What's in my fridge?

Sam asked the question, what's in your unedited fridge? A bunch of bloggers played, even my friend David in Paris. I envy the Bordier butter in his fridge. Good butter is so hard to find this side of the pond.

What's in my fridge then? Well, evidently far too many bottles of wine, three of which are opened. Not sure what that says about us really. There's a bit of Wlliam Fevre Chablis Montmains (1er cru) still in the bottle, left over from when I made the noodle with crab meat and green garlic the other night. A bit more left in the bottle is Eric Texier's wine, a Côte Rôtie St.Véran from '03. It's not showing so well, to tell the truth. We opened the half bottle of Meursault ('02 Jobard) that's been hanging around in the fridge for a while. We left just a tiny bit in the bottle that I put back in the fridge -ostensibly- to deglace a pan or something later. As though I don't look enough like an alcoholic, I should tell you there are four bottles of champagne in there as well. None opened, happily. Two Paul Bara, one of which is, of course, a rosé. A bottle of your average everyday Mumm, and a Crémant something or another. There's also a bottle of Brachetto -not entirely sure how or why it's there.

In the none-booze department, the jams -confitures, preserves, pick a term you like- are representing well in my fridge. Two jars of Christine Ferber, one with the last spoonful or two of Quetches d'Alsace and about a half jar of Pêche de Vigne. One jar of June Taylor's Candied Seville Peel in Syrup, a perfect match for the Strauss Yogurt you see on the top right corner of the picture here. There's a jar of Asian Pear Chutney from Frog Hollow, of the fabled peach farm fame. Did you know they make chutney and jams as well? This Asian Pear Chutney is perfect for goat cheese, like the Acapella in Ash that I picked up from Soyoung's stall at the Ferry Plaza market yesterday.

Admittedly, I love the coca cola of the juice world, Odwalla. I probably should be drinking an organic juice or something, but I just happen to like how Odwalla tastes! There's always a large container of it in my fridge. Also slightly embarrassing is salted Kerry Gold butter. It's industrially produced, but it's just about as good as commercial butters get in this country. I'll take Soyoung's butter any time I can get it, but meanwhile the Kerry Gold sustains my high-dose daily butter habit. Showing me in a bit better light is the milk I drink, Strauss Family Creamery's non-homogenized whole milk from Marin. It's the Platonic Ideal of milk, and what all the other brands of milk want to be when they grow up.

The yellow substance in the glass jug is mango 'Lassi'. I put quotation marks around that term just so no one could accuse me of violating the authentic principles of Lassi Making. I make it the way I like it, with whole milk yogurt, a bit of ice, a lot of mango, a bit of honey, and a good deal of salt. I love it.

You can see a plathora of hot sauces on the fridge door: Rancho Gordo's, a Mexican sauce called Valentina, a New Orleans specialty brand Red Rooster. There's also a jar of Lee Kum Kee's Chiu Chow chilli sauce and a bottle of Oyster Sauce, both for stir-frying stuff. Also there are tamarind paste, French mustard, and a bottle of homemade chilli oil.

There are a few Japanese products, a bottle of Mirin, a special Shiro Shoyu -a rare white soy sauce- and Tonkatsu sauce. I think there's a tub of white Miso hidden out of sight somewhere too. Oh, yes, and a jar of anchovy from my last trip to Spain.

The crumpled yellow-ish paper in the top left drawer is Fra'mani Salametto. We almost always have one around to snack on. You can't see the Toulouse sausage I got from Taylor at the Fatted Calf yesterday, but it's there as well.

I surprised myself when I saw how much green stuff I have in the fridge. I was up at the farm a few days ago and brought a few things home with me: two heads of cabbage, green and purple, a whole bunch of green garlic and young onion and a few sprigs of random herbs. There are also some sweet Brook cherries I bought from Hamada farm yesterday morning, and turnips from the Chu family farm.

As for the freezer, I really don't have much to show you. Some ice, four tubs of ice cream: Haagen Daaz Dulce de Leche and Vanilla (two of them), and Strauss Family Creamery Coffee ice cream.

Don't pay any attention to the rotten banana in there, or to the take-out container containing what I haven't a clue. They are going directly into the bin.

Comments

[faustianbargain]

salt and honey in mango lassi is interesting. i just combine yogurt and mango pulp(fresh only..not a fan of the canned variety. i prefer indian, sweet and non too fibrous mangoes. and sugar, of course. occasionally, i like to use cardamom and saffron.

we also make savoury-sweet combination with ripe mango and green chillies! found it online, mambazha morkootan here >

http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Mambazha%20morkootaan%20(fruits%20in%20curd%20and%20coconut%20gravy)

clean fridge, btw. no leftovers?

[faustianbargain]

p.s. reading the recipe, i wouldnt bring anything with yogurt(she calls it 'curd') 'to a boil'. yogurt doesnt have enough fat and it will simply split.

[Mary]

I like yours best so far. David can keep his butter - you've got some of my favorite wines. And the chutneys, jams and saucisse de Toulouse, oh boy. I think the cherries would go well with the coffee ice cream (maybe stuffed in profiteroles and served with a chocolate sauce). This voyeurism into everyone's stash is making me dizzy. BTW the drôle de petites bêtes book was a BIG hit with my friend Matilda who just turned 8; she's a foodie en herbe. Thanks again for telling us about it.

[Graham]

What a bloody mess.

[Graham]

Just kidding :)

Not so excessive on the booze. At least it's all healthy wino stuff.

[Jennifer Hess]

There's actually a pool on flickr for this:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/60528468@N00/pool/

[sam]

We have a friend here in SF called Eric Texier. Not THE Eric Texier, but we always have a glass of it when we go to Oola where it's on the menu. I seem to remember we don't like it much. Must be a red though, can't recall which.

[ChuckEats]

The Cloverdale raw milk (available at Berkeley farmers mkt & various Whole Foods in the area) gives Straus a good run for its money. Where Straus is sweeter, Cloverdale is creamier. Both are excellent and I'm not sure which one I like best anymore.

[faustianbargain]

to chuckeats: straus does not have a raw milk product. all straus products are pasturised, they are not ultra pasteurised/sterilised. even goat's milk(from redwood) is pasteurised in california. only some of their goats milk cheeses are made from raw milk. altho' its aged for at least 60 days or something like that.

i found organic pastures raw milk better than cloverdale. sigh. cloverdale raw milk doesnt have as much fat content as organic pastures raw milk, iirc. give it a try!!

[david]

Mary, can't I share my butter with Pim?
: )

[Mary]

David, how about you share your butter with me?

[Robyn]

'...far too many bottles of wine, three of which are opened. Not sure what that says about us really.'

I think what it says about you is that you are the type of friends one can never have enough of. ;-)

[ChuckEats]

faustian - i didn't imply Straus was raw - my only point is that i find myself alternating between the two now (where i was a die-hard Straus fan before.)

i tried the organic pastures - it didn't do it for me. cloverdale has a creamier milk taste to me; the OP stuff was watery.

[faustianbargain]

chuckeats, gotcha...

i havent tasted cloverdale raw, but did taste some raw OP. i checked the nutritional info at the back and i found that OP has a higher percentage of fat content. so, i am no true judge.

having said that, i still bring raw milk to a boil and skim the cream to make butter at home. its better than non homogenised milk and unless i am right there in the farm, i wouldnt drink raw milk without a little heat treatment. maybe i lost something with that.

someone has to introduce buffalo milk in america.

[naima]

Très beau site ! Existe t_il une version française de ton site ?

[foodette]

There are lots of good European butters at Whole Foods. My fridge is full of 365 items - organic milk, oj, etc. Lots of veggies and fruits. Hopefully at least one bottle of white. And, I can't live without cheese. My newest favorite thing is fresh white-corn tortillas. Fantastic in so many ways!

[cj]

Is that Kerry Gold butter from Ireland? And if so, where do you buy it?