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