) - available in good delis
(A) - buy from Asian stores
(W) - source from wholefood shops
Larder
Anchovies
- packed in olive oil (S)
Artichoke hearts
- packed in olive oil (D)
Asian foods and sauces
- Kikkoman's soy sauce, hoisin sauce, curry paste (Madras and Thai), dried galangal, pickled ginger, Kikkoman's Instant Miso Soups, mirin, wasabe (a tube of instant is forever useful), coconut milk (canned), nampla, dried Kaffir lime leaves, tamarind paste, yellow bean sauce (A, S)
Cheese
- if your larder is cold enough, it's the best place to keep farmhouse cheeses. Stored on a wooden chopping board, they just get better and better (D)
Chillies and peppers
- chili powder, dried chillies; tabasco; West Cork Herb Farm chilli sauce; Casa Fiesta nacho sliced jalapenos in vinegar; chilli paste; dried pepper flakes (S, D)
Chocolate
- minimum 70 per cent cocoa, good-quality cooking chocolate; Green and Black instant chocolate drink (D)
Cous cous
- instant (A, D) Dried meat
- air-dried chorizos, pepperoni, pancetta (D)
Flour
- cornmeal, coarse, for bread and polenta; wheat flour of all hues, cornflour for Chinese cooking (W)
Herbs
- dried bay leaves, mint, thyme, oregano (W)
Horseradish
- pre-grated (S, D)
Legumes
- dried: chick peas, Puy lentils, red lentils, haricots, marrowfat peas, flageolets; canned: chick peas, kidney beans and haricots (W)
Mushrooms
- dried porcini, Chinese wood-ear and shiitake (D, A)
Mustard
- Champs, in all flavours (D)
Noodles
- Chinese dried egg noodles of all sizes; buckwheat soba noodles (A)
Oils
- different qualities of olive oil, for cooking and for salads; peanut and sesame oil for Asian foods; grapeseed oil for general cooking; vegetable oil for deep frying; flavoured oils - Consorzio, Janet Drew, West Cork Herb Farm; Chilli oil (home made) (S, D)
Pasta
- Di Cecco spaghetti, shells, orzo and fettucini (S)
Relishes
- from Dibbles, Janet Drew, Ballymaloe, Worcestershire sauce, redcurrant jelly, West Cork Herb Farm rose and geranium jelly, Mango Chutney, lime pickle (D)
Rice
- arborio, basmati, Thai (S, D)
Salt
- Maldon sea salt, French grey salt (S, D)
Seaweeds
- Carraig Fhada dilisk, carrageen, wakame (W)
Spices
- juniper berries, star anise, black mustard seeds, cardamom, cayenne pepper, Chinese five spice powder, cinnamon, cumin (seeds and ground), fennel seeds, garam masala, whole nutmegs, peppercorns, sesame seeds (W)
Tomatoes
- tinned Italian plum tomatoes, in tomato juice (look out for tomatoes packed with basil leaves); tube of tomato puree; tomato passata (D, S)
Tuna
- canned, in oil (S)
Vanilla
- pods kept in a jar of sugar and top quality pure extract (D)
Vinegar
- Champ's Red Wine Vinegar; White Wine Vinegar; Balsamic Vinegar (minimum 10 years old for salads; six for cooking); sherry vinegar; tarragon vinegar (West Cork Herb Farm); rice vinegar (S, D)
Fridge
Cream Cheese
- Boilie, Knockalara sheep's feta in olive oil (S, D)
Miso
- organic (W, S)
Parmesan
- a block of Parmigiano Reggiano - kept, wrapped, in the bottom of the fridge, never pre-grated (D)
Yogurt
- organic natural yogurt; Greek yogurt (S)
Freezer
Berries
- blueberries, raspberries, blackberries (S)
Bread
- Home-made bread, of course, as well as bread from specialist bakeries, plus some mass-market breads - Marks and Spencer ciabatta; Manoucher breads; pitta bread
Fish fillets
- fresh is best, and easily available to city dwellers. Otherwise, vacuum packed fillets of fish bought from an unimpeachable source can often be "fresher" than fish bought from an unreliable shop or supermarket - but don't keep them longer than a month. Squid also freezes well, so buy it whenever you see it.
Free range chicken
- real freerange chickens are scarce and hard to find, so buy more than you need, portion them, and freeze them (D)
Fresh yeast
- this freezes well, but make sure you label and date it, for a cube easily gets lost in the freezer (S, D)
Herbs and flowers
- frozen in ice cubes (home made)
Ice-cream
- Collins, Ben And Jerry's, Haagen-Dazs (S)
Home-made and plentiful pork mince
- meat doesn't freeze well, though if you want organic meat it's often your only option as many producers will only sell you half a side. However, pork mince, which is handy for Asian and other highly-flavoured dishes, freezes very well (D)
Prawns
- raw (A)
Stock
- chicken, fish and meat stocks - pack them in small plastic bags for sauces and stir fries, and in larger containers for risottos and soups. Home-made stock is probably the most important thing you can have in your freezer (always home made)
Vegetables
- broad beans, petit pois in the kitchen,
you can include:
free range eggs; fresh fruit
- lemons, limes; and fresh vegetables
- onions, scallions, garlic, ginger. In the
meanwhile, for cooking - Noilly Prat, Pernod, sherry, brandy, wine. Lots of wine.