What Does "Pantry Cooking" Even Mean Anymore?

"Alison Roman, star of online food culture in the 2010s, has a new cookbook out that is (in an apparent first for her) slumming it in the Budget Cooking category on Amazon. It's a pantry book called Something From Nothing, which promises recipes with ingredients that might already be lying around your house, ready to be made into something ... from nothing."

"And in my time cooking the recipes in the book, I have yet to find a dud. It's also fun to read Roman's intro, in which she describes crying while hearing her husband's wedding vows, which lauded her ability to make a meal without grocery shopping, just out of what was in stock at home. ("Never had I considered someone might interpret my affinity for practicality as creativity," she writes.) I love the idea I might catch some of that shine via these recipes."

"I'll describe a few recipes to make my point. Reading "Long-Cooked Potatoes, Garlic & Lemon," you'll wonder if you're seeing the quantities wrong. To make these, you submerge small potatoes in dill, garlic, lemon, and one and a half whole cups of olive oil (or chicken or duck fat, if you're the kind of person who stocks those things), then bake for 80-90 minutes. The result is frankly incredible: The potatoes are brown on the edges, soft in the middle, the perfect versions of themselves."

A pantry-focused collection promises meals made from ingredients already on hand. Some recipes repeat previously published classics, including "Caramelized Shallot Pasta" and "Goodbye Meatballs." Tested recipes have proven consistently successful so far, with no duds reported. An anecdote recounts a spouse praising the ability to make a meal without grocery shopping, framing practicality as creativity. Certain recipes strain the budget premise by requiring large amounts of oil or specialty fats and long cooking times, which may feel at odds with the "use-what-you-have" claim. A standout example is a long-cooked potato dish submerged in abundant oil and baked until perfect.

Read at Slate Magazine