What Carla Lalli Can’t Cook Without

I think these are the best frozen ramen noodles you can get. I like Sun’s flavored ones, but I really like the unflavored ones. Unflavored means you can use them in whatever application without boxing yourself in. They are great for the fast little kimchi soup I always make — there’s a recipe inFood Is a Feelingfor it. They’re also good to make cold noodles with. They cook in about three minutes, and they’re super-high-quality. They are chewy and have great toothsome bite, al dente–style. They’re so much thicker and more satisfying than the dried packets. If I have to buy a flavored one, I likeshoyuthe best because it’s seasoned without being overwhelming.

It’s really hard to get true Aleppo pepper right now because of the conflict in Syria, so I’ve slowly moved over to using Urfa in a lot of the situations where I used to use Aleppo. It has a true purplish-black color. The flavor is deep, dark, and smoky — like chocolate and raisin with a little bit of spiciness. I love the Burlap & Barrel one because it is so moist. In fact, it’s so fresh and moist that it actually clumps together, like the way finely ground coffee beads up. When you use it to make a yogurt dip, the oils bleed into the yogurt and create a streaky chili-oil effect. I use it in my popcorn recipe. We did a special screening ofMaddie’s Secretwhile John Early was on tour, and I gave out packets of the popcorn spice blend in the theater. I used the Urfa chili and it added a rich smokiness you don’t get from Aleppo. I used it last night when making a simple aglio e olio with kale. I seasoned it with garlic and Urfa and black pepper, and it was great.

Regular supermarket sherry vinegars are good, but this specific one is two clicks better for just a couple dollars more. Distilled white vinegar and sherry vinegar are the two I use the most. Sherry vinegar has a little bit of sweetness, but it doesn’t go quite as fruity as cider vinegar. It has a malty, woodsy flavor that sits right in the middle, making it incredible for vinaigrettes. I also love sherry vinegar in a pot of lentils, at the end of a braise, or splashed over fresh tomatoes.

On my solo weeks when my younger son is with his dad, things can get pretty random at mealtime. One of my personal mantras is if you have kimchi, you have a vegetable. I go through jars and jars of this one. Kimchi in general is something everyone should keep in the fridge at all times. You’re supporting your gut health, you have a fermented food ready to go, and you have kimchi juice for cooking. I’ll put it in a tuna bowl, use it in a gochujang salmon bowl, or throw it into fried rice. Sometimes when I’m cooking a dinner that isn’t super veggie-heavy, I’ll just snack on kimchi straight from the jar while I cook. That way, I get my vegetables and probiotics handled. People don’t realize eating a couple pieces of cabbage kimchi a day is so much cheaper than buying probiotic supplements.

I have become hooked on this dried pasta. It’s made in San Francisco. I like the spaghetti in particular because it sits right in between standard spaghetti and thick spaghetti — thicker than average, but not quite a perciatelli or bucatini. Because it’s made with high-quality wheat and bronze-extruded, the matte, textured surface holds onto sauce well and the starch creates very creamy pasta dishes.

I like a lot of jarred anchovies in oil, but the Fishwife ones won me over.Anya Fernalddid these wild tinned-fish taste tests on social media, eating smoked mussels and bites of straight butter, and when she rated these anchovies, I really trusted her verdict. They aren’t so precious or outrageously expensive that you feel bad melting them down into a sauce, but they’re plump, meaty, and consistent enough to serve whole on a gilda, a cracker, or a Caesar salad. I have a specific system for when I open the tin and don’t need to use all of them: I discard the metal lid and set the open tin onto the inverted lid of a plastic deli container. The rimmed deli lid acts like a tray underneath the tin. Then I wrap the whole setup tightly in plastic wrap. That way, when the oil liquefies at room temperature, the deli lid acts like a moat to catch any drips and keeps the counter clean.

I like this grapeseed oil because it’s super-consistent. It comes in a metal can, which protects the oil from light oxidation. Grapeseed oil can be very expensive compared with other neutral options, but the Thrive version is reasonably priced, has a clean flavor, and maintains a nice green color. It’s one of the few staple items I keep on automatic subscription because I go through it at a steady pace. It feels higher quality than standard canola oil. For deep-frying, I like peanut oil, but for general neutraloil uses — like high-heat searing, crisping up tofu, stir-frying, or making a nutritional yeast vinaigrette — grapeseed oil gives you high performance without imparting unwanted flavor.

I have a mezcal margarita recipe inFood Is a Feeling. After my dad passed, my family really centered mezcal in our lives as a comforting ritual. Around that time, a bartender friend made me a tequila sour with the most perfect proportions I’d ever had. The beauty of his ratio is it works universally across tequila, mezcal, gin, or bourbon. I started making his sour formula with mezcal and it became my absolute favorite drink. Instead of the standard 2:1:1 ratio, it’s 2.25 parts spirit to 1 part simple syrup to 1 part citrus juice (either all lime, all lemon, or a mix of both). It is shaken and very flexible, and it works every time. At home, I skip the egg white for convenience, but if my bartender friend is making it, the egg white goes in for that classic foam. As for brand selection, mezcal production sustainability can be tricky to navigate. The brand I buy has an excellent reputation for sustainable practices and fair treatment of farmers. Flavor-wise, it has a distinct smokiness without being totally overwhelming.

I’ve loved Red Boat for a very long time. It’s an absolute fridge staple. I use it constantly for dipping sauces, finishing cooked beans, or adding quick depth to a simple ground-beef dish. It is salty, has the right touch of natural sweetness, and never tastes harsh or chemical. The company does a fantastic job with its traditional fermentation process.

A while back, I did a deep dive to understand all the different canned tuna varieties — skipjack, albacore, ventresca — so I knew what was actually worth buying. If you view a high-end jar of tuna as a primary protein source for a meal, spending $14 on one feels much more reasonable, especially in comparison to buying fresh meat or seafood. Ramón Peña uses hand-packed, sustainably caught albacore (labeled as Bonito del Norte, or white tuna). Albacore is firm, mild, and clean-tasting, so sourcing it from a sustainable producer matters. I make regular tuna salad, tuna melts, tuna pasta with eggs, and tuna rice bowls. When my older son, Leo, was living with me over the summer, we went through a ton of it. If I’m making tuna salad, I always make extra so there’s a container ready in the fridge to eat with Ritz crackers. We love it in this house packed in olive oil. The oil itself is delicious, so after draining the tuna, I save the excess and drizzle it over my dog Marge’s food for the omega fatty acids.