Stuck on a desert island with 15 ingredients....

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avalondeb

Assistant Cook
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
47
.... which would you choose?

1. garlic
2. pasta (any, but penne would be best)
3. flour
4. onions
5. eggs
6. yeast (maybe not, could make a natural sourdough)
7. basmati rice
8. balsamic vinegar (the good stuff)
9. olive oil (again, the good stuff)
10. crushed red pepper
11. parsley
12. peccorino romano cheese
13. pancetta
14. canned whole tomatoes
15. CHOCOLATE
 
1. meyer lemons
2. haas avocados
3. filet mignon
4. pasta, pasta, pasta!
5. tomatoes
6. lettuce
7. EVOO
8. whole nutmeg
9. garlic
10. artichokes
11. butter
12. Good Earth Sweet Spice Tea
13. Milk
14. boursin cheese
15. asparagus
 
Well, If I'm stuck on a dessert island with 15 ingredients, all the above, but these would be my first selections.

garlic
pasta
onions
eggs
yeast
rice
whole tomatoes

Why capitalize CHOCOLATE?

For some reason I thought this was a poll. I would have answered alot differently.
 
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Are these 15 ingredients going to magically reproduce themselves when the stock runs out?

If, as I suspect they won't.....

A cow
A bull
A chicken
A rooster
An olive tree
A bag of herb seeds
A beehive
A tomato plant
2 potatoes
A lemon tree
A chestnut tree
A corn stalk
A grape vine
A cotton plant
A coffee bean plant

From that list I can have eggs, chicken, beef, milk, butter, cream, olives and olive oil, all the herbs, honey, tomatoes, potatoes, potato flour and starch, citrus juice and oil, chestnuts and chestnut flour, corn, corn starch, grapes and wine, cloth, coffee.....and the list of things I can create from that list is limitless.
 
Vera - give a man a fish/teach a man to fish ;)

Well, if I''m on a Dessert ;) island I would imagine it would be blossoming with fondant flowers and have whipped cream clouds - but if I was on a deserted island I would want:

a pack of mixed herb seeds
a pack of mixed lettuce seeds
balsamic vinegar
GOOD olive oil
bread or the flour for bread
a chicken for eggs only (ok, I guess a rooster too)
pasta
chicken
beef, any kind really, ribeye would be nice if I could choose
asparagus
tomatoes
onions
carrots
mixed sweet peppers
mixed hot peppers
artichokes
lemons
salt
pepper
garlic
limes
I'll take some wine too
water

With the water I can make beef broth and chicken broth and vegetable broth

and a smoker with lots of Hickory wood :rolleyes:

and I want everyone that has responded so far to be within rowing distance on their own deserted islands!
 
:ohmy:

Please oh please oh please can I add coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...and a campfire (with matches too) coffee pot! And I'll take a fish hook too! I'll give up lemons to make room as long as I can have limes.
 
VeraBlue said:
Are these 15 ingredients going to magically reproduce themselves when the stock runs out?

If, as I suspect they won't.....

A cow
A bull
A chicken
A rooster
An olive tree
A bag of herb seeds
A beehive
A tomato plant
2 potatoes
A lemon tree
A chestnut tree
A corn stalk
A grape vine
A cotton plant
A coffee bean plant

From that list I can have eggs, chicken, beef, milk, butter, cream, olives and olive oil, all the herbs, honey, tomatoes, potatoes, potato flour and starch, citrus juice and oil, chestnuts and chestnut flour, corn, corn starch, grapes and wine, cloth, coffee.....and the list of things I can create from that list is limitless.

Vera, as always your analysis is invaluable.

Should you need assistance with the cotton and coffee production we, in the more southern regions of the hemisphere would be willing to consider assisting, given the fair trading practices you would surely insist upon. Of course, most of the projections that would lead to these kinds of eventualities would make the the Northern US, if not all of it, uninhabitable, and therefore, probably, unreliable trading partners.
 
You sure it's a dessert island and not a desert island ? lol

I'm not sure of all the ingredients I'd want but I do know salt and pepper for sure.
 
Don't know what is meant by a desert island. I will take it to mean a place where there is no one living, but has some grasses, other plants, and perhaps some birds and small animals.

Would probably bring a he and she pig. Choice of animals would depend upon the flora and fauna available on the island. But pigs are fairly hearty and are often raised in areas where other animals cannot make it.

Also, could cure a piggy with dried salt from the ocean..

Likewise him and her chickens (for meat and eggs).

That and the seafood I could catch, snag, or trap, and any other tasty animals like turtles, or wild birds or animals I could hunt, would yield the protein.

Next I would think I would need some sort of grain, like wheat. It would provide flour for bread and could turn it into a beer and if I could figure out how to distill the stuff a whiskey (one must have priorities, and if I am going to be stuck on a desert island would like a libation. Sure I could, and would use whatever fruits I could forage for the boozerie. Just when is it happy hour on a desert island anyway?).

Dairy is a tough one to supply, but might include a brace of sheep or goats (himness and herness or course) for that purpose and maybe a bit of meat when one died (sorry but in olden times that is when the poor folk ate their animals). Would supply milk and could make cheese.


Now we are into the fruit and veggie category. Again don't know what is available on the island (such as coconuts, yeah, coconuts can be fermented) but would agree with Vera, tomatoes definitely. They are a fruit that is fast growing, has a lot of vitamin C, and I like them.

Potatoes, OK. They provide starch and are versitile. Would probably choose a sweet tater for the sugar content (and they can be fermented, right?).

Okra. Love it and find it a versatile veggie. And they have very pretty flowers and am thinking about gumbo here (chicken, seafood from the sea,and oh yeah that leads me to the next one.)

Rice. Gotta have rice.

Whatever is left is probably herbs.

That would do it unless I could smuggle some peanuts into the mix. Very tasty and need peanut butter (the fifth food group).

Think I could deal with that mix. And probably get fat. Urp.

But on a desert island who would care?

And there would always be happy hour.
 
LOL LOL LOL - some very interesting answers!! I guess I was thinking, if you were limited to only 15 ingredients for all aspects of cooking for a long while, which would you choose....

If I were in a true "Castaway" situation, I would have chosen to add a goat. To me goats are AWESOME! They produce great fibers, you get milk and cheese, they eat almost anything, so you don't have to worry too much about feeding them, and push comes to shove, they have tasty meat.
 
Oh, and the reason I capitalized CHOCOLATE is because, although I put it last, I could live on it alone for weeks and weeks and weeks!!! YUM
 
If you have eggs and flour on your list, don't put pasta on it, you have it. DO put a plentiful supply of fresh water. No, that stuff around the island probably is salt water and undrink-able.
 
Claire said:
If you have eggs and flour on your list, don't put pasta on it, you have it. DO put a plentiful supply of fresh water. No, that stuff around the island probably is salt water and undrink-able.

rain......
 
beer x 15.

and a cell phone for take out.
(hey, if you have a magically restocked pantry, then i have a magic delivery guy, er, make it a hot chick while we're at it...lol)
 
1. Chickens
2. pigs
3. Cows
as it`s an island I`ll assume the fish are a freebie so I won`t list them
4. potatoes
5. rice
6. Onions
7. peppers
8. spring greens
9. Flour (wheat)
10. beans (not fussy what sort)
11. Grapes
12. yeast (yes you guessed it, it gets mixed with leftover grapes)
13. Sugar cane (as above)
14. cashew nut tree
15. and an Olive tree

and an internet link to you guys :)
 
I must have read Robinson Crusoe 20 times when I was a kid...loved that book.
I have fantasies about my own "special island", and it looks a lot like a smaller version of Maoui, which hardly qualifies it as a desert island, but then, it's my fantasy
So...I'm assuming that I have fresh water on the island along with assorted flora and fauna, and that I have salvaged a few pots, pans, knives, an ax, shovel, machete and fishing equipment from the shipwreck, as Robin did.
Here's what I'd need:

1. pepper
2. cornmeal
3. salt pork
4. baking powder
5. baking soda
6. sugar
7. rice
8. beans
9. flour
10. tea
11. powdered eggs
12. powdered milk
13. powdered cheese flavoring
14. granulated garlic
15. Spam
 
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