Inside the Fridge Door--Essential Condiment List 2008

One Subzero that cannot seem to keep a compressor working for more than 9 mos at a time, a wife who has decided that my habit of collecting condiments is disgusting to her pregnant sense of smell and two feng shui experts who have evaluated and reorganized my house with the goal of creating peace and domestic tranquility has forced me into a period of deep introspection with the goal of seriously limiting my condiment addiction to the inside of the refrigerator door. In the past two years it seems like I have rid myself of more half eaten jars of Branston Pickle and Nutella than one human being should own. I have made a considered decision to stop the condiment insanity.

I got to thinking, what are my essential inside the refrigerator door condiments, the ones that I have to repeatedly rebuy when this expensive piece of scrap metal conks out again. For the purposes of this exercise I am defining condiments as: a preparation (a sauce or relish or spice) to enhance flavor or enjoyment Here is what I have in the faulty Sub:

Heinz Tomato Catchup
Open Pit BBQ Sauce (original)
Plochman's Yellow Mustard
Plochman's Yellow Chilli Dog Mustard
Hidden Valley Ranch Original Ranch Dressing
Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
Dean's Curry Dip
Galeo's Miso Dressing
Galeo's Miso-Ginger Dressing
Polaner All-Fruit Rasberry Spread
The Puckered Pickle Neon Green Relish
That Pepper Guy Hot Gardinera
Mister Mustard Sweet Mustard
Miracle Whip
Hellman's Mayonaise
Tamari
Kikoman Low Sodium Soy Sauce
Kikoman Terriyaki
Kewpie Mayonaise
Heinz 57
Lea & Perrins Worsteschire Sauce
A1 Steak Sauce
Pizza Squeeze (I have a 2 year old!!)
Rice Vinegar
Smart Balance Butter Flavor Spray

What do you have?

You shouldn't need to put the rice vinegar or the soy sauce in the fridge. Another one that doesn't need the fridge, but is a must have is fish sauce. Also, oyster sauce and spicy black bean garlic sauce.

We have a mustard addiction in our house...so we always have:
Dijon mustard
Coleman's Mustard
Coleman's Honey Mustard
Coleman's Whole Grain Mustard
...and probably 4-5 other random kinds of whole grain mustard.

HP Sauce is a staple for my husband as well.

Sriracha
A couple of different hot sauces including Tabasco, Nando's
Fine chopped and regular hot giardinera
Shrimp paste, chili and garlic paste, chili bean paste, oyster sauce
Argan oil, Walnut Oil, Truffle Oil
Kecap Manis, Fish Sauce
Heinz Ketchup
About 6 mustards
About 4 salad dressings at any given time
Pickled Ginger, Wasabi Paste
Open Pit, Harvey's BBQ Sauce
Soy Vey Teriyaki
Worcestershire, A1, Tonkatsu
Capers, Jarred Truffle
Harissa
Mango Relish, Coriander Chutney
Soy Sauce

And many more

In my seven years in Chicago, I have built an embarrassingly large base of condiments considering that I am a single man and the onely person who relies on the food in my fridge for day to day sustenance. My larder includes:

Canned Chipotles
Pickled Ginger
Thai Peanut Sauce/Marinade
Koop's Deli Mustard
Thai Style Garlic Chili Pepper sauce (the thin kind)
Thai Style Garlic Chili Sauce (the chunky kind)
Hot Giardinera from the Riviera (when the mood for a homemade Will Special strikes)
Louisiana Hot Sauce (one small bottle, one much larger)
Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce (I should throw it out as I have learned to make it much better)
Tartar Sauce
Worchestershire Sauce
Creamed Horseradish
Marinade Bay "Thai Lime, Ginger, Jalapeno Marinade"
Cinny's Kitchen Raspberry Vinaigrette
Maille Dijon Mustard
Some Brand of Thai Peanut style grilling marinade
Horseradish sauce (the creamy kind like they have at Arby's)
Capers
Maple Chipotle Grill Sauce
Tiger Tiger Punjab Butter Chicken Sauce (delicious by the way)
Flax Oil (not so delicious, but healthy)
Ginger Lemongrass Marinade
Sour Cherry and Lemon Balm Preserve (really excellent with goat cheese)
Mrs. Renfro's Corn Chipotle Salsa (I'm addicted to this stuff)
Sake
White Balsamic, Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
Salpica Garlic Chipotle Salsa (doesn't hold a candle to Mrs. Renfro's)
Roasted Red Chili Paste
Red Curry Paste
Hickory Farms Hot Sweet Mustard (for when my neighborhood Chinese place forgets to pack mustard with the egg rolls)
Garlic and Herb Compound Butter
Garlic and Blue Cheese Compound Butter (the one way to make Coper River salmon even tastier)
Red Pepper Pesto

and yesterday's impulse purchase:

Premade three cheese pesto (which was really good at the sampling station at Whole Paycheck)

Jenn_in_RoPa wrote:We have a mustard addiction in our house...so we always have:
Dijon mustard
Coleman's Mustard
Coleman's Honey Mustard
Coleman's Whole Grain Mustard
...and probably 4-5 other random kinds of whole grain mustard.

HP Sauce is a staple for my husband as well.

Have you seen Mt. Horeb Mustard Museum where you can buy hundreds of different kinds of mustard? Also here is a very good and easy to make recipe for whole grain mustard.

plain ol heinz ketchup
plain ol plochman's yellow
plain ol a-1
Hellman's mayo
Sweet baby ray's, and bullseye spicy bq sauces
homemade habanero giardiniera
homemade serrano/jalapeno giardiniera
homemade spicy hot pickles
homemade hot sauce
Dashi brand cilantro chutney (seems I have to replace this one the most frequently lately. love it!)
chili garlic sauce
oyster sauce
ginger paste
bw3 habanero jamaican jerk sauce (this stuff kix my butt!)
Some form of an Indian chili pickle (haven't found a "go to" brand yet)
Litehouse bleu cheese salad dressing
bag of penzey's freeze dried jalapeno bits

I'm only slightly embarassed to say that we did, in fact, go to the Mustard Museum last summer. And I have made my own mustard, which is delicious, but then I run out, and end up picking up the jarred at the store.

YourPalWill wrote:In my seven years in Chicago, I have built an embarrassingly large base of condiments considering that I am a single man and the onely person who relies on the food in my fridge for day to day sustenance.

The bachelor's catch-22 full array of condiments no food to use it on. Been there.

I need to add beet horseradish to my always have larder list. Usually, but not always, Manischewitz.

My fridge doors are awful. I did in fact go through a month or so past and weed out a lot of things but I'm refilling on a fast pace.

Plotchman's Yellow Mustard
Honeycup Mustard
Maille Honey Dijon
"Grilling" mustard from the Polish Deli
Heinz Ketchup
HP Sauce
Soy Sauce
Home made apple butter from my grandmother
Sour Cherry Jelly
Hellman's Mayo
Kewpie Mayo
Tonkatsu Sauce
Worchestershire Sauce
Sriracha
Various Marinades/Salad Dressings including Hidden Valley
Various jars of baby sweet gerkins (for my 3 year old)

Plus a few more things like hot peppers, pickles, soup base, salsas that I can't seem to recall right now the quantities or brands.

An interesting question, which Lougord99 touches on earlier, is which of these things need to be refrigerated after opening, and which dont. My mother never refrigerated ketchup, but I do, basically to keep it from turning brown. I never refrigerate hot sauces, though very rarely one will say to refrigerate after opening. Unlike me, some people dont refrigerate mustard or non-creamy salad dressings. While I refrigerate some sauces, I keep soy, teriyaki, and fish sauces, as well as all oils, in a cabinet. Are there things that definitely need to be refrigerated besides the obvious ones like mayonnaise? Are there things that most people refrigerate that are better stored at room temperature?

Thanks, Will

Fridge or not-to-fridge, good issue.

Anything that contains oil goes in the fridge, even jalapenos.

If I buy it in a large container, it goes in the fridge, inc. soy sauce. Smaller containers, which I will finish sooner, don't.

Something which has been prepared in plein air, such as fish sauce, doesn't.

If it says on the label "refrigerate after opening", I do so.

Anything that seems to me to have the potential to oxidize—ketchup, for example—goes in the fridge.

I don't think I've got anything on my fridge door that hasn't already been mentioned...

BTW, some of you folks must have ENORMOUSLY large fridge doors!

Geo

I just cleaned out the refrigerator. What still remains are the following:
Siracha
Brown Spicy Mustard
Black Pepper Sauce
Maple Mustard
Black Bean Garlic Sauce
Walnut Oil
Almond Oil
Harissa
Mayo
Mojo Criollo
Capers
Sambal Olek
Tahini
Lime Pickle
Chipotles in Adobo Sauce
Pickled Hot Peppers
Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil
Shiro MIso
Chili Oil
Tom Yum Paste
Penang Curry Paste
Mussaman Curry Paste
Ketchup
Raspberry Pomegranate Preserves
Dalmatia Fig Spread with Orange
Black Mission Fig Spread

When space runs out I move things to the extra refrigerator I have in my garage

Jyoti

jygach wrote:When space runs out I move things to the extra refrigerator I have in my garage

Exactly! I'm beginning to think that maybe this is yet another shared sign of an LTHer: The Second Fridge!

Both my places have one in the basement. Here in Québec it's called "the beer fridge", that second fridge in the sous-sol.

Geo

Geo wrote:Fridge or not-to-fridge, good issue.

Anything that contains oil goes in the fridge, even jalapenos.

If I buy it in a large container, it goes in the fridge, inc. soy sauce. Smaller containers, which I will finish sooner, don't.

Something which has been prepared in plein air, such as fish sauce, doesn't.

If it says on the label "refrigerate after opening", I do so.

Anything that seems to me to have the potential to oxidize—ketchup, for example—goes in the fridge.

I don't think I've got anything on my fridge door that hasn't already been mentioned...

BTW, some of you folks must have ENORMOUSLY large fridge doors!

Geo

OK, I totally disagree with your philosophy on refrigeration. The size and length of time had absolutely nothing to do with whether it needs cooling ( beyond a couple of hours) . If it can last 3 or 4 days out of the fridge - it does not need refrigeration ever. If there is a high salt or PH concentration ( vinegar ) then it does not need refrigeration. Oxidation has absolutely nothing to do with whether it is in the fridge or not.

lougord wrote: Oxidation has absolutely nothing to do with whether it is in the fridge or not

Fine by me. But I'm glad I'm eating my food and not yours!

Enjoy!

Geo

OK, I understand it doesn't have to be in the fridge... but what's the harm? Except for tomatoes, and debatably some cheeses (the debate is whether I want them to rot in my fridge or on my countertop, it'll happen either way), I've got more room there than in the cabinet under my work counter.

I suppose if you have more room in your fridge than in a cabinet there's no reason not to, but space in my fridge door is at a premium.

There's no reason to keep soy sauce in the refrigerator.

Mustard is safely stored at room temp, too, but it looses its oomph more rapidly if you do, so I keep mine refrigerated after opening.

The only kind of vinegar I refrigerate is unpasteurized wine vinegar, which will form a "mother" if left at room temperature.

I'll do a door inventory and post the results soon.

Jenn_in_RoPa wrote:I'm only slightly embarassed to say that we did, in fact, go to the Mustard Museum last summer. And I have made my own mustard, which is delicious, but then I run out, and end up picking up the jarred at the store.

There's a mustard museum?

My fridge is very organized, although I couldn't tell you all the stuff that's in there. The door has six distinct sections. The top left is a tray and the top right is a tray with a slidey lid like a bread box. The tray holds various items, I know there is a bag of leftover once-melted chocolate, some powdered sugar I used to roll cookies in, packets of soy sauce or something. The other side is for Tubs. It holds an 8oz tub of sour cream, a tub of margarine and a can of cat food.

Below that are four little shelves.
#1 - Marinades/Dressings. I know there is poppyseed dressing, which is awesome, some kind of Italian dressing and possibly Tomato vinaigrette, soy sauce, Worcestershire, minced garlic (yes I know) and horseradish.
#2 - Condiments. Ketchup, mustard, hot mustard, stone ground mustard, mayo, capers, and pickles often. I'm currently out, and there is a hole on my shelf and in my heart.
#3 - Sweet stuff. Apple jelly (actually quite tasty! Looks like I'm making some thumbprints this Halloween), tomato jelly, caramel sauce, Nutella knockoff, some other jellies I think.
#4 - I honestly can't remember what's in this one but I'm sure it has a theme.

My sock drawer is also organized by color and style, and I hang my clothes on hangers that match the color of the garment.

Is anyone out there a therapist?

Pie Lady wrote:There's a mustard museum?

Look here, and here to get a few descriptions.

-Hellman's
-Mexican sour cream
-Canadian Heinz Ketchup
-dijon mustard
-polish mustard
-yellow mustard
-kozlik's lime & honey mustard as well as their balsamic fig and date. will be reordering both
-at least a variety or two of whole grain mustard
-franks hot sauce
-soy sauce
-Worcestershire sauce
-sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
-horseradish
-capers
-giardinaire
-spicey garlic pickles that we made
-random bbq sauces (right now I have some "Chicago Italian BBQ" and some italian store and bulls eye)
-chunky blue cheese dressing
-apple butter
-Siracha
-real maple syrup
-green hot sauce
-real butter

i don't keep fish sauce, chipotle/adobo, tomato sauce, oils, vinegars in the fridge like others here seem to... :]