We’ve got various favorite condiment threads, and the share-your-fridge and pantry / cabinet threads that reveal why we are so comfortable among friends here
So let’s share our condiment “stocking” (no use of hoarding please, this is a safe space!).
Do you sort / store them by cuisine / cultural groupings?
What goes in the fridge vs the cabinet (even if contrary to guidance)?
What do you have multiple types of, because, well, you do?
What do you use the different types for, if you differentiate ?
And what about the inverse – what do you never or rarely stock?
I always have mayo, mustard (also not a fan but my dining companions are. French’s yellow, Dijon, sometimes other German or Canadian mustard), a dozen different hot sauces, oils or chili pastes.
Red pepper jelly, mint jelly, and lingonberry sauce.
I store my soy sauce and sesame oils in the fridge.
Red Curry paste, green curry paste.
Sometimes Jerk seasoning but not lately. Piri Piri oil.
I have capers and 2 types of cucumber pickles on hand.
Mango chutney and often another chutney. Maple syrup. HP, Worcestershire
I have a dozen small condiments and tapenades from an amazing advent calendar last year. I’m not good at using things that I didn’t buy for myself.
I also have a jar of unopened arugula pesto from Eataly that’s been in my fridge for 18 months.
Condiments I don’t buy: Branston pickle, Piccalilli, Ranch, Miracle Whip, and Salad Cream.
You folks all have enormous kitchens. (The vinegars alone would occupy more than 10% of my food storage space.) If we’re counting condiments, not individual spices, for hot sauce, we have Cholula and Sriracha. For vinegar, we have cider, balsamic, and rice (and white, but that’s for cleaning). There’s ketchup, brown mustard, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, and Miracle Whip. Does salsa count? I think that’s about it. (I don’t think of capers, pickles, or olives as condiments, or maple syrup.)
Nope, apartment-sized kitchen and regular size fridge.
Depends on what you store where and how, I guess.
Tall vinegars and fish sauce are under the sink. The rest are between pantry cupboard and fridge.
If I don’t see it, I won’t use it.
Also depends on what kind of interest one has in cooking, and what range of cuisines one explores at home. You really can’t get the right results in many cuisines without specific items, so if you choose to cook them, your pantry has to grow.
And of course this does not include spices. Spice organization has been discussed more specifically.
Only 2/3? My fridge would be an echo chamber without all those jars and bottles. It’s my worst kitchen sin. Periodically I do a merciless cull - but of course I’ve already bought replacements by that time.
Donning my pedantic hat: It’s Colman’s. (A tiny minority of Americans know it doesn’t have an ‘e’, in my experience, but it’s a family name so I’m attuned to it. and hence no one in that family line buys any other dry mustard powder.)
I was down to a small bottle of Red Boat, which is pretty expensive, so I decided to try a new-to-me brand for everyday use – Megachef (blue bottle). It’s quite nice – milder and smoother than 3 crabs, and less salty, so it doesn’t tip the scale if used to finish a dish.
I’ll keep an eye out for the brown bottle.
I replaced assorted soy sauces with Pearl River Bridge’s versions recently – mushroom dark soy and premium light soy (the latter took some searching), and I think they’ve been a bit better than what I was previously using.
I need to research Korean soy sauces a bit more, might try those next.
