Cupboard Essentials For The Amateur Gourmets
If you are a budding amateur gourmet, then it is very important that you have the correct ingredients in your cupboard. While it is great to have a fine collection of cooking books, they will not be useful if you don't have the correct ingredients. That's why if you listen to any professional chef discuss cooking, they always talk about a well-stocked cupboard. The essentials are not even that hard to source. What you should do is look at the list below and make sure you have all of these ingredients on hand. Any of the ones that you don't, make sure to buy and keep on hand for the next time you plan on making a recipe from one of your cookbooks.
Hawaiian Sea Salt
Salt is essential to any gourmet. It's something that you absolutely need to have on hand because it is going to accentuate almost any dish. Everything from breakfast dishes (eggs, potatoes, etc...) to desserts (custards and cakes) will require salt.
And, if you are concerned about making good food, then it's important that you choose a good quality salt. You don't want to buy a generic salt from your local supermarket, as it will often times be overly processed and also not have a pure flavor.
Ideally, what you want to get is quality Hawaiian sea salt from a wholesaler to make sure that you get it in larger rock sizes. This is an important note as it will allow you to customize the size of the salt. When you are cooking a variety of dishes, it's crucial to be able to have access to different size salt. Sometimes you want larger crystals, and other times you want smaller crystals.
When you get large sea salt, you can grind it to your liking. For more information, contact a company that offers Hawaiian sea salt for sale, such as Hawaii Kai Corporation.
Spice Grinder and Whole Spices
A spice grinder is an absolute must. As mentioned above, it will allow you to customize the size of your Hawaiian sea salt, but it will also allow you to make freshly ground spices. There is a world of difference between freshly ground spices and the normal pre-ground spices that you see for sale in the supermarket.
Fresh spices will always have more flavor due to the oil that you have with freshly ground spice. So, when you're grinding nutmeg or peppercorn, you will have the flavor that real chefs are able to achieve in their dishes. It's a great investment in order to make sure you get the best results from your dishes.
