7 Pro Chefs Reveal Their Essential Grocery Store Items | Test Kitchen Talks | Bon Appétit

today we're in the test kitchen sharing our essential grocery list and these are a few items that we feel like we can't live without maybe i could live without one or two of them but they're the things that i turn to time and time again these are so good can't live with it can't live without it all right oh yeah oh yeah baby i'm looking for snacks i'm looking for a bev i'm looking for produce and i'm looking for proteins i think it does reveal so much about them something about their background or just how they like cooking day to day these are some of our favorite things that we buy week to week let's check them out i would say this sort of encompasses the flavors and spices that i sort of use to elevate a dish enhance flavor sweeter spicier or just like get more out of flavors that i already know that i'm going to use throughout the week scotch bonnets very prevalent in caribbean cooking in jamaica specifically the pepper itself is not only spicy but you'll find that it also has a sort of like floral this sort of like fruitiness to it too and so it makes it different than just like your average chili to me because i feel like it you know just like creates a more complex spice relationship cabbage is nice because you can treat it raw and you can also cook it down and the flavor differences are great you can put a lot of seasoning on it it can take a lot of spice it's one of those culinary staples even in my own sort of like family traditions that are kind of like you find it everywhere and that's why it's great shrimp is one of those all-purpose ingredients for me too i see ceviche i see the shells being used for stock i see it being you know because it's so briny i see it as an even like a salty additive to other dishes i really like lavena because if you're a yogurt fan i feel like it's a really easy and simple next step on your flavor journey but the cool thing about this that makes it different from using like a full fat yogurt is that it's strained more so there's less liquid so it feels more like a yogurt cheese than just a plain yogurt this with like a really great like pepper spread or this with hummus on this like it's just like a really easy way to entertain and feel like you have a finished product that doesn't take a ton of work um and then you can use it for all the things you'd probably use yogurt for the urfa bieber the cousin of justin so there's an air of sweetness to it but it also has this sort of like smoky and leathery tone it has a really well-rounded spice to it and it's great for putting into different marinades and seasonings but it's also great for finishing a dish because it's delicious on its own little sprinkle of chili this on pizza would probably be really delicious too kind of smells like an old man too it's got this like there's like very like mature quality to it this chili's gonna pay for dinner coconut aminos so basically it's coconut sap so it has a sweetness to it and a little bit of saltiness too so it kind of functions like soy does but it also has this like really beautiful coconutty moment that happens to when you eat it so yeah this is yuzuko show you have musico shoe that's made with the skin of yuzu so the peel pressed into red chili sometimes you have a red yuzuko sometimes you have a green it packs a lot of zest umami and spice so you kind of get the benefit of having like a little condiment if you ever want to season something i'll use it for shrimp or squid cuttlefish if i'm ever doing something like a ceviche just to give it that extra layer of brightness and heat guava paste all this guava fruit that basically just condensed down into something that's like a concentrated jelly and the cool thing about the guava is you can leave it as a solid and you can actually use it as like a dessert or for confection you can cook it down and use it just to sweeten things so it can become a syrup it's just really flexible too and that's the thing about ingredients you want to make sure you're choosing things at least for me that like are gonna last a long time and can be applied to many different dishes so everyone has their like comfort food like if i'm watching like netflix or whatever show i'm gonna have like candy next to me it's basically like the gummy bear is my my support animal play of butcher's twine and we have a little tea satchel moment as well obviously yes making tea but also they're great for herbs making sure there's nothing floating in your clear consummate or broth or stock or whatever um this for stringing up dry herbs to tying up chicken to pork loin all those things like this is really about like how i think about enhancing flavor and making my job easier at the same time you know things that are hardy and sturdy things are going to last in your refrigerator very condiment driven very spice driven a little bit of sweetness because who doesn't love a treat i wish i could say i was like some like amazing shopper i'm not i'm terrible i literally need to wander around the supermarket three times by myself and like even then i'll walk out and be like i didn't get bread you know sigies i'm a firm believer in full fat dairy i think this is just an all around great yogurt sometimes i will thin it out and use it as a sauce i will put spoonfuls of it into marinades i will do literally everything with it when we run out of yogurt it is literally a borderline crisis this is key radicchio radicchio has so much character to it it's got bitterness it's got crunch and it'll last for weeks in your fridge so sesame seeds are a great finisher it just brings a little bit of extra character and maybe like kind of jazz up something that might otherwise be a bit lackluster chili crisp in all of its forms as much as it's about heat and flavor it's about texture and this is one of those things it's like an utterly transformative ingredient you know a tiny spoonful of this in a stir fry a tiny spoonful of this in a soup just to finish it this coffee is very special to me i met the owners of luna in vancouver everything that they have is very special and different the only one at home who drinks coffee so i just make one pour over in my hario v60 and it just sets me up for a great day so this is this is a soft ripened cheese that is aged wrapped in a little strip of birch wood which gives this wild character to the cheese a complexity a depth kind of like toasty sort of forest floor depth to it um it might sound a little bit crazy but it's really not yeah you need like you need a fibrous bread with a lot of whole grain in it it also like frankly like raisins nuts all of it bring it on it's all fair game this with some nut butter on it and it's like really quite an intense snack and it just helps me make that bridge between breakfast and lunch as an adult i've really come to appreciate almond butter it's nutty rich it like makes me feel satisfied it keeps me going annie's to me is pretty much a perfect food and you know when all else fails when you've run out of ideas when you just can't face it anymore a box of this or maybe 20 you know in your cabinet is just so helpful there are so many condiments that i turn to time and time again but oyster sauce to me tends to be an undersung hero oyster sauce you know has actual like kind of extractives from oysters what i think is really like transformative about it is how it functions in stir fries and how it functions with vegetables it's kind of just literally flooring how much it'll bring to the table i think grocery shopping can easily veer into the territory of just feeling like a chore just changing things up trying something new going with something a little bit less expected can do a lot to restore a little bit more of that kind of spark to the process i love shopping seasonally if you ever go to the grocery store and you notice you see something that is not always there like that's how you know hey the seasons are changing the earth is now providing us with different vegetables different fruits um even sometimes different proteins you can't get throughout the year oatley oat milk original blue box this is my jam right here i love oat milk i think this is probably the best milk substitute that has ever existed oat milk is so creamy it's luscious it's velvety it's giving more body than a nut milk would and it's just giving more body than even regular milk to me at this point it's that good now okay butter butter i live by kerrygold butter um unsalted or salted i love them the cows they're grass-fed and you can definitely tell by what they're eating it's gonna affect what we're eating so actually speaking of that these happy eggs are the perfect example of what i mean by that i usually have to go to farmer's markets to find heritage eggs like these that are actually like real eggs that the chickens are kind of just like living their best life and producing a beautiful egg like this and just like the yolk on that is just that's just the best i get like these orange fluffy clouds and it's so freaking good listen this is cupey mayo if you don't know now you know this is mayonnaise's sexy sister kiwi mayo is richer it's more decadent there's a different mouth feel to it baby carrots why do i have baby carrots am i a child am i packing my child lunch no i don't have any children i use baby carrots strictly for snacking purposes if i was to cook something with carrots i would use an adult carrot you know a full grown carrot with a carrot top on and everything i used to snack on carrots when i was younger and i would like eat two of these bags in a day when i was in middle school the flavor is just there i don't know how to explain it i've been addicted to baby carrots for a very long time so good we get the best mushrooms around this time of year um i use mushrooms a lot these are oyster mushrooms mushrooms are amazing they have a meaty texture they're earthy and they're umami yeah mushrooms are definitely always in in my fridge i love mushrooms i they add a meaty texture when i don't necessarily feel like eating meat i'll eat mushrooms when it comes to shopping seasonally like right now we have lots of great chicories and chicories are just a bitter green um you can put them in salads you can grill them chicories sometimes look like radicchio endive frise this right here is castle franco and they come in different shapes and sizes you can take them and transform them into something that you can literally do to like an iceberg lettuce no shade to iceberg lettuce but i'm here for seasonal ingredients usually week two week i'm shopping for mainly seafood i feel like halibut is one of those kind of like underrated fishes i feel like a lot of people don't necessarily eat halibut but halibut with the skin on is one of my favorite fishes out there halibut is a very light fish um if you were to use it raw like in a crudo like it could take lots of seasoning even in marinades and sauces i feel like halibut's one of those fishes that kind of just like absorb it there's not a fishy taste to it so if you're somebody who doesn't really like fishy fish then halibut would probably be your best bet hot and spicy cheese if i was a cheez-it i would be this and you just want to eat the whole box and you can't stop eating them like the best for last hey when i tell you lacroix lacroix i don't know but you do it very very well i'm addicted and i cannot get enough of it this is on my rotation all the time oh i'm thirsty so thirsty right now so freaking good so this is it this is me now you know everything about me say that we're friends now because i literally walked you through what it looks like to go grocery shopping with me it's all of my best friends in one place i love grocery shopping it's one of my favorite things in the whole world to do like these three are like a little trio to me like these are gherkins or corny trons like mini little pickle babies they're perfect and i always have whole grain and dijon in my kitchen at all times but the whole grain i think is a little bit more versatile and then this is my favorite cheese this is a perfect cheese because it can be like snacky casual but if you like slice it up and put it on a cheese plate for like a fancy party it works well there too i love herbs and dill is my favorite i love it with pasta i love it on salads i love it over roasted vegetables i love it with potatoes fennel is i think my favorite vegetable it's like a very well-rounded vegetable because you've got the like bulk of your salad here and you've got the garnish for your salad above and you get that like anisee flavor from both lacinato king of kale um to me the only kale just like a little bit more interesting than curly kale yeah great love it lemons what to say about lemons perfect good for everything should always have a squeeze of them and never hurt a grate of the lemon zest never hurt this is this is a box of pharaoh which i love so much is equally good hot or cold has like a small element in something larger like over roasted vegetables or as the main component in a grain salad um and beans i love a canned bean i'm like a canned bean aficionado especially white beans and chickpeas i always have them around because they can be so many things snacks okay i don't cook a lot of meat at home however this is an epic chicken sriracha bar it's like they're these like meat bars right it's like jerky kind of if i eat a granola bar i just want to eat a sandwich 10 minutes later but if i eat this i'm happy i'm a big chip i'm a big potato chip gal to me this is the pinnacle because it's also sweet like the korean bbq vibes have like the sugar in the marinade or whatever and they're sweet and spicy and complex these kind of are central and fundamental and help illustrate like what's a driving force for me in my home cooking i think essentially this is what i will have in my kitchen all the time this is making me very happy so these are chips that are very popular in taiwan and i'm so glad that they are now available in the states they're called lonely god vegetable flavor twists they're savory they're crunchy happy as a god thai basil is very important herb for me it has a very grassy fresh kind of licorice flavor to it one of my favorite way and one of the most like easy way to use it in your cooking is to make omelette with it you can just like have omelette with this herb we have our taro taro is a very versatile vegetable you can use it in a lot of savory dishes you can like have in your soup in your hot pot or even make it into the dessert and that's why i like to keep them on hand at all times mochi is probably the one thing that most people are familiar with that's made with glutino rice but there are a lot of different dishes sweet and savory that's made with it it's difficult for me to find a perfect english word to describe the texture that gluten rice has it's like it's this like bite it has some resistance to it and it's it's very satisfying okay next we have the pork flosses you take a slab of pork and you marinate it season it and then you just like keep like like stir frying them until the meat fiber like kind of isolates out it smells very intensively savory it can be a topping on my sandwich or even on my salad that's a fun one yeah there are a lot of fun ways to to eat them or i sometimes i just snack on them these are tai san sweet congee it's kind of a snack for me or like a like a tiny meal when i have little time to eat just because it's it's filling it's it's with rice and oats and like beans and some peanuts long end it has a very subtle sweetness just like texture from all the grains and beans so i think it's it's a nice like light snack i love dry mushrooms in general especially these ones are these are dried shiitake mushrooms they are usually a very key important to bring that like very savory savory umami flavor into your dishes and because they are dry so they don't go bad so it allows me to have mushrooms around me without worrying if i'm using the fresh ingredients next one we have white pepper the biggest difference from black pepper is that they are fermented so it explains why they have such distinct kind of funky flavor to it i use it a lot especially when i'm making taiwanese or chinese or japanese cuisines this is well it's translation it's like sliced noodles it has a handmade texture so it's like not entirely smooth so it can like kind of grab more of the sauce or broth that you're having it with let's talk about these tofu so this is firm tofu which i cook with a lot it's just something that's really versatile you can like stir fry them you can have them in soups these are these are black sugar boba milk ice cream bars this one is a little melted but it still smells really good black sugar if you've never had it before i would say it's very deep it tastes dark it has this molasses flavor yes it's true that you have a separate stomach for just desserts and sweet and this will always have a place in my sweet stomach the food i cry for they're with like very complex texture and flavors and it's really hard to find substitutes for them and that's why i like to have them with me at all times so here's a collection of few things that i consider to be staples in the kitchen you know it's an ongoing rotation of stuff but i find these coming back i use them quite often oyster crackers all right i was getting trouble for eating sleeves of like saltine crackers and i was little ah they're just special they're like a saltine cracker that are in this little weird kind of i mean i think we all know what they are but like in this little weird salty kind of they're perfect i mix them with goldfish and i put them in my little cup with my kids lunch and they love them so we got a little haiga rice okay and that's like a semi-polished uh rice where still has a little bit of the germ on there it cooks wonderfully it's got a beautiful kind of tooth bite to it rice for life rice is life in the next we got a little medjool dates and these things are like nature's candy you're gonna braise up some red meat throw a couple dates in there let it just melt down and add a nice little sweetness to it and they're just a great snack too they're just wonderful they have a really good caramely flavor to them in my opinion more perfect food and the next mustard greens to me just a workhorse a staple of a green but you know it's spicy out raw it's great in a salad kind of burns your nose tear it up you can sweat it down you know in a saute you can stew it very easy to use very delicious very good for you uh eat as many greens as you can and then we'll go right into the show you right or or some folks the soy sauce but it's to show you put it in everything from vinaigrettes stews seasoning so show you put it on everything put in your marinades put it in your mouth just eat it and then fat we were talking about fat eat good fat i don't care what kind of fat it is yeah oh there we go oh my god how do they do it so it's basically like the butter that they render out and it has this like especially this brand they do such a great job it has this like nutty full flavor it's just like a cooking fat like i was talking about there's a higher smoke point you can get to a higher temperature for searing and stuff like that and um yeah it's just phenomenal so i would recommend having both butter and ghee never run out and next we got everyone's favorite and if it's not it should be it's parmesan all right the real stuff and it's uh you know the king of cheese and i didn't coin that but you know it's certainly um it's certainly what it is it's versatile it's delicious it's it better be on a cheese plate when your holidays if you're taking it serious and i mean it's you know the classic pasta i put on all kinds of stuff it's great on different toasts i put it i don't care what the italians say sometimes i put it on fish and it's just delightful next we got frozen blueberries all right for me personally i mean they're great i make smoothies great little snack good for the kids good for me good for everyone frozen blueberries and then yeah a little half and half okay i like coffee every morning it just does a nice creamy kind of making a little stew or a little tomato sauce or something sometimes you know it's just add a couple tablespoons of cream into it you know it really kind of rounds things out changes the texture gives it a really nice velvety consistency oh here we go lamb shanks okay any shank any kind of like gelatinously bone-in meat like that um the the actual protein itself is some of my favorites to cook with whether it's braising or smoking bone-in meats like this i feel like that's like you know grandma's secret weapon since like i don't know cavemen days so those are my kind of little grocery store essentials hope you guys can get into them share some cook with them and i don't think you'll be disappointed really there's a story of like how i eat at home but also you know when we do cook up and like have people over we have things already ready to go that we can make food on achiote oil if you don't want to make your own at your lto you buy it and i usually use this to color stools when i make like poli quesado or or caricare stuff like that this is great to give a color yeah another product is this uh crab paste and soybean oil it gives flavor to a lot of things like a flavor enhancer oh it's super funky that's it's really for it's really for people that like that you know funk especially like i have like old rice and like old vegetables i don't have any protein at the crib i'll make a fried rice with this i'm lit you know what i'm saying next one is this gem right here is that nora kitchen uh sinigang mix most people use it to make sinigang which is a a tamarind based soup kind of a sour soup with beef shrimp sometimes or like salmon head i usually sometimes to flavor my meat you know that there's a bunch of msg in this like i'm mad at msg my pork shoulder with it or pork belly when i roast it in the oven and it's just easy it's just an easy fix man you know my you can put all the vegetables in there all this kind of stuff and then you just add this you got a meal already white rice lit tamari uh soy sauce a lot of people have a gluten allergy and so soy sauce has gluten in it so i use tamari it's a gluten-free it's also mild on the sodium so i can control how much salt i can put into a dish next this is the heavy duty vinegar right and it also is great for making adobo when you mix these two together this is made by filipino so it's spicy like in a vinegar acorn squash is such a great flavor so it's finished with a little maple syrup a little honey chili flakes lit that's it it's a meal you know what i mean it's uh it's a great it's a great great vessel it's a great platform corned beef i am a big avid fan of corned beef hash so every weekend i go through a whole thing of this okay come on bro this is the hood baby yeah it sounds like cat food bro that's what we do son you broke your bro college kid you broke cook that's what you eat with yo son i put diced tomatoes in it and some bell peppers and onions it's licks you can doctor that up nice right yes and a fried egg on top there you go yeah they're probably going some like fried rice or something is there it's versatile lippies corned beef it's versatile always gonna have taco shells in the crib easy platform to have they're great quick fix man you know if i'm on the way out i'll go and make a little quick taco breakfast tacos taco night all type of stuff man i go through a lot of rice a lot of rice i love uh jasmine rice it's uh a lot fluffier um it's longer grain i usually throw like a star anise in there or cardamom pod just to like get it you know extra flavor to it a little salt and pepper that's it that's the way to go van luin honeycomb i am lactose intolerant but i still eat ice cream all right uh it's salty it's sweet uh and it's super tasty man i mean if you're from new york you already know van loo and that's the best ice cream yes i am a grandma at heart right i love these things i don't know what what it's about for nostalgic too just to eating them and like just remembering like hanging on my grandma it's my go-to snack as you can see the the products that we have here is like a chef life you feel me like i'm not usually home but when i do come home and i need something to eat i have all the things that i need that are versatile and so this really is a story of like how i eat at home but also you know when we do cook up and like have people over we have things already ready to go that we can make food on

Channel: Bon Appétit

Views: 674,640

Keywords: 10 shopping secrets, at the grocery store, bon app, bon appetit, bon appetit test kitchen, brad leone, chris morocco, devonn francis, food, grocery shopping, grocery shopping hacks, grocery store, grocery store hacks, grocery store secrets, grocery stores, harold villarosa, jessie yuchen, kendra vaculin, pro chef shopping list, secrets about grocery stores, shop like a pro chef, supermarket secrets, test kitchen talks, tiana gee, what to buy at grocery store

Id: cJNJYeM_hiw

Length: 27min 45sec (1665 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 22 2022