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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2000)
JUST THE BASICS THE SURLY GOURMET TONI CHIOTTI ■The columnist gives some helpful cooking advice to students on ways to avoid gout and scurvy this year The human body cannot exist on flavor-packets and noodles alone. The first year in their own houses, most college students are bound to stock the shelves with Top Ramen and Costco-size boxes of mac 'n cheese and fill their freezer with gourmet coffee, tater tots and mi crowave burritos. Goiter and gout are their reward. An entire household of medical students was recently diagnosed with scurvy. It takes months on a ship without vegetables or citrus fruit to come down with this dis ease, but these chukleheads man aged to pull it off in the comfort of a college town. The idea that student chow is ei ther cheaper or quicker than actual ly cooking is a falsehood. This col umn, initially, will focus on the absolute basics. I'll go over pasta sauces, soup stocks and how to cut up a chicken — all things you should have learned from watching your momma, but probably didn't. If your shelves are full of cheap crap that you don't like, you’re not go ing to eat it. This is the false economy of the student diet. Tightening the belt while at the grocery store doesn't work if you just end up swinging through a drive-through and blowing all the money you saved. Keep good, instant chow around the house for when you don’t feel like cooking (Trader Joe's is great for this), but buy decent ingredients that will inspire you to actually make something. Setting up your kitchen requires a bit of an investment, but once you're there, you can get by on close to nothing each week. I think the best place to start is to give a quick overview of the essentials needed to stock your kitchen. Get ye to a thrift store. It should be possible to find most of the hardware you need sec ondhand, especially dishes, pans and silverware. I recommend buying an assort ment of cheap, disposable storage containers. Plastic holds odors, and the odds of your letting that lasagna develop its own ecosystem in the back of your fridge are high. Save plastic and glass food containers and use those as well. Make too much of everything and freeze the rest for later. Good knives are essential, and hard to find used. The only ones I use are a small paring knife and an eight-inch chefs knife. These are worth buying new and should be available for less than $10 each. Bread knives are also good to have around and are a dime-a-dozen. As for ingredients, keep your kitchen well-stocked with the basics, and you will always be able to throw something together. Augment this basic list with fresh veggies, meats, fish, cheeses and fresh herbs. Ever notice how most Mexican food is made of the exact same stuff, just arranged differently? When shopping, it makes a lot of sense to focus on one corner of the world at a time, preferably the poorer corners — they know how to stretch it. Eat Mexican for a week, then go stock up at an Asian grocery for the next couple of weeks. Don't shop for one specific meal but rather for a week's worth ofwhomping. For emergencies, you can keep some frozen veggies around, or even a box of Pasta Roni, if you must. Just don’t skimp. With good ingredients, you can pass on a lot of the preparation. Make cooking part of your daily routine. When you get home, crack a beer and start chopping. And re member, five bucks thrown away at Pizza Planet is five fewer beers in your fridge. If you shop smart, learn to impro vise and approach cooking with the dedication of a recovering addict, you will save money and keel over a lot less. Tony Chiotti’s column is written every oth er week for Pulse. Stock your kitchen Equipment: Large stockpot (for soups and pasta) Strainer Assortment of saucepans Large saute pan Cutting board Baking dish (glass or ce ramic) Wooden spoons Spatula Knives Measuring cup Ingredients: Pasta Rice Flour Sugar Canned whole tomatoes Extra-virgin olive oil Onions Potatoes (waxy reds or Yukon golds are mostver-% satile) Garlic Butter (don't even think about buying margarine) Boxes or cans of soup stock (preferably unsalted) Canned tuna (in olive oil) A box of Franzia Wine, dry Blitz Weinhard beer Assorted condiments Dried spices and herbs (bulk) Tony Chiotti for the Emerald It doesn t take a professional chef, or a professional kitchen, to cook up tasty, nutritious meals. All it takes are the right ingredients and a few strategies, and you’ll be eating more than just ramen. 4 4 Howl-o-grams will run in the Emerald on Tuesday, October 31st Call 346-4343 to place your gram today, or out this form and stop by the Emerald Classified Office: Suite 300, EMU Deadline: Fri. Oct. 27, 1pm Write the m©st creative sp@©k and win a shirt and a pumpkin fuII-©-candy! Oregon Daily Emerald LOW Student Airfares Eurailpasses More Than 100 Departure Cities Study Abroad SIS universe i IT'S YOUR WORLD. EXPLORE IT studentuniverse.com 800.272.9676
