How to stock a modern kitchen pantry.
What should you keep in your kitchen these days? We’ve got some ideas.
On his kitchen counter, Perry Hoffman, executive chef at Shed Cafe in Healdsburg, sets down a tray of spices, including a bag of Japanese roasted black sesame seeds. Plumper and more flavorful than the pallid kernels that languish in supermarket spice bottles, Hoffman pinches a few of the heirloom seeds into his mouth, gnashing them with pleasure.
“If you’re putting together a new pantry, remember this,” he says. “You’re worth the good stuff.”
Such idealism flows from the chef ’s dedication to beautiful, delicious farmforward fare —just last year The Chronicle’s restaurant critic, Michael Bauer, raved about Hoffman’s ag-centric bewitchery at the cafe. (“I’ve never seen combinations that visually depict the bounty in such a vibrant, respectful way,” Bauer wrote in his January 2016 review.)
Or such affection for premium pantry staples could be attributed to Hoffman’s current state of — insert heart-eyes emoji — newlywed bliss.
In June 2015 at Barndiva restaurant in Healdsburg, Hoffman married Kristen Brott after a five-year courtship that began while they were working at Domaine Chandon — he was the chef at its now-shuttered white-tablecloth restaurant, Étoile; she was the winery’s brand ambassador (she’s currently the North American brand ambassador for Moët Hennessey Wines).
After a year of house hunting, the couple moved into a 1,300-square-foot 1930s cottage under towering redwoods on the banks of the Russian River. It’s an idyllic home with skylights and hand-crank windows and, most importantly, an antique Wedgewood stove. “It reminds me of the one I grew up with,” says Hoffman, 33, who is heir to a culinary legacy: His grandparents, Don and Sally Schmitt, founded the French Laundry in 1978, selling it to Thomas Keller in 1994.
Composing their newlywed pantry is fresh in the couple’s memory. The goal: Curate one highly efficient larder with “the good stuff.” (Hoffman admits that Charleston, S.C., chef Sean Brock’s famous gauntlet also guided the effort: “He who dies with the biggest pantry wins.”)
The essentials of the Hoffman pantry are quintessentially artisanal; from tools to spices, craftsmanship is foremost, and the initial sticker shock is often tempered by the object’s longevity.
The 7-inch Shun Santoku knife, for instance, is a Japanese hand-forged carbon stainless-steel blade that Hoffman uses for everything from butchery to brunoise. Barring any unforeseen acts of god, it will outlive, by decades, any budget-cutting tool for sale at Target.
Stone mortars and pestles are ancient implements; the chef cleverly uses his granite M& P not just to grind spices, but also to make aioli, that creamy, garlicky condiment typically emulsified by kitchen gadgets with whirring blades. “A mortar and pestle will make the blend richer, but somehow more delicate,” he says.
Also on hand for newlywed cooking — incidentally, Kristen usually takes the lead on the dishes du jour, while her husband “pretends to follow the recipes”— are select bottles from Shed’s own pantry line, released earlier this year. The handcrafted powders, salts, pickles and shrubs are made with seasonal local harvests, including some bounty from Home Farm, the 16-acre plot owned by Shed proprietors Doug Lipton and Cindy Daniel.
Hoffman’s global inspirations for the collection include the Far East (the Japanese shiso salt, for instance, can be an herbaceous flavor enhancer for plain rice or popcorn) and the Middle East. Using ras el hanout — Hoffman’s version of the smoky spice is faintly floral due to dried rose petals — as a rub with salt, pepper and olive oil makes roast chicken, the first meal the couple prepared in their new home, “absolutely crazy good,” says Hoffman.
Dick Taylor chocolate bars from Eureka are stocked for snacking or sundae sauces (another good drizzle for ice cream, he notes, is the apple cider syrup from the Apple Farm in Mendocino County, owned by Hoffman’s family). Sweet miso paste gives body and umami to salad dressing. From a cooking class, Kristen, 38, learned about the wonders of dried Marash or Nora peppers, which the couple picks up from the Spanish Table in Mill Valley: The peppers add a rich earthiness to Hoffman’s paella recipe, balancing the briny-sweet seafood.
Despite the high-level trappings of the Hoffman kitchen, a surprising, low-brow device reveals the true newlywed dynamic. What is an Emeril Lagasse electric vegetable steamer doing in the home kitchen of a Michelin-starred chef ? Hoffman wonders the same thing. “If I want to steam vegetables, I boil some water,” he teases. Despite his culinary credentials, he still could not prevent the gimmicky contraption — a holdover from Kristen’s bachelorette days — from taking up space in the pantry. “I thought for sure I’d win that battle, but I haven’t,” says Hoffman.
Kristen chuckles, victorious.