Part 2 (2/2)

Dried Beans: It's worth making a pot of beans every now and then; we keep on hand the usual suspects that are also listed in the canned section. They're incredibly economical and the flavor is superior to the canned stuff. It's helpful to buy them in bulk and store them in one-pound increments for quick and easy measuring and cooking. Quick-cooking beans such as lentils and split pea are an absolute, economical must for soups during those cold winter months when you're saving up all your money to buy a sled or pay your health insurance. (For information on specific beans, see our bean-cooking section, page 42.) Grains: Ditch that dusty old box of instant rice! We keep a variety of whole grains in airtight jars in our cupboards, and use them in lots and lots of Veganomicon recipes. (See page 37 for how to cook some of our favorites.) Nutritional yeast: Not to be confused with brewer's yeast or any other kind of yeast, ”nooch” (as we call it) is great to add an umami (savory) taste to sauces or just to sprinkle on rice and beans. We don't use it in too many Veganomicon recipes because it's hard to find and people tend to love it or hate it. Most commonly, this mustard-colored yeast comes in flake form, and that is what we call for in our recipes. But sometimes you'll find it in powdered form, which is just ground-up flakes. If you can only find the powdered kind, reduce every cup called for by a tablespoon.

Nuts: Always have slivered or sliced almonds and walnuts on hand for pesto and to create texture in ca.s.seroles and sauces. Nuts are also great toasted in salads, breaded on tofu, and of course for all kinds of baked goods and desserts. If you are going to be storing them like a human-squirrel for months and months, keep them in the freezer. Other nuts we like to have around: cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, peanuts (which are actually botanical beans), and pine nuts.

Seeds: Any seed that goes on a bagel should also have a place in your pantry. Toasted sesame and black sesame seeds go a long way toward providing flavor to our dishes, as well as adding drama to the presentation. We also keep flaxseeds in the refrigerator, either in ground or whole form, for baking and sometimes for sprinkling onto our oatmeal.

Pastas: Keep a few boxes around of pastas of all shapes and sizes. We don't need to remind you what it's good for! (See our pasta section, page 188, for different types that we like.)

WINES AND VINEGARS.

A snotty person once said that you shouldn't cook with any wine you wouldn't drink. We say ”Pfft!” The wines you'll find in any supermarket marked simply ”cooking wine” are just fine. But whether you use the cheap stuff or a $30 Australian Riesling splurge, a shot or two of wine can elevate that saute from just homemade to near restaurant quality. There's really nothing like wine when it comes to drawing out the flavors of seared and sauteed vegetables (particularly mushrooms), herbs, and oils. We use white wine most of the time, but red and sherry are good choices to have around, too. For the straight-edgers out there, we don't mean to alienate you. Nonalcoholic wine (and beer) or vegetable broth can be subst.i.tuted in these recipes. Although deglazing a pan (page 19) just isn't the same without it, it can be done. Also included here are a few vinegars that we use often.

Cooking wine, red and white: Like we say, cooking wine doesn't have to be anything fancy, even that box o' wine that shows up at ironic trailer-trash parties in the hip section of town will do. Just make sure it is dry, which just means not sweet. A bottle of cooking sherry will also take you places and adds that particular sweet, mellow flavor some recipes just call out for.

Mirin: A j.a.panese rice cooking wine. It has a thick, almost syrupy texture. A little goes a long way in adding a deep, complex flavor and aroma to stir-fries, soups, stews, and marinades. It's a little pricier than most fruit-based cooking wines, but nothing quite tastes like it. We recommend steering clear of any mirin with added sugar, salt, or other flavorings.

Apple cider vinegar: We use apple cider vinegar in our baked goods because of its mellow taste and acidity. Apple cider vinegar not only reacts with baking soda to help things to rise, it also makes our baked goods tender.

Balsamic vinegar: We don't douse our foods in it, but the deep, winelike taste of balsamic vinegar works wonders in marinades or to pull together a bowl of soup.

Brown rice vinegar: A very mild vinegar that's great in Asian food and nice to know in salad dressings.

Wine vinegar: Red wine, white wine, or champagne, this is your go-to vinegar for adding tangy zing to savory foods and sauces.

A Word about Vegetable Broth MANY of our recipes call for vegetable broth. The store-bought stuff that comes in cartons tastes great but is ridiculously expensive, not to mention a pain for us non-weight trainers-it makes our shopping bags so heavy! We like to make our own broth (page 142) and freeze it, but this isn't always practical. Enter bouillon cubes, concentrated broth, and broth powders. Find one that you like the taste of, preferably something with low or no salt and no MSG. Add to your recipe when it is simmering, usually two cubes or a tablespoon per four cups of water, or mix it with water beforehand.

KITCHEN EQUIPMENT.

All you really need to cook is a knife, a pot, and a big spoon. But this is the twenty-first century, after all, and we're often taken in by s.h.i.+ny new things, so we have way more equipment stuffed into our tiny kitchen than it can possibly handle. Rather than regale you with stories about how our lives have been changed by our two-chamber automatic ice-cream maker, we've compiled a little info about the basic tools we use every day. Gadgets are great fun, but our mango slicer mostly collects dust. We're beginning to think it might be useless.

Here's some consumer wisdom we've had drilled into our heads: if you can't afford to buy a quality, well-made kitchen tool, you may be better off without it. Sure, you can buy a peeler for 99 cents at the everything-for-a-dollar store, but will it take the skin off a b.u.t.ternut squash? No. Better to save up the $8.95 you'll need for that st.u.r.dy all-purpose one the kitchen supply store sells. It'll last forever. The same goes for pots and pans and knives and mixers and whatever else. A caveat, though: more expensive does not necessarily mean better! Since this is the technological age, weed through consumer reviews on such shopping sites as Amazon.com to see which ones are best. Thrift stores and flea markets and stoop sales (or tag sales for you non-New Yorkers) are also great places to find kitchen stuff, if you don't mind the questionable provenance.

CHOPPING AND PREP TOOLS.

Because having a stove is great if you intend to cook something, but unless you plan on living on whole boiled potatoes, you're going to need just a few prep tools.

Knives

We know it's been said many times, many ways, but the only knife you need is a good chef's knife. Period. If you're still chopping vegetables with a sad little steak knife you borrowed from your mom's cutlery tray, stop it this second and go out and buy a real knife. A good knife has a solid feel, comfortable grip, and can be sharpened when it gets dull. Dull knives are dangerous! They slip off tomato skins and cut your finger. Buy the best knife you can afford; decent knives can be purchased for under $30 at discount stores, but if you've had a sudden windfall of cashola it doesn't hurt to drop a Benjamin on a really spiffy one.

A Few Basic Knife Skills The more you chop, dice, and slice, the better your knife skills will get. It helps to know the correct way to hold a knife, but really it's practice and intuition that makes almost perfect. We say ”almost perfect” because the skills are constantly evolving and we're always figuring out new stuff and what works for us. That said, it doesn't hurt to have a little practical guidance, and since minced garlic and diced onions are included in most all of our recipes, here are a few tips for getting them prepped quickly while keeping your fingers intact.

Garlic Wet your hands and your knife before beginning. That will keep the garlic from sticking to your fingers and the knife. Break off a few cloves and lay your knife blade squarely over a clove. Use the palm of your hand to give the clove a whack. That should crush the clove and loosen the skin. The papery skin should slip off easily once it's been whacked. Discard the skins and continue smas.h.i.+ng as many cloves as you need.

Once you have skinned all the cloves, bunch them up on the cutting board. The quickest and easiest way to mince is to use a seesaw rocking motion. Use your writing hand to grasp the blade and use your other hand to rest on top of the blade to provide balance. Rock the knife back and forth steadily, stopping once in a while to bunch all the garlic up again, because it will spread out as you are mincing. When you have this method perfected you should be able to mince a whole bulb of garlic in two or three minutes.

Onions First, slice off the top and bottom of the onion. Then slice the onion in half lengthwise. Now the skin should come off easily. Once the skin is removed, place the onion cut side down. With your fingers safely curled in, grasp the onion at the bottom to hold it in place. Slice the onion widthwise, trying to keep the slices intact. Then turn the onion and slice lengthwise.

Isa swears that if she breathes through her mouth, she never cries from cutting up onions. Try it for yourself and see if she's lying and crazy or not.

Now that you have a good knife, you'd better learn how to use it. You could take some cla.s.ses or watch a few hundred hours of Emeril (say what you will, that man can chop!), or you can just think about how to cut something beforehand instead of hacking away w.i.l.l.y-nilly. Let the knife do the work-it wants to!

Besides the chef's knife, we only really bother with a serrated-bladed bread knife and a little, sharp paring knife. The bread knife is great for slicing bread, of course, but it's also a miracle worker for slicing very soft tomatoes and sus.h.i.+ nori rolls. The little paring knife can come in handy for reckoning with sprouting potatoes or making radish roses, if for some reason you go insane and need to make those. You can go with slightly lesser quality when it comes to purchasing these guys.

Cutting Board

We don't want to hear about those of you out there chopping on dinner plates or directly on the countertop. Any official cutting board will do . . . oh, except those gla.s.s ones; no one wants to hear a knife ”clink” on gla.s.s, what a bad idea. We prefer wood over plastic, ourselves, and particularly fancy those new bamboo cutting boards. They're tres chic, tougher than Thelma and Louise, and totally renewable (since that bamboo grows like a weed).

How to Get Knife Skills Lessons for Free HIGH-END housewares stores usually have a well-educated staff working their way through cooking school. And the wonderful part is that they are usually bored out of their minds! When you are shopping around for your expensive chef 's knife, employees will gladly take the time to demonstrate the proper way to hold the knife. In fact, when they see your wobbly and awkward grasp they may even feel compelled to help you, like Mother Teresas of the cooking world. Often they have a green pepper or an onion hanging around for this very purpose. So go ahead and hop from store to store, gathering knowledge as you go. It's cheaper than a degree from the Culinary Inst.i.tute.

HOW TO STOP YOUR CUTTING BOARD FROM SLIDING.

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