Jet Tila's Top 6 Ingredients Every Home Cook Should Have

Considering the pedigree that celebrity chef Jet Tila has cultivated, it's a safe bet that he's got plenty of tips that home cooks can use to improve their culinary skills. He is a Los Angeles native whose education at Le Cordon Bleu gave him a solid culinary foundation to re-interpret the classic Thai-Chinese dishes of his childhood. As his culinary empire has expanded, Tila has been a regular on Food Network programs like "Iron Chef America," "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown," "Chopped," and "Cutthroat Kitchen." His current restaurant accolades include Wazuzu at the Wynn Resorts-owned Encore Casino in Las Vegas and developing several culinary concepts with Compass Group, the largest food service company in the world.

Chowhound spoke to Tila at the 2024 New York City Wine & Food Festival and asked for a list of his favorite ingredients that should be in every home cook's pantry. Paired with one of his best-selling cookbooks, such as "101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die," these six staples will help prepare any home cook for the wide world of Asian cooking.

Chinese chicken powder, like Lee Kum Kee's chicken bouillon powder, is a seasoning that provides a concentrated kick of pure umami flavor. Where other bouillon powders muddle the mixture a bit with notes of dehydrated celery and onion, chicken powder focuses purely on the poultry flavors. As chef Jet Tila told us, "Chinese chicken powder is the cheat code to make everything taste like Chinese takeout."

The key to this concentrated flavor comes from the dehydrated chicken meat, chicken extract, and chicken fat. There's a bit of salt, maltodextrin, and sugar included for good measure. All of it works well together to spruce up your broths, marinades, gravies, or any other savory sauce on your menu. Tila isn't the only Food Network star that's a fan of this staple, though — chicken powder is also one of Guy Fieri's favorite pantry ingredients.

Oyster sauce is a thick, rich, molasses-colored condiment that has been adding flavorful depth to entrees for decades. It was allegedly created by accident in 1888 when Lee Kum Kee founder Lee Kum Sheung forgot about a pot of oyster soup he was boiling. By the time he came back to the soup, the oysters had reduced to a thick, flavorful gravy and his brand's premium oyster sauce was born.

Over the years, oyster sauce has become a mainstay in Chinese stir-fry recipes, but it's versatile enough for any dish that requires a savory depth of flavor. It adds a level of richness in beef stew and it's a great way to give noodle dishes first-bite flavor when reheating leftover Chinese food.

A common companion to oyster sauce, fish sauce has been around since the seventh century B.C. It's made by combining an oily fish, such as anchovies, with some salt and water, and then leaving the mixture to ferment. When it's ready, the remaining liquid is strained and bottled for use in kitchens all over the world.

In contrast with oyster sauce's rich, umami-forward flavors, fish sauce brings a briny, fishy flavor to entrees. While its flavor profile differs from oyster sauce, it remains just as versatile. Fish sauce, such as Red Boat's premium condiment, can be mixed with your favorite bolognese recipe for a bit of salty contrast or added to burger patties and meatballs to enhance their existing savory flavors.

Nothing adds interest to an entree like a little bit of chili-infused heat — and chili paste, like Huy Fong's sambal oelek, is a great way to do just that. In contrast with sriracha sauce, which has a smoother, ketchup-adjacent texture, chili paste is chunkier with more visible chili seeds. While both of these condiments can add a nice ribbon of heat to a dish, chili paste leans more on the flavor of the chilis themselves to add complexity.

As the variety of chili peppers on the planet is staggering, there are many types of chili pastes available to home chefs. You'll want to establish some heat-level boundaries, however. For instance, South Carolina-based Pepper Joe's has a Carolina reaper mash that is sure to rock your world.

A successful foray into roasting veggies, whipping up a stir-fry, and sautéing proteins depends on the type of cooking oil you use. According to chef Jet Tila however, soybean oil is the one that absolutely needs to be in your pantry. It has a more neutral flavor than olive oil, as well as a higher smoke point, which makes it great for pan-frying and baking. On top of that, soybean oil is one of the most cost-effective cooking oils on the market today, especially, say, a bottle from Amazon's Happy Belly brand.

For recipes that require a delicate touch, soybean oil can be a great alternative. Take deep-fried foods, especially donuts, for instance. Since the type of oil that you use to cook donuts tends to add its flavors to your fried dough, a neutral oil like soybean oil is a good pick for any recipe where you don't want the flavors muddled by the cooking fat you use.

From caramelizing onions to whipping up homemade salad dressings, a good bottle of vinegar is a lifesaver in the kitchen. Chef Jet Tila recommends rice vinegar in particular, which can be cleverly incorporated into all kinds of dishes, especially those featured in his cookbook "101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die." That said, home chefs have plenty of opportunities to use vinegar in their recipes at home.

The main benefit of vinegar is that it's a cheap and effective way to create acid in a dish. As a flavor balancer, acid can be used to provide a welcome contrast to overly salty, sweet, or bitter flavors. A bit of your favorite vinegar, like Kikkoman's rice vinegar, can do a lot to help achieve that contrast.