Have you ever walked into an international grocery store or an Asian grocery store and were overwhelmed by the number of different sauces, pastes, or vinegars, or the different types and brands?
As an Asian chef, I get questions all the time about choosing the ‘right’ brands or what is essential to cook most Asian foods. While ‘Asian’ is a huge category and makes up many different cuisines, I do believe there are some essential ingredients to fill your kitchen in order to make most Asian recipes.
In addition, I wanted to include some of my most favorite brands, while many can be fine, there are definitely some that I find to be best tasting. Or if you ask my mom: “The rest don’t taste good; this is the good stuff”.
There are many different types of soy sauce, including dark, regular, or tamari. But which should you get?
1. Best Regular Soy Sauce: Kikkoman Soy Sauce
This is for all-purpose use of soy sauce, if you don’t want to get any other type, at the very least, have this one in your cabinet.
Dark soy sauce is thicker compared to regular soy sauce with more color, it can be described as toasty and a bit sweet, then less salty compared to regular or light soy sauce.
Yes, soy sauce is not naturally gluten-free, therefore if you need a gluten-free substitute you need to look for tamari, if you are looking for the best type I would suggest San-J. In my opinion, I find little difference between this tamari and regular soy sauce.
4. Best Sriracha: Huy Fond Foods Inc Tuong Ot Sriracha
I believe this is considered the original and, of course, the best brand of sriracha.
I would describe this as a chunky type of sriracha, but I find it has so much more flavor, a bit spicy-er, and sweeter compared to sriracha. If I had to choose one, I would choose sambal over sriracha any day.
Yes, I know, technically not chili oil. But this is what you will find in most Chinese’ households’ fridge, not Momofuku’s Chili Crunch. Though, I will admit, I don’t find Lao Gan Ma’s to be that spicy and Momofuku’s to be warmer compared to spicy. If you want more of a spicy chili crisp or oil, I will definitely suggest making your own which is not that hard and explained here. But for something readily available and slightly spicy, I would suggest Lao Gan Ma’s.
Gochujang is amazing and great to have for many Korean dishes. Sempio is considered one of the most popular Korean brands. Though I do personally do like CJ Haechandle with a smooth, thick texture with a deep spicy taste. Gochujang is actually offered at different levels of spicy-ness from mild to extra hot, so if you are not a spicy fan like me, you can still get the flavor of gochujang.
8. Best MSG: Aji-No-Moto Monosodium Glutamate
MSG is salt and L-glutamic, a non-essential amino acid, that can provide what we consider the umami flavors, from a direct source. MSG is safe to use in reasonable amounts, just like you wouldn’t eat a 1/4 cup of salt. Some may be sensitive to MSG but that is found to be less then 1% of the general population.
Three Crabs Brand is probably the only one on this list, where I say absolutely do not substitute with other brands. I find other brands can have astringent and off-tastes, while this fish sauce I found to have an amazing consistently salty and umami strong taste.
12. Best Rice Vinegar: Marukan Rice Vinegar
16. Best Shao Xing Wine: Pagoda ShaoXing Hua Tiao Blue
This is just the beginning, but this is a good get-started list of essential Asian ingredients. If you are looking to learn how to use any of these, join one of our classes where the chefs are more than willing to answer any questions you may have! We are hosting a Hands-On Sushi Workshop on Thursday, December 26 at 6pm and a Hands-On Ramen Workshop on Saturday, December 28 at 11:30am.