Staples

[sibyllevance]

I'm very much a beginner in all things kitchen so I tend to stick to recipes for the most part but obviously I can't work on recipes every day. I've just realized today while cooking 'by myself' (i.e. without a recipe) that I had some habits I frankly never realized I even had.
I almost always start by melting onions in a good chunk of salted butter, especially when I have no idea what I'm going to do. It seems like the right thing to do somehow (one of my housemates melts his onion exclusively in oil but I think I won him over just with the smell of mine).

So, what are your staples? Can be an ingredient or a 'foundation' for a recipe (frying onions for me)

Comments

[inkstone]

Sauteeing onions and garlic are absolutely a staple for me. That's pretty much the foundation of everything I cook. If I don't know how to pull together a stir fry, I'll just toss in some oyster sauce to coat everything.

I also always cook rice, which is a meal staple for me. Even if I mess up something -- it's too salty/dry/wet/whatever, if I serve it over steamed rice, I can sort of salvage it.

[sibyllevance]

I've never worked with oyster sauce, what does it taste like? Do you use it with veggies?
I think rice is underrated. Everyone falls head over heels for pasta and don't get me wrong, pasta is great, but rice is such a good ingredient.

[inkstone]

It's a little salty and sweet. Theoretically, I guess it tastes like oysters but I would say the taste is very mild. It's more like a hint than anything overt. It's certainly not like fish sauce where a spoonful is plenty flavorful. And I definitely use it on vegetables! It's great on snow peas, green beans and carrots!

[sibyllevance]

Thank you for that, I'll definitely try it :)

[holyschist]

I've never had oysters, but I agree that oyster sauce is quite mild and not really fishy-tasting or anything. It's a really common ingredient in a lot of sauces, though, and I've found it's often the "missing ingredient" to replicating a particular dish (e.g. mu pad king). (Then again, so is fish sauce!)