[Sca-cooks] Setting up a new kitchen

[Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise]

> My question is thus: what would you recommend as essential to own for  
> someone new to period cooking?  What spices are essential, what  
> pantry items so necessary that you'd hate to be without?  (Bonus  
> points for sources to purchase :) ).

Nutmegs & a grinder
Powdered ginger (replace every 3 months)
Ceylon Cinnamon (Penzeys.com carries it)
regular 'cinnamon' (cassia)
Peppercorns (black, and white if you want them) and a grinder
cloves, whole and powdered
Mustard seed, brown and/or black
Cardamom (whole)
Long pepper
Grains of Paradise
Galangal
Cumin
Coriander
A mortar & pestle and/or spice mill
White wine and red wine vinegars
Verjuice if you can get it, otherwise cider vinegar and water can be 
used to approximate
Almonds, blanched and raw (I like ground almond meal)
Olive oil
Breadcrumbs

-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 
"I thought you might need rescuing . . . We have a bunch of professors 
wandering around who need students." -- Dan Guernsey