Desert Island Foods

[Jenise]

So: you've been bad, and now they're sending you away to some island to live out your days. You can take ten food items with you. You will have the ability to cook. What would they be?

Rules: raw beef would qualify as one of your food items, so would prime rib already cooked. But not the whole cow, nor the prime rib Friday night special with the yorkshire pudding and creamed spinach--that would be three items. Get it?

I'm going to have to think about this myself, but I can name a few items to start:

avocados
corn tortillas
bing cherries
fresh apricots
shrimp
artichokes
fried chicken
tomatoes

Hmmm, came up with eight pretty fast. Will be harder to decide on the last two....

[Bill Hooper]

Easy.

Onions
Butter
Bacon
Potatoes
Eggs
Flour
Rice
White Asparagus when in season
A baby Lamb
An entire Goose

Perhaps I could fish?

Cheers,
Bill

[Shaji M]

It's been a while since we had a "Desert Island" posting
My carefully thought out list includes the following:

Chickens (Egg laying ones as well)
Lamb
Salmon
Onions
Avocados
Tomatoes
Brown Basmati Rice
Mangoes
Baby Spinach
Walnuts

I have excluded other "essentials" such as wine, coffee, spices etc.. I have been bad, very bad..when do I get to go?

-Shaji

[Rahsaan]

Easy.

Onions
Butter
Bacon
Potatoes
Eggs
Flour
Rice
White Asparagus when in season
A baby Lamb
An entire Goose

Perhaps I could fish?

Cheers,
Bill

Such a northern palate!

No garlic, tomatoes, fruits?

[Rahsaan]

Mine would be garlic, tomatoes, olive oil (or maybe an olive tree and then press them myself plus eat them), melons, peaches, eggplant, milk (to be made into cheese, yogurt, etc), flour.

That's 8. I'll think about the last two.

[Mark Lipton]

Hmmm.... Living out my days on a desert island? I sure as hell won't take anything perishable,then. Lots of garlic (yes, it spoils, but I could plant a few to get more), dried chili peppers (maybe anchos? or possibly chipotles), unbleached white flour, shortgrain rice, tomatoes (can grow them from seed for a perpetual supply), live chickens (for eggs and meat), black pepper (salt I can get from sea water), oranges (again, growing new ones from seed and ignoring the years involved in getting more fruit), bacon, black beans. It wouldn't be luxurious food, but I could make a lot of different dishes from those ingredients and what I could find locally (including native yeasts for bread making). I sure would miss my herbs, though.

Mark Lipton

[Rahsaan]

I sure would miss my herbs, though.

Mark Lipton

Not to mention your family!

How easy is it to extract usable salt from sea water?

[Jeff Grossman/NYC]

I sure would miss my herbs, though.

Not to mention your family!

You don't want to include the elevator boy?

[Carrie L.]

Wow, really fun (and challenging) to think about. Ask me again tomorrow and my list might change.

Salmon
Steamer Clams from New England for steaming or frying
Duck
Arugula
Fruity olive oil
White peaches from the Sorrento area of Italy
Fuji apples
Raw walnuts
Dark chocolate covered almonds
La Brea Italian bread

I knew this would need editing the next day. Switched out rack of lamb for steamer clams.

[Jeff B]

Hmmm...this is hard. Maybe I'll go with...

Ground Beef
Eggs
Chocolate (I can add my own sea salt from the sea)
Fried Chicken
Potatoes
Fresh bread
Cereal(s)
Fresh Florida Oranges
A half century's supply of warm chocolate chip cookies
Tums (haha)

And assuming I might be allowed two liquids:

Champagne
Coca-Cola

And I'll just have to hope for a freshwater source since I've already assumed this desert is surrounded by saltwater...

Jeff

[Bill Hooper]

Easy.

Onions
Butter
Bacon
Potatoes
Eggs
Flour
Rice
White Asparagus when in season
A baby Lamb
An entire Goose

Perhaps I could fish?

Cheers,
Bill

Such a northern palate!

No garlic, tomatoes, fruits?

Yeah, perhaps. But the first 7 are staples (I don't know if I've ever made a meal without first chopping onions!) and are pretty versatile that you can mix and match without making the same meal for a few weeks. The last 3 are luxuries. I'd take tomatoes in season (and grapes!) in there too.

[Bill Spohn]

Bacon!!!!!

[Jenise]

Bacon!!!!!

And foie gras, then you're all set?

[Bill Spohn]

Bacon!!!!!

And foie gras, then you're all set?

True, but with 8 more choices I'll ponder the rest. Would need eggs, would need cheese.....

[Matilda L]

chicken
rice
lamb
potatoes
carrots
avocadoes
peaches
pasta
tomatoes
onions

In various combinations, these could form a pleasant diet.

[Jenise]

Okay, I finally decided on my last two ingredients. Rice and lettuce were added, fried chicken turned into roast chicken, fresh apricots became dried apricots of a certain superior variety, and I turned tomatoes into a caprese salad. My ten are:

avocados
corn tortillas
bing cherries
dried slab apricots
wild shrimp
artichokes
roast chicken
rice
Lettuce
Caprese salad (replacing tomatoes alone, as 1) it nets me fresh basil, tomatoes, olive oil and fresh mozz, and 2) a meal over the weekend convinced me that it's the one dish that in its entirety I cannot live without.

[Karen/NoCA]

Sea Bass
Salmon
Rib Eye Steaks,
Chicken
Avocado
white peaches
Satsuma Mandarins
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Jasmine Rice
Tomatoes

Hopefully, I could hunt for edible wild greens, learn to hunt and gather cactus, and its milk, indigenous fruits, nuts, sea plants, types of spices.