By Chuck Martin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The hams and holiday cookies are consumed, and the last of the eggnog has slid down the drain. It's time to gear up for serious cooking during the new year.

Let's begin by restocking the pantry, the starting point and staple source for home meals. What to put in your pantry?

We asked the experts - more than 15 Greater Cincinnati food lovers, including chefs, caterers, cooking teachers and grocers - to list 15 ingredients they must have in their home pantry. For this exercise, we expanded the meaning of "pantry" beyond the usual kitchen closet or cupboard. Our survey respondents could include frozen, refrigerated and other perishable ingredients.

Even hard-core foodies, who sent suggestions for more than 100 pantry ingredients - anchovies to French game terrine and Heinz 57 Steak Sauce to wasabi - can't agree on everything. (Funny, no one suggested canned soup of any sort.) But we compiled their votes and came up with a "most popular" pantry list of 15.

Not surprisingly, the No. 1 vote-getter was olive oil, especially the premium "extra-virgin" grade. All but two survey respondents put olive oil on their must-have list.

"It's so all-purpose," says cookbook author, teacher and Enquirer columnist Marilyn Harris, who prefers Italian olive oil. "You can cook with it, make marinades and salad dressings. And we know it's the healthiest of oils," she says.

Much of the rest of our pantry has an Italian accent, too, including garlic, canned tomatoes, dried pasta and balsamic vinegar. But there are other basics - butter, eggs, onions, even mayonnaise and white wine (for cooking only, we're sure).

Everyone has personal preferences. But we think our experts have assembled an essential pantry for you to build on.

The essentials

We asked food experts to tell us 15 ingredients they must have in their pantry (excluding dried herbs and spices, salt and pepper). Based on those responses, here are the most popular ingredients, listed roughly in order of preference.

Olive oil, especially "extra-virgin"

Garlic

Pasta (dried, various shapes)

Cheese (including Parmesan, cheddar and goat)

Canned tomatoes, (whole or diced)

Butter

Eggs

Balsamic vinegar

Mustard (especially "Dijon")

Onions

Chicken broth or stock

Mayonnaise

Rice (including brown and basmati)

Lemons or lemon juice

White wine

Near-essentials

These ingredients almost made our essential pantry

• Bacon

• Chocolate, especially "dark"

• Heavy cream

• Canned tuna

• Frozen green peas

• Limes

• Milk

• Olives

• Potatoes

• Red wine vinegar

• Salad greens, including mache and mesclun

• Tabasco or hot sauce

Things you can whip up from our pantry:

Cheese-filled omelet fried in butter or olive oil, garnished with chopped tomatoes.

Pasta tossed with sauce of sauteed tomatoes, onions and garlic.

Vinaigrette of mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Rice pilaf made with chicken broth, tomatoes and diced onion.

Simple soup of tomatoes, chicken broth, onions, garlic and broken spaghetti, topped with grated Parmesan.

Fried fish or shrimp dipping sauce of mayonnaise, dab of mustard, lemon zest and diced onion.

Best of the pantry

In taste tests over the last few years, Cook's Illustrated has recommended these pantry products. (Availability and price may vary according to location.) For more Cook's taste tests: www.cooksillustrated.com.

• Canned chicken broth: Swanson (89 cents/14.5 ounces); Campbell's (99 cents/10.5 ounces); Swanson Natural Goodness (89 cents/14.5 ounces); Campbell's Healthy Request (89 cents/16 ounces); Hain All-Natural (1.49/ 14.5 ounces); Progresso (85 cents/16 ounces).

• Canned diced tomatoes (28 ounces): Muir Glen Organic ($1.99); S&W "Ready Cut" ($2.46); Red Gold "Ready Cut" ($1.19).

• Dijon mustard: Roland Extra Strong ($3.99/13 ounces); Grey Poupon ($2.69/10 ounces); Delouis Fils ($4.50/7 ounces); French's Napa Valley-Style ($3.29/10 ounces); Barhyte Select ($4/9 ounces).

• Inexpensive balsamic vinegar: Every Day Value ($3.99/16.9 ounces); Masserie Disant'Eramo ($10.95/8 ounces); Fiorucci Reserva ($8.99/8.5 ounces); Cavalii ($15/8.5 ounces); Fini ($10.50/8.5 ounces); Colavita ($8.49/16.9 ounces).

• Mayonnaise (32 ounces): Hellman's ($3.29); Kraft ($2.99); Trader Joe's ($1.79); Hain Safflower ($3.69/24 ounces); Kraft Miracle Whip ($3.39).

• Supermarket extra-virgin olive oil: DaVinci ($7.99/34 ounces); Carapelli ($5.99/25.5 ounces); Colavita ($9.99/34 ounces); Pompeian ($7.99/32 ounces); Goya ($4.59/17 ounces); Filippo Berio ($11.69/51 ounces); Bertoli ($11.69/51 ounces).

Shelf-life guidelines

Here is the recommended shelf life for common pantry ingredients. Store tightly closed or air-tight at 70 degrees or below. For more shelf-life guidelines and food storage tips, call your county extension service or go Online.

Chocolate - 18 months

White flour - 6 to 8 months

Dried pasta - 2 years

Bottled salad dressing (unopened) - 10 to 12 months

Sugar - 2 years

Yellow mustard (unopened) - 2 years

Dried spices and herbs (whole) - 1 to 2 years

Dried spices and herbs (ground) - 6 months

Parmesan cheese (unopened) - 10 months

Dried peas and beans - 1 year

We also wanted to know ...

In addition to nominating 15 ingredients for our essential pantry, we asked respondents to answer the following:

• Name the dried herb you couldn't live without.

Although it doesn't technically qualify as an herb, salt or kosher salt was the most common answer. Dried thyme and rosemary tied for second place.

• Name the fresh herb you couldn't live without.

Basil was the runaway winner, here. Fresh cilantro nudged Italian parsley for second place.

• Name the pantry ingredient you run out of most often.

Perhaps not coincidentally, respondents said olive oil - the most popular ingredient in our consensus pantry - is also what they run out of most often. Garlic was the second most scarce ingredient in their pantry.

E-mail cmartin@enquirer.com