When I walk along the back roads of a new town, I’m always drawn to open windows, those brief glimpses into other people’s lives. I imagine their daily routines and begin to make up stories from what they let us see behind the open curtains.
Kitchen windows crowded with jars, bowls, and their most-used spices. Bookshelves on the opposite wall crammed with books. An armchair—is that their favourite spot for reading, or where they watch TV at night? Framed pictures on the walls, a fondness for fresh flowers, toys scattered on a rug. These are all clues that make me wonder what it would be like to live there.
It is the same with pantries.
When I visit a friend, or when I’m invited into a new home for the first time, I’m always delighted when I can steal a furtive glance at the pantry. You can tell so much from other people’s pantries: their favourite jam to spread on toast, whether they are more of a pasta or rice person, how many spices they use in their everyday cooking, whether they are enthusiastic preserve makers, or whether they prefer organic, traditional, or fancy store-bought jams and compotes.
You can tell a lot about their cooking style, their approach to food, and often, to life.
For a couple of years, I wrote a column here on Letters from Tuscany, where I interviewed friends and colleagues about their pantries, asking nosy questions and catching a glimpse of their cooking habits through their favourite pantry staples.
Now, at last, I’m bringing this series back as part of the podcast, sharing live interviews with food writers, cookbook authors, and home cooks, with a focus on pantries as a privileged way into people’s lives, cooking styles, and favourite recipes.
The first guest is Melina Hammer, a longtime friend of Letters from Tuscany. She is the award-winning author of A Year at Catbird Cottage, a food stylist, recipe developer, chef, and food photographer, and the owner of Catbird Cottage in the Hudson Valley, New York. You can find her here on Substack at Stories from Catbird Cottage.
Before we delve into today’s interview, here are a few pieces from the newsletter archive that tell the story of my love for the pantry:
My Love Letter to the Pantry. To the pantry, that makes me feel safe, protected, loved, taken care of.
[Pantry] Onion strudel. This is a recipe to show you that you can make savoury pies, tarts and strudels without buying ready-made puff pastry, just by using what you have in your pantry.
[Pantry] Pasta alla puttanesca. A hymn to pantry staples, a punchy pasta dish you can whip up in less than 20 minutes, while you’re cooking your pasta.
Pulses, the pantry protagonists. Pulses are basic pantry staple ingredients, protagonists of traditional recipes, part of my family gastronomical traditions, and, more than other foods in the world, they can be delicious.
What I always keep in my pantry for cooking classes. The essential ingredients that make every cooking class possible + my mum’s Tuscan herb salt recipe.
Do you like this new podcast series dedicated to other people’s pantries? I’d love to know who you would like me to invite next, and what your own pantry says about the way you cook, eat, and live.
Q&A with Melina Hammer
What follows is an edited version of our conversation, adapted from the original transcript to make it clearer, smoother, and more enjoyable to read. Let me know if you enjoy this format.
Giulia
Hello everyone, and welcome, Melina. I’m so happy to have you here today for the first episode of this new series dedicated to other people’s pantries, here on Cooking with an Italian Accent. Welcome!
Melina
Thank you. It is so wonderful to be here.
Giulia
I’d love to start with a little introduction. Could you briefly introduce yourself and, first of all, tell us where you are in the world right now?
Melina
Of course. My name is Melina Hammer, and I’m based in the Hudson Valley.
Here in the Hudson Valley, I host guests from near and far at my home, Catbird Cottage. I’m a chef, essentially, and I draw from my many years as a food stylist and photographer, as a cookbook author, and as a recipe developer for my newsletter. All of these roles come together to create beauty and memorable experiences for the people who come here to celebrate special occasions with us.
Giulia
That’s fabulous. I’ll be sure to add all the links to your newsletter and to everything you do in the episode show notes, so that everyone can find you. Let’s start talking about your pantry. What does your pantry mean to you?
Melina
At its foundation, my pantry—and, growing up, pantries in general, especially my mother’s pantry—has always felt like a place of security. It is a place of abundance. And from that sense of security, from those collections of various ingredients, comes possibility and adventure. Whether it is the security of knowing that I always have something to eat, or the possibility of producing something interesting and unusual, perhaps inspired by some far-flung place, at a moment’s notice.
Giulia
Yes, this is exactly what a pantry feels like to me. I remember growing up and walking into my mum’s kitchen, and feeling that sense of security because I could see, right in front of me, all the jars of tomato preserves she had made during the summer, the ones we would use once a week for pizza. And then there were other preserves, and the flour, and the sugar. So there was this sense of security, of knowing that someone was taking care of me. In that case, it was my mum.
And it’s the same feeling I have now. I can take care of my family. I can make pizza on a Friday night with the tomatoes I have in the pantry. So yes, it is exactly the same feeling.
Melina
Doesn’t it feel great?
Giulia
Yes. Even just a little corner in my kitchen—my pantry is not big, but that small corner where I keep the jams I make during the year, and the tomatoes—it feels wonderful. It really does.
Speaking about your pantry, you are in the Hudson Valley. How is that reflected in your pantry?
Melina
There are so many wonderful growers in our region, and I feel really lucky to be able to draw from such a wealth of ingredients.
But largely, they are fresh ingredients. There is one grower who produces locally grown grain and mills it, so I use flour from them.
And then there are Hudson Valley honeys and jams, for instance. I don’t necessarily need them, but I still find myself bringing them into my pantry because they are beautiful, I’ve tasted them, and they are delicious. So they become part of my collection.
It’s also fun to go into shops that carry local provisions and be completely taken by something, whether because the packaging is beautiful, or because I decide I need another kind of pickle, or something like that. And knowing that someone local is producing it makes it even more wonderful.
Giulia
Yes, it’s the same for me. It’s like keeping little memories of where you are, and at the same time offering a bit of support to local producers. Because, just like you, I make my own jam, but how lovely it is to have a jam that is locally produced, and to be able to support a small producer.
Are there other parts of the world that are specifically represented in your pantry?
Melina
Oh, yes. Just as you mentioned, there is this idea of a memento, a piece of an experience that you take with you.
I have ingredients from Japan and Nigeria. There are ingredients that conjure Vietnam, Canada, Afghanistan, Palestine, France, India. It feels as if you are immediately connected to these cultures through the ingredients they use.
Sometimes the uniqueness of a scent or a flavour is really apparent. And sometimes it is simply a hard-to-find ingredient that you happen to come across while travelling, or in a particular international store. Being able to bring those ingredients home always feels like a certain kind of victory, almost as if you had won the lottery.
Giulia
Sometimes it’s the memory of a travel. Sometimes it’s more like an excuse to travel somewhere you’ve never been, thanks to a spice, or to a unique aroma.
Melina
Absolutely. I love how you put that. Yes.
Giulia
And how does your pantry shape the way you cook at home, but also the way you cook for your work as a writer and photographer?
Melina
Well, for the at-home part, I am so often working on many projects at the same time. So pulling from the pantry means that I can have some kind of rice, or quinoa, or farro, or beans available without question, as long as I have that built-in clock to forecast needing it.
And then there is a whole host of other ingredients. So it is simpler eating, but it is very much informed by going to the pantry, seeing what is available, understanding what I have time for, and then just getting that going.
As far as my work goes, there are seasonal stories that really pull strongly from pantry ingredients. And then there are stories in the later months, as in spring and summer, those days when we do not cook as much, but there are still ingredients that are the backbone of how I want to build flavours.
Collections of vinegars, for instance, and those brightening, wonderful vinaigrettes and sauces that can make uncooked ingredients shine and sing, all kinds of things.
Sometimes the pantry will also be the bracketing mechanism for a theme that I want to present.
And there are always pantry ingredients that play a role. I feel like it is a helpful thing for readers broadly, and for my audience as well, to understand that if you have these layers as foundations, then you can always eat well, whether it is exciting cooking for guests or special occasions, or simply figuring out what you are going to have for lunch.
Giulia
So, you mentioned that you host dinners and gatherings. Do you prepare your pantry for that? Or do you shop for your pantry with that in mind?
Melina
I shop for my pantry. And as I do that shopping, I’m always thinking, well, this enormous jar of olives or pickles might be needed for a supper club or a dinner party.
And because it’s canned, it can just sit there and stare at me, and remind me of itself, without needing to be used right away.
There are all kinds of other ingredients that fulfill the same purpose. Sometimes I’m shopping not for a specific reason. I mean, certain things certainly are for a reason, but other things I bring home just because I fall in love with them, and I know they will have some future utility.
And quite often, those ingredients that don’t have an immediate purpose will find their way into some menu item. It’s really exciting to see when that purpose does get fulfilled, and then to see the joy on people’s faces as the ingredient is incorporated and they get to experience it.
Giulia
Speaking of ingredients, what are, let’s say, five ingredients you always have in your pantry, no matter the season? And why do you keep these five ingredients?
Melina
Well, beans, for sure. Beans as humble food, beans as extravagant, amazing things. I mean, everything can be made with a bean.
Jams. Lots of jams that I make. There are certain wild berries that I make an effort to turn into jam each season. So that is always a foundation. And I often gift those jams. Sometimes I don’t even eat them myself, which can feel a little sad, because I love them so much and they are delicious. But as a gift, they are even better.
Canned tomatoes from my garden and from a couple of farmers, so that I can make any number of stews and braises over the winter season. And bottling summer—there is nothing like it.
Then chocolate, because chocolate is something we always have as a mainstay, whether it is bar chocolate for snacking or chocolate for any of the recipes I develop for both the newsletter and for guests.
And then tinned fish, because it is such an excellent way to immediately have protein, flavour, nuance, and depth.
There is such an incredible variety available these days. I use “fish” broadly here: sometimes it is scallops, or mussels, or oysters. And then there is a whole host of different fish. It is an absolute staple for me.
Giulia
So, with these ingredients in mind, what do you cook from your pantry when you don’t feel like cooking, but you still want to eat something good?
Melina
Yes, which happens more frequently than one might think.
Giulia
Almost every day.
Melina
I know. I’m always thinking, I have to cook again? I have to eat again? I just finished cooking.
It is so wild to experience that reality. And sometimes I say to my husband, really, you are going to have to take this on so that I can just step away for a little bit. It does happen more than it used to, but it still needs to happen more.
So I’ve been thinking about that. And quite honestly, lentils. I just love how quickly lentils can be cooked, and they don’t require being soaked in advance.
And as I mentioned earlier, quinoa or brown rice, sometimes pasta. But pasta, I feel, as an ageing body, is more indulgent. So I want to reserve that for times when I’m really going to have an experience.
So often it is brown rice or quinoa, sometimes barley or farro. And I make them special by adding either a cooked, custardy egg, or a few anchovy fillets, or herbs and vegetables, or a layering of all of those things. And thankfully, it always comes together, and it always ends up dynamic.
It is never super basic because, as a practice, and as part of my career, I always have these wonderful jars of things of various kinds that I can just pull from.
Giulia
Yes, this makes me think of something that we could call a kind of student salad, which is something I often make when I don’t know what to cook.
It is canned tuna, which is something I always keep in my pantry because I love it, and beans. So you might have a jar of good beans, already cooked.
You mix them together, and then if you have some fresh tomatoes, that’s great. Or onions, a little anchovy fillet, just to give extra flavour. And then, of course, your best extra virgin olive oil. Next to this, you just need a slice of bread.
It is so simple, but so full of flavour, so glorious. And of course, the quality of the ingredients you start with really makes the quality of your final dish.
But if you have good-quality tuna, beans, and olive oil, you have everything you need.
Melina
That sounds like heaven.
Giulia
So, this is a similar question, but can you remember a moment when your pantry saved you? When you had nothing planned, but you still managed to cook something that felt meaningful and very good, maybe for you, maybe for your guests?
Melina
Gosh. Well, for my guests, I am someone who really likes to plan in advance. With the incredible number of layers involved in producing either the curated dinners for guests, which are really a very, very personalized experience, or the supper clubs, planning allows me to set myself up for success.
Those things are very well thought out and executed.
But things in our own lives are often quite different, because I will just be working and working until it is time for us to eat.
And I do think in advance for that, because I am a planner. But there are often times, especially in springtime, when it feels most intensive, because I am doing all the preparations in the landscape, as well as fueling the normal day-to-day.
So I’ll be outdoors and suddenly realize, oh my God, I have to figure out what lunch is going to be.
Recently, actually, I pulled from the pantry to produce a pot of brown rice. I had thawed some stock from my freezer, so it was very aromatic. There was furikake, this Japanese condiment, a kind of seasoning to sprinkle over food, which I scattered all over it.
I also had a little colatura and added that to enrich the flavour. Then a bunch of herbs, and right now I have some lettuces, punchy mustard greens, and arugula, so I tossed that all together.
And again, a little bit of tinned mackerel made the whole thing feel special, while still being completely spontaneous.
Giulia
You mentioned the freezer. We tend to forget that the freezer can be part of what we call the pantry, and probably should be part of it, because this is where we can stash leftovers that become a new meal, or all those basic preparations that help you speed up dinner on a weeknight.
Today, for example, I had some leftovers from the freezer, and mixed them with a great salad and a piadina that I had left over from yesterday. Together, they made a great dish.
Melina
I agree with you. I think that when we think of the pantry, there are certain things, certain foods, that cannot be canned, and therefore they go straight to the freezer.
I have jars of this garlic mustard pesto that I make every year, actually right around this time, because this plant is extremely invasive. It comes to maturity faster than the native landscape does, and right now is its moment.
It is sort of like a cross between broccoli rabe and mustard greens, and it makes a pesto that actually becomes very mellow, if you can believe it. It is sort of weird, but it is not cooked, and it is just wonderful. And now I have jars and jars of it in the freezer.
Tomato confit, too. Because of the oil, I don’t can it. Storing it in the freezer is what it needs. And all kinds of other ingredients as well. But yes, it is like a second pantry, isn’t it?
Giulia
And it is there for you. We don’t have to forget the poor freezer.
So, you mentioned jam, tomato confit, and pesto. Is there something else you like to make and keep in your pantry, something that can make your everyday cooking easier, or a little bit more special?
Melina
Yes. There are these ingredients that actually live in the refrigerator, but they are pantry staples because they are fermented.
I have, for instance, a jar of sauerkraut that I made that is easily a year old, and it is so delicious. It is funky, crunchy, and salty.
Every year, there is green garlic from the garden, and I will pull some and chop it up to ferment. It is such a simple process. Basically, with a little bit of salt, you squeeze the chopped garlic until it gets juicy.
Then you can season it further. I might add red chilli pepper, then submerge it, and then it is good for, you know, indefinitely.
This adds a salty, funky layer to food that is also garlicky, and it is indispensable because it creates this richer background depth in all kinds of dishes.
So the sauerkraut idea, pickles, this fermented green garlic — these layers are important to me. And because they are fermented, they don’t sit at room temperature, but they are pantry staples because they are there for very long periods of time.
Giulia
And is there something in your pantry that feels Italian to you? Even if it is not traditionally from Italy, but something that reminds you of Italy, and of the way we eat and the way we consider food?
Melina
Well, I definitely purchase dried Italian pasta.
I have La Fabbrica della Pasta, and I often get their orecchiette, and also Giuseppe Cocco, a few different kinds of pasta from that maker.
I love the texture, and I feel like those makers produce a different and really beautiful version of pasta. If I’m not going to make pasta myself, it is a really wonderful alternative.
And I think canned tomatoes and tomato sauce always feel Italian to me. I always keep those on hand in the pantry.
I have yet to make tomato paste, but that is also an ingredient I keep in the pantry. These are like a trio of indispensable ingredients for lots of different preparations, both in warmer weather and for those hearty, cold-season dishes.
Giulia
Yes, I love that you mentioned dried pasta, because often when I talk with people who are not from Italy, they think that we make fresh pasta every day. That when we eat pasta, it is fresh pasta.
And it is not. I mean, fresh pasta is for special occasions, and not even for all special occasions.
Dried pasta is much more common. It is something we eat on a weeknight, or for a quick meal. I eat much more dried pasta than fresh pasta, and actually, I love it.
Melina
Yes, I mean, how much time is there in a day?
Giulia
Exactly. And there are sauces that are really supposed to go with dried pasta, not with fresh pasta. If you think about carbonara, for example, or amatriciana, I love them with dried pasta. They really make a quick meal, and you need dried pasta for that.
I also love wholemeal dried pasta. This is something I keep in my pantry as well. I keep pasta made with lentil flour, rice flour, or sometimes lentil, rice, and chickpea flour, just to have a little variation. But still, dried pasta is one of the most important ingredients in my pantry, along with tomato paste, which is something I love.
That was my grandmother’s secret in cooking.
Actually, I once tried to make it myself. I started with 10 kilos of tomatoes, a whole crate of tomatoes, and I ended up with nine tiny jars.
It was the best tomato paste I had ever had, but it took me forever. I even had to keep the oven going, because that summer was not hot enough to dry the tomato paste in the sun.
So I kept the tomato paste in the oven, at the lowest temperature, for 10 hours. If I had eventually added up all the costs, that would have been the most expensive tomato paste I had ever had.
The most delicious, yes, but also the most expensive. So now I just buy it.
Melina
When I make something that is labour-intensive like that, and I can think of membrillo, quince membrillo, and ramp salt that I make in spring, those become so precious and coveted that I actually end up not using those ingredients for myself.
I will only use them for guests or give them as gifts, because obviously they are incredible and special. But I will not dare to use them casually. I don’t want to run out of them. So I won’t use them personally.
Giulia
So, I’ve seen your pantry. I’ve seen photos of your beautiful pantry, and I’m going to share these photos in the newsletter with this podcast episode.
But if someone looked at your pantry without knowing you, what would be the first thing they could understand about your life?
Melina
Well, maybe, to put it generously, that I’m a collector.
I think someone would say, wow, she has a really good array of many ingredients.
And I have really cultivated that. As a recipe developer, there is a need for many of these things, in order to prepare something that is gluten-free, for instance, or to be able to host people who are vegan, or to have all kinds of lifestyles at the ready.
Learning to have a way with those ingredients has meant that I’ve had to invest in them, experiment with them, and develop recipes with them. And then I get to incorporate them into my own repertoire, because some things I really love.
So it becomes, oh, I’m going to use those oats in this kind of new preparation, or I’m just going to go back to that recipe over and over again because I love it so much.
But yes, it has meant that the breadth and depth of my pantry have expanded over the years. Sometimes I feel like I don’t get to the very back of the pantry, which means that one of these days I have to make a project just to do that.
And remember, oh, right, when we first moved here… because there are a few things at the very, very back that probably need to be examined.
Giulia
Yes, this is something I do during the low season of cooking classes. So let’s say from December to March, this is when I really want to reach the back of my pantry.
Often, I find surprises there. This is when I can really say, okay, I’m not going to buy any more pasta, any more beans, any more canned tuna or mackerel.
Melina
That’s smart.
Giulia
I want to see the end of my pantry. I don’t always succeed, but I discover many things that I tend to forget at the back of the pantry.
And it’s nice to be surprised by your pantry.
Melina
That’s really smart. I’ve been doing that with the freezer this past winter.
It has been an excellent exercise because I have suffered the experience of stocking things and then not really reconnecting with certain pieces of that abundance.
So this winter, I pulled and pulled from the freezer, and it was really joyous because it meant that I wasn’t cooking as much. The previous me had set the present me up for success.
I was able to use those ingredients, eat well, and not have to work so hard to do so. Not as hard, at least.
Giulia
Exactly. So I have one last question. If I opened your pantry today, what would surprise me the most?
Melina
Gosh. I probably have eight different kinds of honey, but I don’t know if that’s surprising.
I have honey from Nigeria. I have honey from Canada. I have three kinds of honeycomb. So, maybe that’s normal.
Giulia
I have honey, but not eight kinds! So how do you use all these different kinds of honey?
Melina
Well, there is some honey that I won’t use up because it is so special. I don’t want to say goodbye to it.
So there is that honey in the back of the pantry, almost saying, remember us?
But honeycomb, for instance, I love using a little block of it alongside various other preserves that I’ve made, to share with guests. It’s a way to showcase the moment and the region, especially when people visit us in winter, when there is less bounty in the actual garden.
So I can share the garlic mustard pesto, or the wild blueberry jam, and crackers with field garlic inside the dough. And then alongside that, this beautiful honey and a cheese. Those pair really, really well together.
I also love using honey on yogurt, with nuts and fruit, whether they are berries or other fruits. All of a sudden, it feels a bit decadent. It feels luxurious. And it also imparts flavours that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
And my husband is a fan of honey by the spoonful, so sometimes that is also how it goes.
Giulia
Your pantry really reflects your attention to everything that is very seasonal and growing right now.
Your way of cooking, but also your way of developing recipes and sharing your photos, is really where the pantry meets seasonality.
I think they work very well together. You manage to incorporate seasonality into the pantry in an incredible way, and you can see this from your recipes and from everything you share online. It’s really beautiful.
Melina
That means a lot coming from you.
Giulia
Thank you so much. Thank you for chatting with me today. And remind everyone once more where they can find you online.
Melina
Well, it was a pleasure talking with you. You can find me, Melina Hammer, on Instagram, Stories from Catbird Cottage on Substack, my website, melinahammer.com, and my beautiful award-winning book, A Year at Catbird Cottage. Thank you so much.
Giulia
Thank you. It has really been a pleasure talking with you.
Melina
Same.
