A chef specializing in Asian cuisine has shared some of the biggest pantry items he would recommend purchasing to maximize your flavor and have guests convinced you’re a professional cook.
When it comes to cooking specialty cuisines, getting the desired result can be difficult without the necessary ingredients. For some, these are not readily accessible, which is why it makes sense to stock up on essentials you might need for foreign dishes.
Essential pantry items, according to a chef
Content creator and chef Jacky (@kwokspots) took to TikTok where he let his 1.5 million followers into his kitchen for a sneak peek inside his cupboards. For Jacky, essential pantry items centered around various sauces and condiments that could be used to infuse your food with flavor.
First up was soy sauce, which Jacky admitted to cheating with as he included two separate versions, dark and sweet. While dark soy sauce is mainly for its color, the sweet version is employed for its thickness and sweetness in dishes like noodles and fried rice.
For his next essential pantry item, the content creator pushed forward oyster sauce for its saltiness and Umami punch. A staple of Chinese cuisine, oyster sauce is primarily used for veggies and noodle stir-fries.
If you aren’t a fan of oyster sauce’s fishiness, then you probably won’t be a fan of Jacky’s third suggestion, fish sauce. The chef suggested using fish sauce for dips, marinades, and straight-up condiments.
The next essential pantry item was Gochujang, a red chili paste containing an explosion of spicy, sweet, and savory stickiness. Used mostly in Korean foods, Gochujang is perfect for meat dishes or pumping up the heat of your favorite veggies.
After he suggested rice vinegar as your next purchase, Jacky explained: “Any recipe that requires white vinegar, or whatever other type, I will substitute it for rice vinegar.”
The basis of any good Asian cooking is the complex layers of flavor, hence why Jacky recommended getting (or making) some crispy chili oil and Chinese five-spice. For those of you not in the know, Five Spice is made from star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel seeds.
Last but not least was Siracha, which is so popular that it is now in 1 in 3 houses in the US. Though you can use the condiment as a sauce, it can also be used in the kitchen.
The suggestions did not stop there
Though Jacky’s recommendations seemed to hit the spot with social media’s food lovers, some did have further inclusions for his already expansive list.
One person wrote: “I’d add sesame oil to the list too!!”
“Add miso paste in there it’s Fire,” another person said, as a third suggested, “Sesame oil and Chinese cooking wine are a must.”
