Went to the cupboard
To give the poor dog a bone.
When she came there,
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.
She went to the baker’s
To buy him some bread.
When she came back
The dog was dead!
Maybe Mother Hubbard could have checked her freezer, or even another cupboard. Surely she would have found something she could have put together for that old dog, thus saving herself all those subsequent trips to the undertaker’s, the alehouse, the tavern, the fruiterer’s, the barber’s and so on. An onion, a couple carrots, some meat? Salt and pepper. Water.
The kitchen scramble—throwing together a meal with limited options—is so commonplace that it’s inspired a variety of online “pantry challenges,” in which cooks are given a list of ingredients and tasked with creating a dish. We thought we’d see what three Virginia chefs could do with the idea. We gave them a list of a dozen long-lasting ingredients the home cook is likely to have on hand: frozen meat, frozen vegetables, legumes, canned or sun-dried tomatoes, root vegetables, onions, garlic, pasta, rice or some other grain, eggs, flour, oil or butter, and seasoning—dried herbs and spices. (Water, salt and pepper are freebies.) Though we thought the list offered plenty of flexibility, we also allowed each chef a wild-card ingredient of his choice.
Chefs, we found, are not used to a limited larder. Responding to an early version of the list that cited “canned or dried beans or legumes,” one chef balked at using ingredients that aren’t the freshest of the fresh. We told him that there was no requirement to use the whole list. “Celery?” asked another. “Not listed, but basic larder stuff.” We said no, although celery still found its way into two submissions (it seems that chefs are versed in the ways of blanching and freezing vegetables to carry them through the winter). The same chef asked, “Got milk?” We put our foot down at milk. We’re always running out of milk.
The chefs—Jerry Bryan of Virginia Beach’s Coastal Grill, Patrick Dinh of Tuscarora Mill in Leesburg, and Philip Newton and Richard Houser of the Harvest Table Restaurant in Meadowview—created dishes ranging from humble and comforting to flat-out elegant. Guys? We’ll see you at your place around dinnertime.
CHIK'N PIG 'N' GRITS
Richard Houser and Philip Newton, The Harvest Table, Meadowview
Richard Houser graduated from Emory & Henry College with an art history degree and provided illustrations for Barbara Kingsolver’s best-selling book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. His 30-year career in the restaurant industry has allowed him to stay well fed throughout his artistic pursuits.
Latest Comments