[Sca-cooks] Emergency supplies WAS Parmesan

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Christina Nevin:
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>Kirsten wrote;
>>my hubby buys grated Romano instead.... at the local Italian market.. wont
>use any parmesan, and NEVER the stuff in the green can, that stuff is
>tasteless.

First, I realize I'm not replying to Lucretzia, but I thought I'd
throw this in. The stuff in the "green can" is a particular brand of
cheese specifically treated for a long shelf life, rather like the
difference between dessicated coconut and the real thing. That said,
it does have its uses in, as Lucretzia mentions, emergencies,
especially since Pecorino is a completely different cheese from
Parmagiano, and really no more interchangable than, say, brie and
feta. You can get decent pre-grated Parmagiano (or, if you prefer,
Pecorino) chilled, in the dairy section of most supermarkets, and
also in decently-sealed glass jars. Using Pecorino-Romano for flavor,
and alleging that Parmagiano lacks it, more likely indicates a simple
preference for sheep's milk cheeses. I happen to think most sheep's
and goat's milk cheeses taste and smell like baby vomit, with a few
exceptions, but there are some cases where their strength is not
inappropriate.

>True, but sometimes (especially near the end of the month!) it's all there
>is. I keep a can of designated Emergency Parmesan in my pantry for when
>there's no Parmesan or Pecorino in the fridge.
>
>Which leads to the question - what 'emergency supplies' do people keep on
>hand that aren't considered staples (i.e. canned tomatoes, etc)?

Canned tomatoes (I prefer the diced in heavy puree, with a smaller
supply of the Del Monte --I think-- "Fresh Cut" diced, which seem a
little closer to raw tomato, good for cheater's salsa). Tomato paste.

Canned corn (not as good as fresh, but much faster, and preferable
(to me) over frozen. As with tomatoes, a smaller supply of "cream
style" corn for making Chinese chicken-velvet (or crab) and corn soup.

Canned mushrooms. In theory we try to keep sliced button mushrooms,
but since these are better and easily available fresh, we rarely
actually use them. We do, however, use a lot of canned straw
mushrooms.

Canned stock, College Inn low-sodium preferred. Again, it should be
stressed this is for emergencies. In theory, I use the real thing
from the freezer, but I seem to run out more than I'd like.

Canned tuna, both the ordinary solid-white-in-vegetable-oil for tuna
salad, and the dark tuna in real olive oil, for things like tapenade,
pains bagnat, Salades Nicoise, etc.

Canned chopped (not minced) clams, for quick chowders, etc. Not whole
baby clams, either, which assume the texture of pencil erasers.

Canned sardines, my favorite being skinless and boneless in oil, but
the ones in mustard sauce are fun.

Canned squid and octopus: the squid, generally the kind in ink, is
good stirred into rice for the last few minutes of cooking, and the
octopus, in olive oil, garlic-laced olive oil, or a spicy tomato
sauce, are all fairly good tossed with pasta.

When I can find it, Goya canned Bacalao or fresh cod, both in tomato
sauce; see above.

Canned scungilli (knobbed whelk, similar to conch) is a vice of mine,
one of the few canned products I can think of that suffers little or
no diminution of quality in the canning process. Good in salads
(lemon vinaigrette!), and a la marinara with lots of garlic and
parsley.

My wife rigourously defends her God-given right to keep a can of Spam
in the house. I guess if we never open it, it's okay. We used to have
two large cans of government-issue chicken and pork, which somebody
gave us, and which we used to use as proof we were not in dire
financial straits. As long as we didn't open them, we knew we were
okay. I think I may have thrown them away after they showed signs of
metal decay.

Oh, and let's not forget the canned water chestnuts (we almost always
use fresh ones, but just in case...) and canned bamboo shoots, which
are harder to find fresh, even in the Chinese groceries, who sell
them in bulk after removing them from a really big can... .

And last, but not least, is our complete line of canned, fried dace
(a small, freshwater fish), in soy-sauce-laced oil, with salted black
beans, or, occasionally, with dried bean curd sticks/sheets. These
are all good steamed on a plate placed above the rice in the pot, as
are Chinese sausages (another common pantry item for us).

We have a whole lot of more obscure and single-purpose Chinese foods
(in addition to those mentioned above) that also keep well in the
pantry, but we can go into those another time...

Adamantius

--
"No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes
deserves to be called a scholar."
	-DONALD FOSTER