What Deb Perelman Can’t Cook Without

Whenever I mention white vinegar, people are like, “The stuff for cleaning?” I’ve never personally cleaned with it. Vinegar doesn’t always need to have a flavor like red wine, white wine, or balsamic. I have every vinegar you can buy, but basic white vinegar works really well for certain things. It’s the best for pickling. We’re Russian, and my family puts it on pelmeni — the frozen ones. They’re really good with white vinegar and black pepper. I like it for salt and vinegar purposes, like making salt and vinegar potatoes, or salt and vinegar charred cabbage, which is on my site and in my last cookbook. It’s neutral — just acidity. The flavor can come from whatever else you’re adding to it, like garlic, butter, or spices.

If you’ve ever had brown bread, or a proper craggy soda bread, they’re using these coarse wholemeal flours. We tend to associate whole-wheat baked goods with being dense, heavy, and dry, but I think that’s just the whole-wheat flour we generally use here. When you have extra parts of the bran and germ in it, like with this, it almost feels like a mix between minced oats and whole-wheat flour. There’s actually something looser to the crumb. I started buying it because we make these soda-bread scones on the weekends. But then I slowly stopped buying other whole-wheat flours. I don’t do a ton of whole-wheat baking, but I’ll swap some into a pancake, waffle, or bread, and I really prefer it. It’s fluffier, looser, and nuttier.

I feel extremely strongly about egg noodles. My mom’s side of the family is German, so an appreciation of broad, buttered egg noodles as a side dish definitely comes from there. I always grab them when I’m at Schaller & Weber on the Upper East Side. They’re not expensive or fancy at all, but they’re my go-to egg noodle. If I’m making chicken noodle soup, I want these. They should be soft — like you should easily be able to put your fork through them. We love them as a side dish with beef stew, mushroom bourguignon, or just as a comfort meal with butter and a lot of chives.

This is a grocery-store French mustard. It’s really inexpensive there. Obviously, we pay a little bit more over here. I always grab some if I’m in Paris. I find it sharper. You almost get a little taste of wine in there — but it’s a very clean flavor. If you’re putting a spoonful in a vinaigrette, or doing Dijon chicken, you’re definitely going to notice it. I use it in deviled eggs, chicken salad, and egg salad. I love to brush it at the bottom of a quiche or a savory galette before you add all the vegetables. It just gives it a little kick.

I figure everybody must mention Rancho Gordo beans because they’re so good. I always turn to their Royal Coronas. They’re large white beans, similar to gigante beans or Greek beans, and they’re so fun because they have real bite — almost like a mini piece of gnocchi. I often use them the way you would pasta. That’s a pro-bean, not anti-pasta, thing. I built my original pizza beans recipe in my second cookbook on them. You can use any white bean, but it’s just so fun with a big, dramatic one. I feel like when you make a bean salad with them, the beans really show up.

When I first started cooking, my friend David Lebovitz brought me some fleur de sel, and I didn’t understand it. I didn’t get the texture. I was super-obsessed with Maldon flaky salt — who wouldn’t be? I didn’t understand the charm of these larger pieces, but I’ve gone fully the other way in the years since. They look like coarse granules, but they’re really pretty soft. And they have such a nice flavor and texture. There’s a salty impact without being heavy or taking over a dish. I’m not salting pasta water with them but use them for everything else.

I don’t believe in expiration dates. I keep a lot of Better Than Bouillon in the fridge and use them for years. I’ve never had one that tasted off or bad. I use them all, but they have two vegetable-broth bases that are really strong. I’ve never had a boxed vegetable broth that tasted good to me, but both of their vegetable bases are great. Their basic vegetable base is darker in color and very robust, which goes really well with mushrooms or wintery dishes. Their No Chicken Base has a mirepoix flavor and is one of their strongest. If you don’t eat meat or just want options, you should keep both around — one as a darker option, and one as a lighter. I use them in soups, stews, braises, beans, or vegetable dishes where you’re adding a bit of broth. The directions say to add one teaspoon to a cup of boiling water and whisk it together, but I am way too lazy to wash extra dishes. If you watch my cooking videos, you’ll see that after sautéing onions, garlic, or tomato paste, I throw the Better Than Bouillon directly into the pot, sauté it for a moment, and then add a cup of water directly.

I think of Royal Cinnamon as the flavor of cinnamon. Most pastry chefs I’ve spoken to are pretty obsessed with it. It’s just a really perfect cinnamon. It has a little more impact. Teaspoon for teaspoon, you could probably use three-quarters of this one for one teaspoon of regular cinnamon. There’s sweetness, but you get a little bit of sharpness — a suggestion that it is a spice. It’s loud and complex. I use it mostly for baking, especially fall baking.

My daughter loves to get mango with Tajín from street vendors. As far as street snacks go, it’s top tier. It’s funny because she really doesn’t like spice and she’s really picky, but now she wants Tajín on everything, which is why it made it onto this list. We’re putting it on fruit, cucumbers — everything. If you’re making esquites — that street corn with mayo and cheese — you’ve definitely got to have Tajín on top. It’s also important on the rim of a margarita glass.

I’ve worked from home for 18 years and still don’t always know what to make for lunch. The best thing is leftovers, but when I don’t have those, my friend Ali Rosen said, “You should get these A-Sha noodle packets.” It’s a really good Taiwanese noodle brand. They’re basically single-serving ramen, but the noodles are baked, not fried, so it doesn’t feel as heavy. The packet is just a simple soy-sauce seasoning, and you can gussy it up. I’ll go into the fridge and throw in whatever vegetables I have to use up — sautéed zucchini or fresh peas from the market. I just throw them in while the noodles boil. The packet says three minutes, but it’s more like four to five. You can throw in anything you can poach. If I’m trying to take particularly good care of myself, I’ll make a poached egg to put on top, then finish it with their seasoning packet, some chile oil, and toasted sesame seeds. It’s such a good lunch for one person.

These are one of my absolute favorite snacks. They’re the saltiest and a little funky. They’re an airport-travel favorite. If I see them at a rest stop or an airport, you can keep the Biscoff cookies; I want these almonds with my ginger ale. I actually worked them into a recipe. Anywhere you put almonds, they make it a lot more fun. But in my last book, I have an endive salad with apple matchsticks and a blue-cheese dressing, and I cover it with these.