I owe the fabulous and easy idea of a Gluten-Free Cupboard to my mother-in-law. I’m so glad I get to share it with you! But before we get to the idea, let’s discuss contamination. If you’re like I was a few years ago, you’ve probably never thought of your kitchen as a place for possible contamination. But when you’re dealing with Celiac Disease or a gluten-free diet, your kitchen can pose all sorts of unknown contamination dangers, hiding in the form of little specks, crumbs, and pieces of gluten, most commonly found in wheat (or wheat derivatives).
I’m not going to get into all the medical reasons of why contamination is dangerous. The basic idea is that gluten and any food containing gluten is dangerous to a person who must eat a gluten-free diet. You can study more particulars online or in gluten-free books. I’m just going to say this: When you are cooking gluten-free, you cannot—I repeat, you absolutely cannot—mix gluten in any form into your recipe.
I know that sounds fairly easy, right? Especially if wheat is the main thing we have to watch out for. Don’t have wheat flour on the counter; don’t put wheat in the recipe; don’t use bread—that’s all there is to it, correct? While that would be a sensible conclusion, there’s actually quite a bit more than meets the eye when you’re dealing with gluten—it’s a sneaky culprit.
In reality, you cannot let anything that has touched gluten (and gluten is not found only in wheat flour) touch your gluten-free food. If you are cooking gluten-free, you should dedicate concentrated time to discover exactly what gluten is. It’s not terribly complicated – but it is fairly extensive. Just look it up and learn to recognize it in all its insidious forms. Personally, I keep a list in my kitchen drawer of ingredients that are no-no’s and ones that are ok. My mother-in-law found these lists for me at www.celiac.com. They’re called “Unsafe Gluten-Free Food List” and “Safe Gluten-Free Food List”. The lists are alphabetized and are really pretty easy to follow.
Avoiding contamination means that if you cooked pasta in your big soup pot last night, rinsed the pot quickly, and put it away, you need to scrub that pot out with soap before you use it for a gluten-free recipe. And guess what? You also need to scrub out that colander you used to drain the pasta if you’re using it tonight. I personally have a rule that I wash out any pot, pan, bowl, mixing utensil, etc. with soap before I use it in gluten-free cooking. That is, of course, if the item doesn’t come from my gluten-free cupboard. If it comes from the cupboard, I know it’s already safe because NO GLUTEN touches my cupboard, period. It’s as if I have a “NO BOYS ALLOWED” sign hanging outside my clubhouse, only this time, it’s a “NO GLUTEN ALLOWED” sign.
In addition to being meticulous about washing your cooking utensils (also think measuring cups, tablespoons, etc.), show the same amount of care to the washing of your counters and stove. Use a new towel to wipe them down, for instance. You might have wiped your dirty gluten hands on that towel earlier in the morning as you made pancakes. Time for a new towel! It’s a good idea to get out a new towel every time you cook a gluten-free meal, if it’s something you don’t usually do. That way, you don’t have to second guess yourself on whether or not the towel is contaminated.
Don’t worry…if this seems overwhelming, it took me quite some time to learn all this. And there’s still things I need to change! I can think of situations where I had to call my mother-in-law or my sister-in-law because I had accidentally contaminated the food. I forgot to wash a pan. I used a spice or a canned food that included gluten in one of its many forms. Or I broke another rule of gluten-free cooking. But after a few mistakes or post-it-notes all over your kitchen reminding you of the rules (haha), you will remember! Just be sure to let your guests know if you made a mistake. Don’t think, “Oh, it can’t hurt them to eat a tiny bit of gluten this one time.” Nope. Tell them your mistake. They will appreciate your concern and be more likely to trust what you cook in the future if they know you are honest with them about your mistakes.
Now that we’ve covered the basics of contamination, let’s get on to the fabulous idea of a gluten-free cupboard. This idea is a true life-saver if you alternately cook gluten-free and non-gluten-free meals like I do.
THE GLUTEN-FREE CUPBOARD
You could also call this your gluten-free drawer or shelf. Or whatever. Just choose a special place in your kitchen that you dedicate to gluten-free items. Buy common ingredients (those that would normally get contaminated by gluten) and put them in this cupboard. Here are some examples: sugar, salt, pepper, baking soda, cornstarch, corn tortillas, and chocolate chips (of course a brand without gluten). You will likely have to buy gluten-free bread, pasta, tortillas, and flour (only those four!), and you should obviously keep them in your cupboard as well.
If you have a section in your refrigerator for gluten-free items, keep cheese, sour cream, peanut butter, jelly, bacon, or other meat you use in this section. I’d personally recommend moving these refrigerated ingredients to the “regular” area of your refrigerator if they’re about to expire and you haven’t cooked a gluten-free meal yet. Then, next time you’re out, just pick up these ingredients again.
You could even do something creative like this: buy a bag of cheese and, before cooking any recipes, scoop a cup or two—or more, depending on your needs—into a Ziploc bag and throw it in your gluten-free section. That way—unless you’re cooking gluten-free all the time—you won’t have too much food dedicated to this section of your fridge, and you’ll easily be able to use it before it expires. I’m sure you’ll think of more creative ideas that suit your lifestyle and that that of your family and friends! One idea that my husband’s family loves is buying squeezable mayonnaise so they never have to worry about contaminated mayonnaise.
Also, when you have the money, I’d recommend buying extra measuring cups and utensils, stirring spoons, spatulas, tongs, serving bowls, pots, pans, etc. (whatever you use to cook with) and putting them in your gluten-free cupboard. If you cook this way often, it will save you time in the long run because you won’t have to wash all these items each time you cook.
Happy gluten-free cupboard creating!
Nummies Please! 