Outlander Kitchen

My Outlander Kitchen

Pantry

A time-traveling kitchen requires a versatile pantry. Many ingredients we have come to depend on in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries were not common, or even in existence, in the eighteenth. Other ingredients that were staples two hundred years ago have been lost to our industrialized food system that, in many ways, values convenience over taste and nutrition.

That said, aside from the game meats and a few spices, you won t find a lot of exotic ingredients in Outlander Kitchen. I did most of my shopping while writing it in my small island s (population 2,200) grocery store. For the rest, I ventured into the big city and its specialty shops and superstores. When that failed, I always found what I was looking for online, a few short days away by mail.

Remember that a recipe is a guideline, not a blueprint. Use what you have and find inspiration for substitutions in your pantry, rather than buying ingredients that you may use only once. For my part, I ve tried to avoid pantry one-hit wonders ingredients you buy for a single recipe and never use again. In most cases, if I call for an exotic spice or condiment, you ll find it in at least one other recipe; for example, rosewater is used to flavor the Almond Squirts (page 272) as well as the Buttermilk Lamb Chops with Rosewater Mint Sauce (page 136).

Read the recipe through at least once before you go shopping, then again before you start cooking. Prep all of your ingredients before you begin, and I promise you will find that everything goes much more quickly and smoothly, and that cooking along with your favorite books can actually be an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours, or even a whole afternoon.

Below are a few notes about common Outlander Kitchen pantry staples.

Butter In restaurant and industrial kitchens, where the recipes are made to serve dozens or even hundreds, the differences between salted and unsalted butter make a big difference. At home,

Theresa Carle-Sanders is a professional chef, food writer, and unabashed fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. She lives on a small island in the Salish Sea between Vancouver and Victoria in Canada with her husband, Howard, and their dog, Koda.

Fans of Diana Gabaldon s time-traveling, kilt-ripping series will do the Highland fling for recipes such as Auld Ian s Buttered Leeks and Banoffee Trifle at River Run. Publishers Weekly

If you thought Scottish cuisine was all porridge and haggis washed down with a good swally of whiskey, Outlander Kitchen s here to prove you wrong. Entertainment Weekly

It s a well-handled mix of researched historical fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy, and importantly delicious food. Vancouver Sun

Theresa Carle-Sanders has done a great job creating recipes that are well crafted, easy to follow, bringing to our plates and palates meals that could have been made long ago (now of course with modern ingredients). Kate McDermott, author of Art of the Pie

The only thing better than eating this roast at my wedding with Jamie would be eating this roast on my wedding night. Buzzfeed