Top Chefs’ Pantry Must-Haves: What’s Worth Buying and What Isn’t

Adrienne and Joe break down how to build a high-quality, high-utility pantry, spotlighting the versatile staples worth keeping stocked, and the overrated ingredients taking up valuable space. In this episode, we also discuss: Essential vinegars, everyday cooking oils, and picking a dependable olive oil Shelf-stable workhorses: the best canned chickpeas, tomatoes, rice, and pasta Jarred flavor boosters, including anchovies and giardiniera Secret weapon ingredients: dashi, shio koji, and clarified butter Overrated pantry items to toss immediately, from truffle oil to pre-ground pepper Pricy ingredients people buy but rarely use, like saffron, vanilla beans, and showpiece oils Follow the show: @chefscutpod Follow Adrienne: @chefadriennecheatham Follow Joe: @insta.flamm

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  Today on The Chef's Cut, we are opening up our pantries and sharing the ingredients that you should stock in your own kitchen. This one, this, this guy here is, is my homie. It's my best friend. We'll tell you which brands will take your dish to the next level.

• 0:28Joe Flamm?

  Cris Bianco makes those Bianco di Napoli tomatoes, and they are phenomenal.

• 0:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  And we'll share our list of high-priced ingredients that are not worth the splurge. For most home cooks, I don't think Maldon salt is worth buying. All right, Chef's Cut Nation, you know what time it is. We need 10 seconds of your day. Please rate and review the show wherever you get your pods. It really helps.

• 0:56Joe Flamm?

  To start this week, we open with a quote by the great Sean Brock, who once said, whoever dies with the biggest pantry wins. Because this week, we're talking pantries.

• 1:08Adrienne Cheatham?

  I love it.

• 1:09Joe Flamm?

  In my opinion, it's not about having the biggest pantry, right? You don't need to have the most stuff. I do love the idea of like the old school Southern mentality of all the pickles, all the things, right?

• 1:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 1:19Joe Flamm?

  Of like, you know, you have the huge root cellar and all these things. But I think we overdo it sometimes. And I think if you break it down to the bare essentials, and you buy less things, but you buy good quality things, and you have the things that you need to use, you, you have a better pantry. You better have a better workhorse kitchen.

• 1:39Adrienne Cheatham?

  I told you that when we were talking about, you know, a day in the life of me doing private work, I live and die by my pantry, because there are times that my client's like, oh, I'm going out tonight, no need for dinner. So I'm just there doing prep. I didn't buy certain things. I didn't plan on cooking a plated dinner, but then it's like change of plans. It's raining, somebody got sick, somebody had to cancel the reservation, so I'm home for dinner, and that is when the pantry is clutch.

• 2:07Joe Flamm?

  All right, so today I want to break down the pantries. Like if you had a start over tomorrow, move into a brand new place, and you got to build out the pantry, and you just want to build out essentials. So I kind of, in my mind, I broke it down, I got five categories.

• 2:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 2:22Joe Flamm?

  Okay, we'll go through them. Vinegars is a really important one.

• 2:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes, key.

• 2:27Joe Flamm?

  Oils.

• 2:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  Mm-hmm.

• 2:28Joe Flamm?

  A carb of some sort that's dry, you can put on a shelf, you know what I mean? A canned good, got to have a good canned good. We're proper Midwesterners. Even if you live in New York now, you travel all over France, girl, I know where you were born. I've driven down that block.

• 2:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  I'm the queen of the canned goods.

• 2:45Joe Flamm?

  And then lastly, one jarred.

• 2:48Adrienne Cheatham?

  Ooh, gotta have a jar of something, right?

• 2:52Joe Flamm?

  Gotta have a jar of something.

• 2:53Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 2:54Joe Flamm?

  So those are my five. So I think to kick it off, first one, right out the gate, we're going acidic. What is, yeah, and I'm just saying one, like obviously we all have more than one in our pantry, but I'm saying if you just have one where you're like, I can get the most bang for my buck out of this and do a lot of the things I need to do. What's your, what's your one vinegar?

• 3:16Adrienne Cheatham?

  I mean, okay, I'll give you one, and then I'll give you my honorable mention.

• 3:19Joe Flamm?

  You get one.

• 3:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes, oh, I'm doing it. It's happening, sweetheart. So my one, rice vinegar.

• 3:26Joe Flamm?

  Okay, seasoned or unseasoned?

• 3:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  I like unseasoned, because if I want to add mirin, or if I want to add some sugar to it, but I like the base unseasoned rice vinegar as my blanket vinegar. I use it for everything from salad dressings to, you know, adding a little drop into a couple of sauces to bring up acidity, even put a little splash like, you know, in a braise or in a marinade here and there.

• 3:52Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 3:52Adrienne Cheatham?

  So I use that.

• 3:53Joe Flamm?

  I mean, a rice wine vinegar pickle too is delicious. Like, I mean, it's so like, you know, and I like the seasoned rice wine vinegar too. I use it for a ton of stuff. I'll use it to like season grilled vegetables after we pull them off, like the Hearth and stuff. It's just, it's a workhorse.

• 4:08Adrienne Cheatham?

  It does, see, I like the unseasoned because I do usually add stuff to it. So if I'm making a glaze or something like that, there's got so many other components that, you know, I'm, I'm just rolling with the blanket one.

• 4:20Joe Flamm?

  But that seasoned one, like a pinch of salt, you pour it over anything, and you got really good pickles.

• 4:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, yeah, amazing. You don't need to dilute it as much as like white distilled or cider vinegar. You can add like dark brown sugar to the pickling liquid if you want to get that depth of flavor into it. Like I love rice vinegar, it's my jam. Use it for so much.

• 4:43Joe Flamm?

  What's your second one? Because Adrian's got to have a second one.

• 4:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  My honorable mention goes to white wine vinegar with tarragon.

• 4:51Joe Flamm?

  That's not, you can't.

• 4:53Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's a thing. You used to be able to buy it in stores, but now.

• 4:56Joe Flamm?

  But I mean, now you're, now you're making concoctions.

• 4:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  No, this is, this, okay, yes, I did stick the vinegar in this one, but you used to be able to buy it in stores all over the place. Now you don't see it as much.

• 5:08Joe Flamm?

  You know, like all the old Italian stores where they used to have the bottles of olive oil with all the stuff jammed in them?

• 5:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 5:13Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? I was like, oh my God, that's the fanciest thing ever. It has peppers and garlic and rosemary.

• 5:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  And whole lemons.

• 5:19Joe Flamm?

  That must be a thousand dollars. But I like that one. I think rice wine vinegar is, I think it's probably in more like professional kitchens than anyone thinks too.

• 5:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 5:30Joe Flamm?

  Like, I don't know that, you know, the last time I've been in a kitchen that doesn't have it.

• 5:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, and it's not like people do associate it with Asian cuisine, because that is where it came from, but I can't think of a cuisine of a restaurant that I've worked in that did not use rice vinegar for multiple recipes.

• 5:47Joe Flamm?

  My grandma's used it my whole life.

• 5:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  Really?

• 5:50Joe Flamm?

  She always, she makes this salad, we, you know, we just call it the salad, and it's like a mix of olive oil, red wine vinegar, seasoned rice wine vinegar.

• 5:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, nice.

• 5:58Joe Flamm?

  Just like, and tossing greens, and it's so delicious.

• 6:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, nice.

• 6:02Joe Flamm?

  It's so good for like every big holiday or whatever. But it's like, so it's just, I've always, in my head, it's still like equates to, you know, when I think of like an Italian salad, I think of seasoned rice wine vinegar, but I mean, I don't know when she started using it or why or how, but it's delicious.

• 6:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  Go Grandma Mary, shout out. So Joe, what is yours? What is your one vinegar? Just because I know you, I have it, yep.

• 6:29Joe Flamm?

  The most time I go to them all then I, really like real balsamic though, you can tell this stuff's, that's viscosity.

• 6:37Adrienne Cheatham?

  How viscous is that? Yeah, I was gonna ask. What's the age on that one?

• 6:41Joe Flamm?

  This one, I believe, is an eight-year.

• 6:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 6:44Joe Flamm?

  Um, which is like eight-year, I think is perfect. You know what I mean? Like, you can get into the crazy ones, you can get into the 25 to 50 years where they're like, they're thick, they're like syrup, you know what I mean? And those ones are crazy expensive. But if you find a good eight-year one, like they're not cheap, right? Like a good eight-year bottle of balsamic, that'll run you 40 bucks, but it's like you use way less of it, as opposed to like when you buy that like cheap shitty loose like balsamic colored vinegar. And the biggest difference, I think people don't, you know, for people who don't know, is like real balsamic vinegar is aged in barrels. And because it's aged in barrels, that's where it gets its natural thickness from. When you have those glazes or those creams of balsamics, or, you know, the, the fake

• 7:28Joe Flamm?

  balsamic vinegars, they're just cooked in a pot. It's like real wine versus like white Zinfandel.

• 7:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  So I was gonna ask, because in a lot of restaurants that I've worked in, that's something that we've also done, if you want to glaze carrots or things, you put, you know, a, a less expensive balsamic in a small pot, boil it to reduce it down to like a third, so it is a little more viscous, it'll coat a spoon, and you can drizzle it on top. Are you not here for that?

• 7:54Joe Flamm?

  I'm not here for that at all. I'm not here for that at all. It's like use the right thing, you know what I mean? You take the real balsamic, and then instead of having to take a gallon of crappy balsamic vinegar, reduce it down to a cup, you just take a half a tablespoon of really good balsamic when those carrots come out, you know, just deglaze them with a little lemon, and then just hit them with a little bit of drizzle of that, and there's just no mimicking the depth of flavor to it.

• 8:21Adrienne Cheatham?

  So how do you describe the difference in flavor between the cheaper one, that's very loose and liquidy, to like an eight-year aged?

• 8:29Joe Flamm?

  Well, like the cheaper one is like, it's super acidic. It's just a super acid bomb, there's no balance to it, it's really, really sharp. When you have a really aged balsamic vinegar, there's just such a depth there. There's sweetness, there's viscosity, there's acidity, it's just really, really well balanced.

• 8:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, it's like the edge comes off of it, right?

• 8:48Joe Flamm?

  Right, so I mean, you could brush it on a piece of meat, you drizzle it over some veg, you know what I mean? You, any salad, just like toss it in olive oil, salt, lemon juice, and then just like, I mean, a drizzle of this at the end, it'll carry it through the whole thing, it's just unbelievable. So that's why for me, it's just, it's a monster workhorse. It does so many things. And I think it's one of those things people like, people get backed off of buying the real one because of the price. But I think when you realize like, you're not going to go through a bottle a week.

• 9:17Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right, right.

• 9:18Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Like, you're gonna go through a bottle like every two months.

• 9:23Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay, so it's worth to spend a little bit more.

• 9:25Joe Flamm?

  That's what I'm saying, for less than, less than 50 cents a day.

• 9:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay, Sarah McLachlan.

• 9:32Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Like, you know, you're getting the good balsamic. So I think it's one of those things like, it's worth the splurge.

• 9:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 9:42Joe Flamm?

  It's worth the splurge, you know what I mean? And I also think if the combo of your two vinegars, if you have rice vinegar and balsamic in your house, like.

• 9:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, you've got everything you ever need.

• 9:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay, so let's move on to your next category. You said-

• 10:01Joe Flamm?

  Next category, oil, the fats.

• 10:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay, gotta have a fat.

• 10:06Joe Flamm?

  Gotta have a fat.

• 10:06Adrienne Cheatham?

  Gotta have-

• 10:07Joe Flamm?

  So, I think you go a hundred different ways with this. What is your number one oil in the house?

• 10:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  I like a good finishing oil, yes. I like a good neutral oil like grape seed or canola, but I really like this one. This, this guy here is, is my homie. It's my best friend. Frantoya extra virgin olive oil. And-

• 10:29Joe Flamm?

  Very nice.

• 10:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  I mean, I love it. It's an Italian olive oil. So it's got these grassy notes. It's not like a Piquol or some of the Spanish olive oils have a lot of that, like you get that spice on the back end. This is grassy. It's a little more balanced. It gives you some of that spice, but it's also, obviously, I'm not doing high heat cooking with it, but I can use it for low heat cooking, which I appreciate.

• 10:55Joe Flamm?

  I think you can get higher with the heat out of it too than people realize.

• 10:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  I think so. Like I definitely, I use it for poaching. I use it for some like light sauteing. I don't use it for like, if I'm going like super high walk style heat. But if I'm like cooking something in the pan and it's not gonna like smoke out, then I'm definitely using this for cooking and I'm using it for finishing also.

• 11:17Joe Flamm?

  See, I'll kind of rip it with olive oil.

• 11:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  Really?

• 11:20Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 11:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  How high do you go?

• 11:22Joe Flamm?

  Like, I, I like, like, I'll get after it with some olive oil. I just kind of like, like especially like if I'm doing mushrooms. Like, I don't want to do a base oil. I want to do olive oil. So sometimes what I'll do is I'll go like, I'll put the mushrooms in the pan, like no oil. A little bit of salt.

• 11:38Adrienne Cheatham?

  Let the water start to come out, okay.

• 11:41Joe Flamm?

  And then pull it off the heat for a second, hit it with the olive oil, first couple sautees, then put it on. We're working.

• 11:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  That makes such a delicious sauteed mushrooms with a good, and this isn't crazy expensive.

• 11:56Joe Flamm?

  Crush a little lemon.

• 11:57Adrienne Cheatham?

  Nothing like it. And I love like, if I'm frying something, I would use like rice bran oil.

• 12:04Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 12:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Because that has a really high smoke point, but it doesn't give you any flavor. So I like this because you can cook with it. You can finish with it. Like that's my jam. That's my personal one.

• 12:14Joe Flamm?

  This is, this is one of the few times in life where you and I agree.

• 12:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, what's yours? What's your fat? Let me see.

• 12:21Joe Flamm?

  Squeezo, squeezo, squeezo. I, I, I keep a little bigger one on deck at the house.

• 12:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  Holy moly. Little bigger, just a gallon.

• 12:31Joe Flamm?

  It's larger than a gallon, actually. It's 1.32 gallons.

• 12:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh dear.

• 12:34Joe Flamm?

  I use a ton of it. When I make pasta sauce, I use a ton of olive oil. So that's like my base cooking olive oil. You know what I mean? It's a mix of a bunch of different olives from Italy, but um, you know, from different places in Italy. But it's all Italian olives, all cold pressed, still extra virgin, but it's like kind of a launch. So it's softer, like you were saying. So it's better for like cooking, minigrettes, all that stuff, right? I love, like, I have a bunch of finishing oils because like, of course. So like at work, you know, I have different finishing oils for different things that I like. I just bought a pallet of finishing oil.

• 13:07Adrienne Cheatham?

  A pallet?

• 13:08Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, it's a story for another day. Um, but I love finishing oils. They're really good. But again, kind of like the balsamic, you know, you're not using them in bulk. You know what I mean? You're using a little bit. Like that's when you want that super intense peppery green where it's got that like wild arugula taste to it. It's got that watercress snap to it because you want it to complement, you know what I mean?

• 13:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  Sharp bitterness, yeah.

• 13:32Joe Flamm?

  Or a piece of like super fatty cooked steak to like cut through it and make it feel fresh and vibrant and fruity and all those things. But for the baseline, it's just like, find your workhorse. You know, like Partana, you can buy a can of Partana, like they sell like one liters at the store. Where it's like, Partana is a great workhorse.

• 13:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  I've seen that one, yeah.

• 13:49Joe Flamm?

  Where it's like, it cooks really well, but it also like really good, you know, vitigret olive oil. Really good, you know, for all those things where it's like, you know, just drizzling over veg or whatever you want. If you're not using, you know, I mean, your super nice finishing oil.

• 14:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 14:04Joe Flamm?

  So I think it's like just finding your workhorse one.

• 14:07Adrienne Cheatham?

  And in those cans, it stays very fresh. So it's not like you have to worry about it going rancid.

• 14:12Joe Flamm?

  Light is bad for olive oil.

• 14:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. That's why I buy glass, but I buy smaller quantity because I'm not going to hold on to it for more than like two months.

• 14:20Joe Flamm?

  Right. Also, like you're not like leaving it by the windowsill and you're, you know.

• 14:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh god, no. It's in a closed cabinet.

• 14:28Joe Flamm?

  But yeah, I think like finding that good olive oil you like, you know what I mean? Buying the bigger cans of it, you just, and that's the other thing with olive oil. It's like the more you get into scale, the way better deal it is. So it's like buy the big can, you're gonna use it. Put it, find a cool spot for it.

• 14:42Adrienne Cheatham?

  Put that Costco membership to work.

• 14:43Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Like you dole it out for yourself in little jars or something or little, you know, bottle on the top. Yeah, whatever. And it's like, you're gonna use it. It's worth the extra money to get the extra virgin olive oil, do the nice stuff. And it's not crazy. You know what I mean? You're not getting into the finish, it's, it's not getting into the finishing oils. The finishing oils, you're talking, you know, 20 plus a liter, right?

• 15:05Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 15:06Joe Flamm?

  Up to now where I've seen them over 30 a liter for finishing olive oil. But like for a really good workhorse olive oil, your Partanas, your, you know, most of those, like you're looking at, if you buy it by the liter, like you can get it somewhere in the 13 to 15 dollars.

• 15:21Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, that's great. That is really good. That's, so okay, so that is one of the times where I would, I would actually buy a higher volume quantity because the value is better. And you know, like I'm, I'm a new Costco girl, so I'm here for the-

• 15:36Joe Flamm?

  Same.

• 15:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  I'm here for buying certain things in bulk.

• 15:39Joe Flamm?

  Scoop you a tin.

• 15:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  All right, Joe, what's up next? What's the next category of pantry?

• 15:43Joe Flamm?

  Next one, we're going to a carb and carb, this could be rice, this can be noodle, this could be anything that's like that shelf stable. You know, this is always for me, like I gotta build a meal now.

• 15:55Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 15:56Joe Flamm?

  For like, you know, more than just me.

• 15:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 16:00Joe Flamm?

  Like I gotta feed some people some food and they just need to get fed. So I need to get like something out of my pantry that I could just feed some people.

• 16:09Adrienne Cheatham?

  As much as I didn't grow up eating it that much, I mean, my husband's from New Orleans, so we do a lot of rice in our house. I didn't grow up eating a ton of rice.

• 16:22Joe Flamm?

  Rice cooker?

• 16:23Adrienne Cheatham?

  I don't, but I kind of want one. I kind of want one. Set it and forget it.

• 16:28Joe Flamm?

  The best.

• 16:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  You have a rice cooker?

• 16:30Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, of course.

• 16:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  Gosh, I am really sleeping on the kitchen gadgets.

• 16:33Joe Flamm?

  Oh, you gotta have a rice cooker.

• 16:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  So here's the funny thing, like I do have, like I've got arborio, I've got, you know, I've got bumba rice. In case I make a paella, I've got sushi rice.

• 16:45Joe Flamm?

  Fucking paella are you making right now?

• 16:48Adrienne Cheatham?

  Random, but it does happen a couple of times a year. But my workhorse rice, it's like just the normal, like long grain Carolina brand rice. Like,

• 16:59Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 17:00Adrienne Cheatham?

  You know, it's two pound package, you know, it's not expensive.

• 17:04Joe Flamm?

  Two pounds of rice, so that makes 44 gallons of rice, I believe.

• 17:09Adrienne Cheatham?

  Pretty much. Like rice, rice is kind of my go-to if I'm cooking a stew, if I'm searing a, you know, roasting a chicken, searing a protein rice is kind of my, my go-to. Okay, so what is, what is your carb?

• 17:24Joe Flamm?

  Uh, pasta.

• 17:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay, big shot.

• 17:27Joe Flamm?

  I mean, I mean, I mean.

• 17:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  But what kind? That's what I'm interested in.

• 17:31Joe Flamm?

  So I, my favorite like, like the noodle I probably use the most is like a short noodle pasta, just because I have kids, it's easier for the kids to eat.

• 17:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 17:40Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? The long noodles are a mess. They like the long noodles, but they're like picking them up. They're biting them like ribs. It's all over. It's just everywhere. Like I prefer, if I'm just making a simple pasta out of the pantry, I love a long noodle, bucatini, spaghetti. You know, especially if you're just going no protein, all starch, and you're making like an aliolioli or any of those things, like a long noodle pasta is so, so satisfying.

• 18:05Adrienne Cheatham?

  Do your kids like the garlic olive oil pasta?

• 18:09Joe Flamm?

  The aliolioli?

• 18:10Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 18:11Joe Flamm?

  Um, they like it, okay. It's not their favorite. They more like cacio e pepe is their favorite thing.

• 18:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 18:16Joe Flamm?

  They're always like, like Sydney came to the restaurant for her birthday and ordered two plates of cacio e pepe for herself.

• 18:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  Good for her, get it girl.

• 18:24Joe Flamm?

  They were like, oh, how are you using anything else? She was like another cacio e pepe.

• 18:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  I love her. I want to be like her when I grow up.

• 18:30Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. Um, but so, you know, I have a bag here. This is a Granoro. Um, they do a bronze dye mezzerigatoni. Um, I always kind of look for the ones where they're like a little bit, like you see them in the bag, they're a little bit thicker. It's kind of hard to tell. But like of the extruded of the dough, because usually those hold up a little bit better when you cook them. They don't crack as much. You see, there's a ton of artisanal pasta out there, right?

• 18:54Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right, yeah.

• 18:55Joe Flamm?

  And for me, I like the ones that are shorter, thicker, so that they hold up better. You'll see a lot of those big bags when you go in the store and half the pasta is cracked already.

• 19:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 19:05Joe Flamm?

  Guess what? The other half of that pasta is gonna crack when you cook it. And like, which isn't the end of the world unless you're an absolute lunatic like me and you're like, I just, I don't want this. And I love buying new brands that I see and I'll try out. Uh, but Granoro is a great one. Gentile, Manchini, uh, if you can find Manchini, I think Manchini is one of the greatest.

• 19:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  Are you gonna judge me for this?

• 19:26Joe Flamm?

  No, the, the bronzo barilla I think is really, really nice. You know what I mean? The, the, the linguine, like it's classic.

• 19:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 19:34Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean?

• 19:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  Cause I, I do, yeah. I'll, I'll, I'll fucks with the barilla.

• 19:39Joe Flamm?

  But it's like, you know, it's like, I just like, you know, there's a little Italian shop by me and they, this is the one they carry. And this is my kid's favorite one because it's the one my mom buys.

• 19:48Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh.

• 19:49Joe Flamm?

  So they like, oh, we like, you know, we like mimosa pasta. So they like, you know, the mezzerig that she gets.

• 19:56Joe Flamm?

  So that's usually the one I almost always have. I think I have, I think I have six bags of this.

• 20:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Whoa, all the same noodle?

• 20:04Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, the mezzerig. So I have six pounds of this in my cabinet right now, I would bet, just so you're ready.

• 20:09Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 20:10Joe Flamm?

  What if 20 people show up? Then it's like boom, rip. You know what I mean?

• 20:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's funny because rice and pasta are similar in the way that the grain that you have or the style of pasta noodle that you have can completely change the meal. So that's why I have so many different types of rice, but I have the one workhorse that I can use for almost any type of meal. But it's so cool how just like same dough, most of the time.

• 20:37Joe Flamm?

  Workhorse, but I probably have, I would say, if I had a guess right now, five types of pasta in my cabinet. Maybe six.

• 20:45Adrienne Cheatham?

  Damn.

• 20:46Joe Flamm?

  Then I might have a box of pasta in my car, too.

• 20:51Adrienne Cheatham?

  Cause you never know.

• 20:52Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Concealing, carrying pasta around like a maniac.

• 20:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  Good thing it's shelf stable. It'll be fine back then.

• 20:58Joe Flamm?

  Right. But, but, and also I just think there is a difference though. When you find like a really good pasta from like, you know, when I was a little kid, my mom used to always just buy, you know, like the, the Prince when it was like 10 for one at the Jewel.

• 21:10Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 21:11Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Or the Alder or whatever. It was just like the cheapest stuff. And it's like, and it was fine. We ate the life out of it when we were kids, you know? Um, and like even the cheaper stuff, the Checco, the Barilla, like that stuff's really good. But I think it's one of those ones where it's like, to get a really nice bag of pasta is $3 instead of $2.

• 21:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 21:30Joe Flamm?

  And.

• 21:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  So you're not breaking the bank, but it does make a noticeable difference.

• 21:34Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? An $11 pound of pasta.

• 21:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 21:37Joe Flamm?

  You know, but I think it's one of those things where it's like, it's kind of fun to splurge on it because it's not a high bar of entry.

• 21:44Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 21:44Joe Flamm?

  And it tastes, the difference I think is really good and like really kind of interesting and delicious.

• 21:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  Do you see a bigger difference in the flavor or texture or both?

• 21:53Joe Flamm?

  It's all just texture.

• 21:54Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 21:55Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Like, I think flavor, it's harder to tell, but it's more like the texture, the chew, the consistency for me.

• 22:09Joe Flamm?

  Next, we're going, we're going to the cans.

• 22:12Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. Oh, choose your fighter.

• 22:15Joe Flamm?

  This, this, I'm really interested.

• 22:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 22:18Joe Flamm?

  Where you're gonna go with, what part of the life of Adrian you lean into to pull that can off the shelf? Cause there's many, many little trails on that mountain that is your life.

• 22:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, just like, you know.

• 22:32Joe Flamm?

  And a lot of them go different directions.

• 22:35Adrienne Cheatham?

  And you know what mine, what, what direction my trail for the can goes in?

• 22:39Joe Flamm?

  Where's that?

• 22:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  Bam. Chickpeas.

• 22:42Joe Flamm?

  Would have not been in my first 10 guesses.

• 22:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  Really?

• 22:47Joe Flamm?

  Yes.

• 22:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  Seriously? Okay. So I was scarred as a child by canned vegetables. I.

• 22:52Joe Flamm?

  Okay. I thought you were gonna go canned vegetable.

• 22:54Adrienne Cheatham?

  I can't, I can't. I literally cannot. My father used to buy these from the dollar store, these canned peas, canned asparagus, canned vegetables. And my sister and I literally at the dinner table, we would like.

• 23:06Joe Flamm?

  That canned asparagus is tough.

• 23:08Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's tough. We would put them in our cheeks and then like, and canned green beans with potatoes. We would like go to the bathroom and like spit them out and flush them. So I can't, nothing against them. My husband and anybody I've ever met from New Orleans are huge fans of lesser petit pois. The canned tiny spring peas. If you put enough butter on anything, it's delicious. Don't get me wrong. But I prefer canned starch. It cuts down the cooking time. I like a canned bean.

• 23:40Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 23:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  I don't have to worry about soaking them.

• 23:43Joe Flamm?

  Pantry staple. You know what I mean?

• 23:45Adrienne Cheatham?

  And I can do so much with the chickpeas. Exactly. Like, that's what I like. Just like with the kitchen essentials. If I'm gonna have something in my kitchen, it has to have multiple uses. It cannot just be for one thing. So I like the chickpeas. Cause I can make hummus out of it. I can make other dips out of it. I can add it to things. I can put the chickpeas themselves in a stew. I can put them in the oven and fry them and make little crunchy snacks. Or I could also, you know, just kind of like cook them with some onions and a little bit of like tomato paste and a little white wine. And kind of make them the starch of a dish.

• 24:21Joe Flamm?

  Right.

• 24:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  So that's why I like chickpeas because to me they're incredibly versatile. So if I'm at home or even if I'm at work and my clients like.

• 24:29Joe Flamm?

  Stable protein.

• 24:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, exactly. It's a protein. It's a starch. It's, I mean, I consider it a veg. So like, you know, I think to me it's like, it's the workhorse. And you can use the liquid as well. So like, come on, like chickpeas to me, that is like hands down pantry staple.

• 24:46Joe Flamm?

  I, I think that's an awesome one. I just didn't think of it for you. And I'm like in a canned veg, you're kind of dogging on it. But it's like, I would be absolutely lying to you if I said I could not smack a can of like canned yams or a can of corn right now.

• 24:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, yeah. I mean, you're not wrong. You're not wrong.

• 25:02Joe Flamm?

  Like this, this Midwestern bill doesn't buy accident. You know what I mean? Like, like the, the can of candied yams, like, oof.

• 25:09Adrienne Cheatham?

  You're right.

• 25:10Joe Flamm?

  I have not had one of those in so long, but if somebody busted that out, I would be like.

• 25:17Adrienne Cheatham?

  Dancing up to the table?

• 25:18Joe Flamm?

  I'd be like pulling that bowl right over by me, like, just like talking a lot. So everybody didn't notice that I wasn't passing.

• 25:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Not gonna lie, I would be right beside you with that one. So what's your canned good?

• 25:29Joe Flamm?

  Now I'm really curious. Obviously, I'm going tomatoes.

• 25:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, of course. Okay.

• 25:35Joe Flamm?

  I love, uh.

• 25:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's a great one.

• 25:37Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. Cris Bianco makes those Bianco di Napoli tomatoes. And they're a San Mozzano style tomato out of California.

• 25:45Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 25:46Joe Flamm?

  And they are phenomenal. And you can either get them whole or you can get them crushed. And you know, and that's just like, for me, it's like, you know, the whole is nice because they're more versatile. Cause then like you could use them for different things. You could use big tomatoes in stews and braises. You know, just squish them up with your hands. So they're a little bit more chunky. And then, you know, I always have an immersion blender. So I could just buzz it smooth if I want it. Or you can just get the puree and make your life easy. But I think just always having the ability to make a pot of sauce.

• 26:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 26:16Joe Flamm?

  Is like my biggest thing. You know what I mean? Cause it's like, if I have nothing else, if I have a couple of pounds of pasta and I got some cans of tomatoes in the, in the cabinet. I can whip together a quick pomodoro, like in the time that it takes to get a pot of water on to boil, cook the noodles. And you know, you have dinner for 10.

• 26:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 26:35Joe Flamm?

  You have dinner for 10. It's cheap. It's efficient. It feeds everybody. You know, almost everybody will eat it. You know what I mean? Like kids, adults, whatever, they're happy to eat it. And I think it's like, kind of like the pasta, like, you know, I remember like, one time I made it for my aunt who, and my aunt's a very good cook. Like I, I love her food. She's like, you're like regular pomodoro sauce is better than mine.

• 26:57Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh.

• 26:58Joe Flamm?

  She's like, why is that?

• 26:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's a high compliment coming from an aunt.

• 27:01Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And, and I was like, well, I'm like, I just buy better tomatoes. She's like, no, you're like doing something. I'm like, I'm not. I sent her some of the tomatoes, Cris Bianco's tomatoes. And they're delicious. And then I, then I put people on to them all the time. Like my cousin lives in Iowa City. And he's like, he's like, I feel like I don't get good canned tomatoes. And I was like, hold on. And so I sent him a case. And he like, and ever since then, like, once you get on them, you can't go back.

• 27:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  So what do you think about the brands that I see at the store more? Like there's an Italian one called Ventia. There's Muti or Muti.

• 27:36Joe Flamm?

  Muti's, Muti's a very good one.

• 27:38Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. I use that a lot in France and here.

• 27:41Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. Venti's a solid, you know what I mean? It's what you like. It's just like the Bianco Monopoly ones, I think are really, really fresh. I think it's cool. That's artisanal American product. It's super consistent. It's not too watery. Uh, it's super bright flavor. And so it's like, but that's kind of the biggest difference. It's like, I grew up like, and I think my, my aunt and my family, it's like, they always just bought whatever tomatoes were on sale.

• 28:05Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 28:06Joe Flamm?

  You know, you bought the cheapest cans. You know, they were a big family. My grandmother raised nine kids. It's like, yeah, you weren't, you know, she wasn't like buying artisanal.

• 28:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  No.

• 28:14Joe Flamm?

  You know, tomato products.

• 28:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  No. She's like, I need whatever's big and cheap.

• 28:18Joe Flamm?

  Right. So, but it's, it's one of those ones where it's just like, it instantly makes it better.

• 28:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 28:26Joe Flamm?

  Like it instantly.

• 28:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  Are they a little sweeter? Are they acidic? Like, what do they taste like?

• 28:30Joe Flamm?

  It's just that like, there's, they, they are a little sweeter. They're a little more flavorful. There's just like a little bit less like water content to them. So it's not just that like tomato watery sauce. Like there's more depth to it. So it's just like, whether you're making a pomodoro, you're making a red goo, like, you know, Christmas time, we braise squid and tomato sauce. And like, just like, it makes everything just like a little bit more, it's, it's like, it's like a cheat cup.

• 28:57Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. So you're not just using it for pomodoro. You're using it for like a lot of different things.

• 29:02Joe Flamm?

  Right. Whether I'm throwing it in a, you know, I make like a Tuscan soup where it's like, you know, like sausage and beans and kale. And like, you throw a can of tomatoes in there and like, you know, chicken broth. And you know, so it's just all sorts of stuff. You know what I mean?

• 29:16Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 29:17Joe Flamm?

  You take a can, throw it in a pan, chili flakes, garlic, crack a couple of eggs in it. You know, you do eggs in purgatory. And it's like a super, super delicious, like much fancier looking breakfast than it is. And so it's like, it just, it's just so, so versatile. And it's one of those things where it's like, finding the right tomato that you really like for your cooking, I think just makes a monster, monster difference.

• 29:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  So what's, what's up next?

• 29:48Joe Flamm?

  So next, we go to our jar stars.

• 29:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  Ooh, jar star. I like it. I would say Ivar, but I've used it all, so I don't have any to show you. And Ivar, I'm sure you know.

• 30:01Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, I know what Ivar is.

• 30:03Adrienne Cheatham?

  Is a condiment that is like Croatian and it's tomatoes, peppers, eggplant. I use a ton of that. I'm not gonna lie, but my all star pantry jar item anchovies.

• 30:18Joe Flamm?

  Hmm. Brown or white?

• 30:21Adrienne Cheatham?

  These are, they're kind of light skin.

• 30:29Joe Flamm?

  I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe anchovies.

• 30:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  I guess they would qualify, they qualify as brown though, but I do like the brown ones because like the white ones I usually use for snacking or putting directly on things whole. I don't normally like the brown ones. They feel like they're softer texture, so I'll put them if I'm pureeing something or if I want to drop them into a stew, then I'm using the brown ones. I might mash it up a little bit, pop it into the stew, puree it into a vinaigrette, not just even Caesar. Like I put it in a lot of different sauces and vinaigrettes because it just, it brings such a depth of flavor. It brings so much umami, right? And I love it. It's like if you've got Worcestershire fish sauce, by all means. Yeah, exactly.

• 31:16Joe Flamm?

  It's like you're just throwing a filet of MSG into a blender. It's the same thing like everybody does now with fish sauce. You know what I mean? It's the same idea. It's like, that's not new.

• 31:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. I'm making anchovy butter or Bagna Couda. You know, it's like I'm making tons of things with it. Delicious, delicious. Like they're so versatile and they bring so much to everything you add them to. So that is, that is hands down, that's my jarred item. That is like a secret weapon, no matter what I'm making.

• 31:45Joe Flamm?

  And I definitely like, I prefer white anchovies for almost everything except for cooking with them.

• 31:51Adrienne Cheatham?

  For cooking, if I want to like level up a dish and make it just make that flavor just hit another level. At work, at home, I'm throwing an anchovy in it and nobody even really knows. They're just like, why is this so delicious? Ah. Like if you make an anchovy butter and smear it on a chicken, oh.

• 32:10Joe Flamm?

  There's a lot of chefs, like Italian chefs are, I've seen where they start like a papodoro or like a pizza sauce with like anchovies, like brown anchovies, like almost like a paste.

• 32:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 32:21Joe Flamm?

  And they'll like melt it down with the garlic to add like a depth of flavor there.

• 32:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes, yes.

• 32:26Joe Flamm?

  Cause they make like brown anchovy paste too, like instead of tube.

• 32:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, I've seen that. I, I feel so validated right now. Thank you. So what's, what's your jar?

• 32:35Joe Flamm?

  Jar d'Anera.

• 32:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  Way to Chicago it up.

• 32:42Joe Flamm?

  So I got jar jarred. I love jardiner. This is one my buddy Jeff Morrow makes. It's one of those things that it's like, people are like, oh, you just like put it on a beef. It's like, yes, you put it on a beef, put it on pizza, you put it, you know what I mean? I make a pasta, I make a pasta salad with it. That's like,

• 32:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes.

• 33:00Joe Flamm?

  It's like one of all of our favorite things.

• 33:02Adrienne Cheatham?

  Do that.

• 33:02Joe Flamm?

  It's like, um, this, this jardiner pasta salad, uh, that we make. One of my favorite though, like things from this is my one uncle, he used to do this when we were kids and it's still something I love. Is he would take the oil from the jardiner and he would pop popcorn in it.

• 33:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh.

• 33:23Joe Flamm?

  And it makes this spicy popcorn.

• 33:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  That man is a genius. Somebody give him a prize.

• 33:30Joe Flamm?

  It is, it's, it's like, you know what I mean? Like I didn't realize the genius of it when I was a little kid. And it's something that I just think about all the time, like how awesome it was and how brilliant it is.

• 33:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  That is pure genius.

• 33:45Joe Flamm?

  Pop a pot of popcorn in jardiner.

• 33:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oof.

• 33:48Joe Flamm?

  You gotta mix a little bit of base oil in it so you don't smoke it out right away.

• 33:51Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 33:52Joe Flamm?

  You go like a little bit of base oil, like canola, whatever. Pour a little of that jarred oil in there.

• 33:57Adrienne Cheatham?

  Equal parts, like canola and jardiner.

• 33:59Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Depending on how spicy you want it.

• 34:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 34:02Joe Flamm?

  Pop a pot of popcorn in there.

• 34:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, I'm doing that.

• 34:06Joe Flamm?

  It is so good. And it's like, cause that flavor just like permeates the whole kernel.

• 34:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 34:13Joe Flamm?

  And it's like, just the heat just like builds and builds, but you like can't stop eating it. And it's just like, like, it's like a visceral taste memory of like sitting in their house. They, they, they lived in this two flats. And like being there, like eating that spicy popcorn, like drinking a like raspberry La Croix, like to try to chase out the spice with it and just like that weird flavor combo in my head, but it's like so visceral. But there's just, there's so many things to do with jardiner. You throw it into pasta sauce.

• 34:42Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 34:43Joe Flamm?

  Throw it in braises to add flavor. You know what I mean? Like an assabucco or a beef, but it's like, you know, fold it into a bay days, make a spicy jarred mayo for burgers or sandwiches or whatever. So it's like a jar of jarred. I think it's like, maybe it's not the most versatile, but it's a really, really fun workhorse one. I got, I got one more. Give me your one secret weapon one. Doesn't have to be like reasonable, doesn't have to be versatile, doesn't have to be like, oh, I can use this in everything. It's just one where you're like, when I want to do something that makes it just like a little bit nicer. Like, you know what I mean? This is what I do. That's like, kind of my like sneaky level up.

• 35:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. So I am partial to, okay. Now you know me, I'm a rule breaker. So I've got two.

• 35:35Joe Flamm?

  What is this?

• 35:37Adrienne Cheatham?

  One is Hondashi.

• 35:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  Dashi granules.

• 35:42Joe Flamm?

  Mm hmm.

• 35:42Adrienne Cheatham?

  That was one of my ingredients on Top Chef that they let you bring a few things to keep in your box.

• 35:47Joe Flamm?

  In your box?

• 35:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  That was in my box and I sprinkle a little pinch here, a little pinch there. It melts and caramelizes in a pan. You can add some butter to build a base for a sauce. So Hondashi is a sleeper. I, I add a pinch of it when I'm cooking grits, like game changer. So much umami, but Shio Koji is probably my real sleeper. It's great to put on proteins.

• 36:12Joe Flamm?

  I don't know what that is.

• 36:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's Koji, like if you're gonna start miso, it's the Koji mold.

• 36:20Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

• 36:21Adrienne Cheatham?

  But it's a liquid version of it and it's kind of like a seasoning, but it can also tenderize your proteins. So I've experimented with it where I've done like salmon belly that I'm gonna put on a wicked hot banchioton grill, right? So marinated the salmon. If you marinate it too long, it gets too intense and it adds too much umami to it. But if you marinate your proteins for, if it's a light protein, like fish, 10, 15 minutes. If you want to go like a deeper, like a more dense protein, like steak or chicken, you can let it go overnight. And then you just kind of like wipe off the excess. It's kind of like, you know, the Nobu miso black cod.

• 37:06Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 37:06Adrienne Cheatham?

  It kind of has that effect on the protein. It tightens the protein, but also tenderizes it and it just gets that seasoning all up in there. It is a game changer. I love Shio Koji. That is my jam.

• 37:21Joe Flamm?

  Man, all right. You gotta put me on.

• 37:23Adrienne Cheatham?

  I, I'm gonna send you a pallet.

• 37:25Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, I've, I've never used it.

• 37:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, you will love it, especially like on something like swordfish, marinate it for like 10 minutes. Oh, before you grill it or cook it. Man, I'm telling you.

• 37:38Joe Flamm?

  Put me on some game.

• 37:39Adrienne Cheatham?

  What's your sleeper?

• 37:41Joe Flamm?

  All right. So my sleeper, and this is, is this is kind of breakfast specific because now it's like, this is a weird thing, right? When I was a cook coming up, I'm sure same as you, like I never ate breakfast. You know what I mean? When I was a chef before I had kids, I never ate breakfast. You know what I mean? I was very much into the Italian style of breakfast of, you know, some sort of caffeine and nicotine.

• 38:00Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 38:01Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean?

• 38:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Coffee and a cigarette.

• 38:02Joe Flamm?

  The perfect balance Italian breakfast, maybe a cornetto if you're feeling fancy.

• 38:08Joe Flamm?

  But now that I have two little kids who go to school five days a week, it's like, I make breakfast seven days a week, basically.

• 38:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 38:15Joe Flamm?

  Um, and so I hadn't cooked a lot of breakfast food. So it was like something I had to get back into. And one thing I realized in the secret world of cooking breakfast and as all breakfast cooks now is clarified butter.

• 38:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, oh, yes.

• 38:31Joe Flamm?

  The clarified butter is just, and like I've used it before, you know, from like when I worked at places where we'd make hollandaise and we'd make bernaise and we'd make, you know what I mean? All sorts of stuff with it, but we did a lot more of that in it. You know what I mean? And like maybe like searing some veg in it. If you were doing like an old school, you know what I mean? Like you'd pick up a veg set in it and then like a little bit of water and do, you know, like a bermontaise or something, right? You know, like that old school style. But when I started cooking breakfast a lot, like making pancakes

• 39:03Joe Flamm?

  and clarified butter.

• 39:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Ooh.

• 39:05Joe Flamm?

  Is like anything else. And I've tried, I've made so many goddamn pancakes. I went from, I would say like, if there was a graph in my life of pancakes made and it started at birth and went till when Luca was born at 33, it was like, you know, like one, one, one, one, one, one, one. And then the last seven years, it's like 10,574 pancakes.

• 39:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh my god.

• 39:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  That is, I mean,

• 39:32Joe Flamm?

  Every fat, every pan, I've tried everything.

• 39:35Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 39:35Joe Flamm?

  Clarified butter for pancakes, clarified butter for French toast.

• 39:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  Ooh, clarified butter for grilled cheese.

• 39:42Joe Flamm?

  Clarified butter for grilled cheese. Hits on that. Clarified butter in your waffle maker.

• 39:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, yes. Yes. Oh, my God. Clarified butter is delicious. Like, once they started selling it like as ghee.

• 39:56Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 39:57Adrienne Cheatham?

  Like then it became more accessible. You're right. Because before that at home, I'm like, I'm not gonna clarify butter.

• 40:03Joe Flamm?

  I'm not gonna clarify butter.

• 40:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Started selling ghee. I was like, oh, I can just buy a jar of clarified butter.

• 40:09Joe Flamm?

  Well, and it's like, because you said the only time you saw it was like at the restaurants where it's like those plastic peanut butter tubs of clarified butter were to be the huge thing of it. You know what I mean? And you melt it down to make hollandaise or brines.

• 40:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  And let's explain a little bit, just really quickly, for anybody who's not familiar with clarified butter, AKA ghee. This is just when butter is an emulsification of water and fat. So when you melt butter, you know, it starts to separate and you get that clear liquid gold. That is the clarified butter.

• 40:39Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. So you just scoop it up off all the milk solids. You're scooping those out and you just end up with just that beautiful liquid gold.

• 40:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  And you're right, it's shelf stable because you've removed all of the water content. So it is essentially just a solid fat.

• 40:53Joe Flamm?

  That's it.

• 40:54Adrienne Cheatham?

  No liquid. It's not gonna go rancid in the pantry.

• 40:56Joe Flamm?

  No, it just sits there and it rips. It's like,

• 40:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  That is a great one.

• 41:01Joe Flamm?

  It was one I did not have in my pantry 10 years ago. It's one I didn't have in my pantry probably eight years ago. And now it is one I never do not have in my pantry because it just rips.

• 41:18Joe Flamm?

  I had a lot of fun the other week when we were talking about kitchen gadgets. We were talking about like shit we wanted to throw away at other people's houses.

• 41:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 41:25Joe Flamm?

  So I feel like we gotta get a little into what's in other people's pantry.

• 41:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes. Oh, my God.

• 41:31Joe Flamm?

  So what would you say? You walk in, you see in somebody's pantry and you're instantly like, I'm gonna like, hey, can you get me something from the other room? And I'm gonna throw this away while you're out.

• 41:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, okay. I am immediately throwing away truffle oil.

• 41:47Joe Flamm?

  No, that's a good one.

• 41:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  I've seen like they're they're like truffled hot sauce, truffle oil, truffle this garbage, trash, trash. I am immediately judging and throwing it away. Because it's synthetic. There is no real flavor compound that you can capture to get truffle flavor in something. They may have a couple dried flakes of like some bullshit summer truffle in there, some shade to make you think that it's luxurious and it's all that. But no, absolutely not. It's synthetic. You're you're doing yourself a favor by getting rid of it. So I'm absolutely throwing away truffle oil. That's that's me personally. I'd rather just like,

• 42:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  I'd rather like invite you over during truffle season and like, you know, we can shave some over like an omelet or pasta.

• 42:36Joe Flamm?

  No, you can invite me over anytime for that. I'm gonna put a bottle of truffle oil in my house just so you can throw it away and invite me over for fresh white truffles. I got a guy.

• 42:44Adrienne Cheatham?

  I didn't say fresh white truffles now.

• 42:45Joe Flamm?

  I got a guy. He'll send them to New York. It's not a problem. I'll get them there.

• 42:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  I said truffle season. I didn't specify black or white.

• 42:53Joe Flamm?

  I mine's a really simple one. It's the pre-ground like McCormick black pepper.

• 43:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, yeah.

• 43:04Joe Flamm?

  That doesn't taste like anything. It just tastes like gunpowder. You know what I mean? It tastes like sitting in a Wendy's in 1992. It's older than, you know what I mean? Like, most of the people in the house.

• 43:17Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 43:17Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? It's like patinaed.

• 43:20Joe Flamm?

  You're just saying it looks like it survived three hurricanes. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like, it's almost one ubiquitous color now. You know what I mean? There's no, there's no, you know, like gradient to it.

• 43:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 43:32Joe Flamm?

  You know, and it's just like, and like, fresh pepper makes a huge, huge difference, especially like, you know, so many cuisines, Italian cuisines, you know, especially. But it's like, I, I want to throw that away so bad. I will send you a pepper mill or even just one of the little plastic ones from grocery store.

• 43:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  McCormick even sells the ones that have the grinder and the whole pepper corns in it.

• 43:49Joe Flamm?

  The one that's like a tin that it looks like they made it like a World War II ration of black pepper for GIs that they were dropping on the beach. Like, that's, I'm throwing it to the trash.

• 43:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's such a nostalgic thing. I can picture that exact tin with the two little tabs that you open up. I can picture that at like every family member's house of mine growing up.

• 44:09Joe Flamm?

  All right. What, uh, what do you think people buy and never use? Number one thing you see in your pantry and you're like, you don't fucking use this shit.

• 44:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, I feel like most people buy and never use vanilla beans and saffron. And they're so expensive.

• 44:25Joe Flamm?

  House are you hanging out at?

• 44:31Joe Flamm?

  I have never walked into a friend or loved one's house and they had a fresh vanilla bean nor saffron.

• 44:38Adrienne Cheatham?

  I've seen a lot of people who have like, you know, those little teeny, it looks like a little drug tube size of saffron, but they've had it for like five years. And yeah, then like,

• 44:51Adrienne Cheatham?

  or like a little, like, you know how I got this in a gift bag, you know, like the vanilla beans that come in like these test tubes? And I'll use it. I will actually use these, but I feel like people spend money on vanilla beans because they saw this recipe. They got real froggy. And they were really excited about doing it. And then they don't use it properly.

• 45:11Joe Flamm?

  If you told me to go find a fresh vanilla bean out of someone's house right now and you gave me an hour, I don't know if I could do it.

• 45:19Joe Flamm?

  Definitely not within a three mile square radius of where I live.

• 45:23Adrienne Cheatham?

  Surprise. They're probably buried in the back, dry as hell because they've never been used in 10 years. Instead of that, I think people should buy vanilla bean paste.

• 45:34Joe Flamm?

  Oh, that stuff rules.

• 45:35Adrienne Cheatham?

  It is. It's like,

• 45:36Joe Flamm?

  Really, really good.

• 45:37Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's like extract on steroids. It's got the actual vanilla beans in it. So it's gonna give you more flavor. It's gonna give you that look of the actual vanilla beans without having to scrape. And then save the pod, put it in sugar. Like, nobody's going through all that.

• 45:52Joe Flamm?

  I'm with you on that, but I think it's like, you're like, I just feel like too many people have, you know, Porsches that they don't drive. You know what I mean? Like, that's crazy. That's crazy.

• 46:03Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. So what do you see that people have that they never use?

• 46:06Joe Flamm?

  Um, like bullshit, high-end, super flaky salts. And I'm not talking about Maldon. Like the ones, and I feel like it was more like, this might be more like, like 10 years ago, like five years ago, but like, they're like, oh, I have the black volcanic salt. And I have the pink Himalayan salt. And I have this orange salt from the Sea of Gibraltar. You know, it's like, whatever, you know? I feel like those where it's like, for what?

• 46:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right, right.

• 46:32Joe Flamm?

  For what? Like, you know what I mean? You're making seared ahi tuna because it's 2003 and you know what I mean? You work for Bobby Flay? Like, what are we talking about? Like, um, you know, like, it's just, I feel like that's one where it's like, when you see they have like 11 salts and it's like,

• 46:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 46:50Joe Flamm?

  Using this.

• 46:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's real.

• 46:51Joe Flamm?

  Nobody's using this.

• 46:52Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. I have this tube of Selgri. Have you ever used it? No. Great. Like, what's the point? What is the point? Yeah, that's a good one. Okay, so I have one last question to add to your section. What is something that you think looks really fancy that somebody is really proud of having in their pantry? Sometimes they'll leave it on the counter. But it's not actually worth buying.

• 47:17Joe Flamm?

  This is gonna be kind of contradictory.

• 47:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh.

• 47:21Joe Flamm?

  I think a lot of people buy really, really nice olive oil. And don't use it and don't know what to do with it.

• 47:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  Hmm.

• 47:31Joe Flamm?

  Like they'll have a jar of it on their counter and it's like, have you ever touched it?

• 47:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's just for show.

• 47:37Joe Flamm?

  They're like, it's not for cooking. It's like, no, no, I know. I know what that shit's for.

• 47:43Joe Flamm?

  I don't know a lot of things, but I know what that shit's for. You know what I mean? It's like, I know almost nothing else. In fact, but I feel like they like, you know, you'll have like a super expensive fancy like bottle of olive oil. That's just like, and they like treat it like they, like it's a battle bottle of Pappy.

• 48:02Joe Flamm?

  They're like, oh, you see that bottle of Pappy? I have a bottle of Pappy. It's like, are we drinking that bottle of Pappy? It's like, oh, no.

• 48:07Adrienne Cheatham?

  No, no.

• 48:08Joe Flamm?

  Highly, highly allocated.

• 48:13Joe Flamm?

  You know, and it's like, that's not what you're supposed to do with olive oil. You're supposed to use it.

• 48:16Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 48:17Joe Flamm?

  It's a lot of some shit. It's delicious.

• 48:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  Exactly.

• 48:18Joe Flamm?

  So it's like kind of contradictory where I think it's like, I love good olive oil, but it's like, you know? What do you got?

• 48:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  I think I'd have to say, this is gonna sound weird, but I don't think, unless you're using it regularly, I don't think for for most home cooks, I don't think Maldon salt is worth buying.

• 48:43Joe Flamm?

  Wow.

• 48:45Adrienne Cheatham?

  I don't think.

• 48:46Joe Flamm?

  That's the last thing I thought I would hurt out here out of you.

• 48:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  I, I mean, I would love if everybody actually used it, but a lot of times people just have it and they don't use it. So you just have it in your cupboard, but you've never opened it or you've used it once to put on like top of some salted chocolate cupcakes.

• 49:08Joe Flamm?

  I will say though, this is totally contradict everything we just said. When people have this shit, where it's like, I go to their house and they have really nice olive oil and they have Maldon and they don't use it. And they're like, you can use it. I'm like, I'm gonna use the shit out of this.

• 49:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, they say you can use it?

• 49:22Joe Flamm?

  Look, they say you can use it. You know what I mean? If they're like, oh, yeah, I have that, but like, don't use it, you know, whatever. But if it's like, you're cooking at someone's house and like, oh, I have some really good olive oil there. It's like, okay, I'm gonna rip that then.

• 49:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  See, I don't know. Like, whose houses are you going over? Because like, I go to my friends' houses. I'm not cooking over there. I'm bringing a bottle of wine.

• 49:37Joe Flamm?

  I'm saying if I'm going and like, like I do dinners at people's homes.

• 49:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 49:41Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Like sometimes. And it's like, so I cook in a lot of random kitchens. And it's like, oh, what's going on in here? And like seeing what they have. And sometimes I'll be like, oh, I have this. I'm like, okay. You know, like, you know, they're like, if you want to use it, because they don't know how to use it. I'm like, yeah, hell yeah. You know how many kitchens I've walked into? I cooked a dinner with Steph and Shota. And we walked in, we turned on the oven. I said, turn the oven off. And we had to go in and peel the plastic off the oven.

• 50:06Adrienne Cheatham?

  Are you kidding me?

• 50:07Joe Flamm?

  And we asked the people, we're like, oh, did you just move in? They're like, yeah, about nine months ago. We're like, okay.

• 50:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  And they had never used the oven?

• 50:15Joe Flamm?

  They hadn't turned it on.

• 50:17Adrienne Cheatham?

  Holy.

• 50:18Joe Flamm?

  They hadn't turned it on in nine months.

• 50:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  Shit.

• 50:21Joe Flamm?

  Super nice oven. Super nice. I was like, that's crazy. Like, you didn't even have to reheat something? Keep something warm?

• 50:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  Do they have an air fryer? Is that what they use instead or toaster oven?

• 50:31Joe Flamm?

  I just don't think they cooked anything.

• 50:34Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, my God.

• 50:34Joe Flamm?

  It was wild. And it's like, and I've, I've seen it. And I've seen it since then, other places where I've, I've cooked with my team and they were like, when to turn the oven on? I said, check the inside first. And they're like, oh, and they always go to like the old thing where they're like, oh, you think there's pans in there? I go, no. And they're like, oh, there's, there's plastic in here.

• 50:53Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, my God. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I just, I think that I love Maldon. I use it a lot. But if you're spending money on something to just let it sit there, it is not worth buying. Fancy oven included. If it's just for show, it's not worth spending all that money on. Like, just get a salt, get a fine sea salt that you're gonna use more often.

• 51:21Joe Flamm?

  All right, Age. On that note.

• 51:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  Joe, it has been a blast as always. I'm gonna take me and my light skin and show these and.

• 51:32Joe Flamm?

  Till next week, Age.

• 51:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  See you, Joe.

• 51:38Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's it for this episode of The Chef's Cut. Head to the comments to tell us your go-to pantry staples that everyone needs to know about. And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube and follow us on IG. For Joe Flamm, I'm Adrian Cheatham, and this has been The Chef's Cut. Life beyond the past.