Namikura Kyoto-Style White Miso
Savory, sweet and flavor-dense, white miso is an absolutely essential pantry item. Winey-sweet, buttery and deeply rich, this organic version from Japanese family producer Namikura Miso Co. is more complex and less salty than other brands, which means it can be used more freely with soy sauce without dishes tasting overly seasoned.
Namikura Red Miso
Red Miso is stronger, saltier and more assertively flavored than yellow or white miso due to its six-month aging process and has a higher proportion of soybeans for a richer taste. This particularly interesting version has sweet flavors reminiscent of sherry and milk chocolate that are perfect for pairing with red meat and other robust dishes.
BLiS Gourmet Barrel Aged Fish Sauce
This bourbon barrel-aged fish sauce is mellowed by seven months of sitting in oak, so the earthy, meaty funk that one expects from any fermented fish product is beautifully balanced by a complementary sweetness. BLiS's product is also rounded out with soft notes imparted by the seven-month aging process: warming spices, vanilla, and fruit woods, as well as a subtle smoky depth.
Nitto Jozo White Tamari
Note that while tamari is often used as a term for gluten-free soy sauce, Nitto Jozo’s White Tamari is actually all wheat-based. (In Japan, tamari simply refers to a liquid that is pressed out of another substance—in this case, wheat.) This sauce is malty-sweet and slightly tangy, a great choice for those who want the umami flavor of soy sauce with less saltiness.
Fly By Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp
This chili sauce is enhanced with preserved black beans, mushroom powder, sesame oil and garlic for a complete flavor profile. The crispy bits of chili, the namesake ingredient of this dish, provide bursts of contrasting texture, making it an ideal tableside topping for stir fries, soups, braises and more.
Doubanjiang - 3 Year Aged Red Bean Paste
Doubanjiang (alternatively spelled toban djan) is an intensely flavored paste made from fermented broad (fava) beans, chilies, salt and seasonings. Fly by JIng is importing the best version we have tasted of this pantry staple: remarkably deep, savory and spicy—far more so than any supermarket version. It’ll be your new secret ingredient and salvation for midnight noodles or last-minute meals.
Blank Slate Kitchen Sichuan Chili Oil
Fragrant Sichuan chili oil is as common in Chinese restaurants as ketchup is in American diners. Blank Slate's Kitchen small-batch rendition pairs the heat of chili with zesty ginger and aromatic shallots and garlic for an especially bright flavor.
Black Garlic Molasses
This inky black, syrupy “molasses” is made from concentrated black garlic, which is garlic fermented long enough to render the cloves tender, mellow, earthy-sweet and utterly addictive. It's reminiscent of concentrated balsamic vinegar, without the acidic tang.
Yakami Orchard Yuzu Marmalade
Juicy, flavorful and wonderfully textured Yakami Orchards Yuzu Marmalade is made with fresh, local yuzu from a collective of family farms in Japan’s Miyazaki prefecture. Balanced out with honey and sugar, this yuzu marmalade is bright, tart and warmly sweet with every bite. Just by opening a jar of Yakami Orchards’ product, you’ll be able to smell the bright and subtly floral aroma of yuzu. We love the plentiful chunks of yuzu rind, which are thinly sliced and add texture without making the marmalade clumpy. The yuzu pieces contribute a pop of piney bitterness that is a pleasant counterbalance for the overall sweet spread.
Ohsawa Brown Rice Vinegar
The nutty, rounded flavor of this vinegar comes from the whole-grain brown rice that is used to make it. Following the Ohsawa Company’s principles of whole, natural foods—founder George Ohsawa revived the modern macrobiotic food movement in the 1960s—the Uchibori family producer that makes this vinegar adheres to a thousand-year-old tradition of aging the vinegar outdoors in earthenware crocks for over 12 months. Highlight the slight nuttiness of Ohsawa Brown Rice Vinegar in quick pickles, like our Japanese-Style Salt-Pickled Radish and Red Onion, or pair it with the sesame and peanut flavors in our Smashed Cucumber Salad. Try a splash on your avocado toast, or if you like rice bowls, season the rice with a splash of vinegar and a pinch of sugar; top with blanched spinach, smoked salmon or trout, and a few toasted sesame seeds or shichimi togarashi, the Japanese chili pepper blend.
Kamado-San Double-Lid Donabe Rice Cooker
If you eat as much rice as we do, it's worthwhile owning a proper rice cooker. There’s convenience to an electric cooker, but we much prefer the remarkably moist, fluffy grains of rice produced by clay donabe-style rice cookers. The unique design of these age-old pots features two lids—the inset lid allows some moisture to escape to control the rate at which the rice cooks and lightly pressurizes the pot. This particularly thick-bottomed, durable pot is made from a uniquely porous clay, which heats evenly and maintains a steady heat for very uniform cooking. Beyond rice, the pot can also be used for small batches of soups and stews, like a quick miso soup. We love the thick rustic glaze and the way the pot patinas with use. It looks good enough to come right to the table
Sukoyaka Brown Genmai Rice
If you are tired of tasteless white rice, let me introduce you to Genmai Rice. When I first tasted genmai two years ago, my first thought was that this rice was a miracle—it cooks quickly, just like white rice, but has the rich, earthy flavor and satisfying chewiness of great brown rice. Once you taste Sukoyaka Genmai, you will never go back. How is this possible? It is an American-grown short-grain brown rice that has had a portion of the outer bran layer is scrubbed away, allowing the grains to hydrate faster while retaining most of their nutritional properties. The nutty, earthy-tasting grains are distinct and just a touch sticky, making the rice perfect for accompanying stir-fries, curries, soups and stews, although I make it two or three times a week as a starter, for any sort of topping from steamed vegetables to quickly grilled chicken or steak. Matt, Card, our food editor, also swears by it for fried rice. He keeps a batch frozen in the freezer for a quick batch: Just defrost on the countertop, and it's ready to go for a virtually instant meal. Buy as much as you can afford, since genmai will become your go-to rice after the first bite.
Maruhon Lightly Toasted Sesame Oil
Sesame oil is an essential ingredient in East Asian cuisine for adding aromatic depth, but too often it can be cloying and overpowering. We tasted numerous versions and especially like Maruhon Lightly Toasted Sesame Oil made by Takemoto Oil & Fat Company, the oldest operating oil-extracting company in Japan, which traces its roots to 1725. Maruhon Lightly Toasted Sesame Oil has a far more delicate, nuanced flavor than supermarket versions and tastes distinctly of sesame, unlike the generic nuttiness of some mass-produced versions. This producer uses a chemical-free extraction process, which is not only healthier but also yields a cleaner taste that doesn’t overpower light dishes but stands up to heavier ones. The oil adds just the right amount of nutty richness and is much more aromatic than others we've tried.
Megachef Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce
Megachef Oyster Sauce is made with premium oysters that are harvested off the Gulf of Thailand and smoked over hardwood for a deeper flavor and smoky, grilled aroma. We love its complex yet clean flavor: robust and savory, slightly briny and almost sweet. Although it's prepared by cooking down oysters until their juices caramelize, this sauce does not taste like oysters; rather, it has a molasses-like richness and sweet, savory and umami flavor that's slightly similar to soy sauce. Megachef's version has no added artificial flavors or colors—in contrast, even high-quality brands tend to augment their oyster sauce with ingredients like MSG and caramel coloring, resulting in an artificial taste.
While oyster sauce is mostly used as an ingredient for marinades, stir-fries or flavoring rice or noodle dishes, Megachef's Oyster Sauce is also delicious on its own as a condiment—the sauce's smoother consistency compared to other brands is perfect for dipping or drizzling over dishes.
Hanamaruki Foods Liquid Shio Koji
A traditional condiment made from fermented malted rice, shio koji is known in Japan for packing a punch of umami into everything from marinated meats to savory soups. All shio kojis aren’t created equal, though, for Hanamaruki Foods distills the powerful flavor properties of this essential Japanese ingredient into an easy-to-use liquid form—the only Liquid Shio Koji available on the market—to create the ultimate pantry secret weapon. We love the condiment’s clean, yet bold flavor: salty rounded out with a pronounced sweetness and burst of umami. It’s made by pressing shio koji in its original paste form and filtering until it yields the clear, golden-hued liquid. The product isn’t heat-treated, so its enzymes remain active and effective in rendering meat remarkably moist and juicy, balancing bitterness in veggies like eggplant and adding amino acids for a full-flavored finish to any dish to truly change the way you cook. Use as a marinade for meats and fish, drizzle into salad dressings and sauces to balance savory flavors, or incorporate into baked goods to add a layer of tantalizing complexity.
Jiangsu HengShun 6-Year Zhenjiang Black Vinegar
Ubiquitous Chinese black vinegar is rich, tart and slightly sweet—with a fermented malty taste and woody character that distinguishes it from the light-colored and fruity rice vinegar. This one is crafted by one of the oldest and most well-known producers in the country, who ages the dark liquid for 6 years in traditional urns to achieve its complexity. It’s not too astringent, with a full-bodied character that yields nuanced notes of molasses and something like the brightness of a high-quality bar of dark chocolate, nothing like the other black vinegars we sampled that weren’t given time to age. A pantry staple in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine, black vinegar contributes a unique flavor to food that (despite what you might read online), can’t be replicated with other dark vinegars like fruity balsamic.
JookJangYeon Premium Gochujang
Made from chili pepper, sweet rice, malt and malt syrup and fermented for at least six months months in traditional crocks, Gochujang is basically a household name at this point. You can buy (crappy) bottles and jars of it at Walmart. But the important thing is to differentiate between the cheap, mass-produced versions and these top-quality versions. While most gochujangs on the market are thick, but will drip off your spoon, this one is more like a glossy ganache—spreadable and scoopable, yet decadently thick. It's clean and complex—a wonderful fruity chili flavor is the star, while it's rounded out with funky fermentation notes and a pleasant tingly heat. There's also a hint of effervescence akin to sake, or even a sparkling wine. Its sweetness is round and balanced, not sticky like most brands.
Morita Mirin-Type Condiment
Pale gold and lightly sweet, this mirin-type condiment is a staple in Japanese pantries for bringing a hint of umami to broths and more. Compared to other mirins you can find in the store, this has much more character and nuance, while supermarket versions can skew heavy, syrupy and astringent. This one has the gentle sweetness and complexity of fermented rice that we want without tipping into syrupy, with a hint of salt that doesn’t overpower the slightly savory and sweet character of the fermented rice base. If you can’t have the real-deal hon mirin, mirin-type condiments are great alternatives, and this is one of the best we’ve tried.