The Supreme Pantry is an ongoing project by Hampden Hill, Inc. with the goal of teaching home-cooks how to be better home-cooks. The main goal is to teach people how to build a robust home pantry, so that cooking at home is cheaper, easier, and more fulfilling. We are also developing recipes, shopping guides, and kitchen equipment guides.
SO HOW DOES THE SUPREME PANTRY WORK?
Simple. On this site, you’ll be able to:
- Find out what kitchen equipment to purchase, without breaking the bank.
- Learn to be better at shopping, saving you money while buying the good stuff.
- Build a robust home pantry, so that it’s easier to cook at home.
- Use flexible recipes, integrated with your pantry items, to make awesome meals and not break a sweat.
WHY SHOULD YOU USE THE SUPREME PANTRY?
YOU KNOW HOW TO SHOP AT GROCERY STORES, BUT ARE YOU A PRO?
Probably not. Grocery stores employ all sorts of tactics to separate you from your money. Some are benign, and some are downright sneaky. We believe that the first ingredient in being better at home cooking is learning what to look out for at grocery stores, and we are developing shopping guides for just that.
DON’T YOU HATE FINDING A RECIPE, THEN HAVING TO GO TO THE STORE FOR MOST OF THE INGREDIENTS?
We certainly do. That’s why we are writing a variety of pantry lists. Pick a pantry (or more than one!) and keep a stock of all the ingredients on the list. That way, when it comes time to cook, you might only need one or two items from the store. Even better, grab that lamb that’s on sale from the store, and when you get home you’ll have a variety of ways to prepare it.
HOW CAN YOU TELL WHEN TO SUBSTITUTE INGREDIENTS IN A RECIPE?
Taking a look at a recipe and making changes on the fly to match what you have on hand is something that’s (relatively) easy for professional chefs. Home cooks should not be expected to do that, but recipe writers are notorious for paving a recipe’s ingredient list with all sorts of items, then remaining silent on what’s integral to the recipe and what can be changed. With the FLEXIBLE recipes that we are writing, substitution options will be baked right in, and ingredients that shouldn’t be changed will be noted.
WHAT SORT OF TOOLS DO YOU REALLY NEED IN A KITCHEN?
Does everyone need a dutch oven? A fish spatula? How about a whole knife block set? (spoiler alert, don’t buy knife block sets.) We are creating guides on how to outfit a kitchen properly, outlining what’s absolutely needed, what’s great to have, and what to aim at when you want to impress your foodie friends. Complete with specific product recommendations and suggestions about where to source them. Having the right tools in a kitchen is absolutely transformative, and can make difficult kitchen tasks a breeze.
YOU’RE A SMART PERSON, AND ALL THIS INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ONLINE. SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL WITH THE SUPREME PANTRY?
There are countless recipe websites, even more kitchen equipment recommendations, and plenty of lengthy blog posts about home pantries and shopping advice. We think that’s part of the problem; there’s too much information out there, and nobody is curating it. For every great lasagna recipe, there are 30 bad ones. And with all of these pieces of information coming from different sources, they aren’t designed to work together.
WHY SHOULD YOU TRUST THE SUPREME PANTRY FOR COOKING ADVICE AND INFORMATION?
The Supreme Pantry is being built from the ground up by Adam, a professional chef with 20 years of cooking experience. This familiarity with food is not just limited to restaurants; he also has extensive expertise in food product research and development, recipe writing, and boutique catering. He’s going to create this website around how HE cooks at home, and he’s pretty darn good at it.
