By Erin McDowell
For a celebrity chef, Martha Stewart admits she keeps her refrigerator very “bare bones,” but has a small list of necessities she always keeps around.
Stewart recently sat down with Harper’s Bazaar for its “Food Diaries: Bite Size” web series, and talked through everything from her morning routine to her favorite cocktails, go-to dinner party entreé, and the select few items she has to have in her kitchen at all times.
Here are six things Martha Stewart always keeps in her refrigerator.
Martha Stewart says she always keeps “good Parmesan cheeses” in her kitchen.
On her website, Stewart offers a few tips for finding good Parmesan cheese and the proper way to store it.
“To find an authentic piece of this aged cow’s-milk cheese, which hails from a specific region in northern Italy, look for its name dotted on the rind. Always grate it straight off the hunk-or, if you need more than a cup, pulse chunks in a food processor,” Martha Stewart writer Claire Sullivan says in an article on the chef’s website.
The best way to store Parmesan cheese is to keep the cheese sealed in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to a month, she writes, and to refrigerate the rinds in a resealable plastic bag for up to two months.
She also likes to keep cream cheese in her refrigerator, although it’s not for her.
Martha Stewart said she likes to cover her dogs’ pills in cream cheese.
She recently launched her own line of CBD pet treats. Not only do her pets enjoy cream cheese-covered pills and CBD treats, they eat a well-balanced diet that Stewart prepares herself.
“They eat a very fantastic diet. I mean, you would be happy to have my dogs’ diet. I make their own food. I cook whole fish with the bones ground up, all fresh vegetables from my garden — carrots, peas, broccoli, sweet potato, butternut squash, and pumpkin,” she said, according to her website.
She also always has “really good” organic milk around.
Whereas plant-based milk like almond or oat milk are all the rage right now, Stewart still swears by cow’s milk — though she prefers grass-fed and organic varieties. Plus, she explains in a blog post, organic products are easier to come by now more than ever.
“Run out of organic milk and you don’t need to make a special trip to the natural-foods co-op — your local supermarket most likely has several brands,” Stewart writes.
Stewart also says she always has “lots of good butter” in her fridge.
In her interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Stewart said she loves to make a whole roasted chicken for dinner parties. One of the main ingredients in her roast chicken recipe is butter — and lots of it.
While she explains she always keeps “lots of good butter” in her fridge, she specifically mentions buying unsalted versions of brands like Plugrá and Kerrygold for her chicken recipe.
She also keeps creme fraîche around.
“[Creme fraîche] is so good folded into an omelet,” Stewart says.
You can buy it either in the store or make it yourself at home by following the chef’s own recipe.
Lastly, Stewart loves having fresh eggs from her own chickens on hand.
In her “Food Diaries: Bite Size” video, Stewart says she has over 200 hens and roosters on her property.
“[Having fresh eggs] saves me all the time,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.
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