The nine everyday foods top chefs can’t live without and how to use them

Chef Sally Abé, founder of Teal in London, says Tabasco is ‘unbeatable’ on baked beans or with scrambled eggs

It’s no secret that those who spend almost every waking hour in fine-dining kitchens crave simpler pleasures on their rare days off. When it comes to home cooking, there’s nobody to impress (nobody paying, anyway), no margins to be made; their personal kitchens are where chefs can take shortcuts and embrace comforting favourites, guilt-free.

Even the best of them reach for the red sauce (on hot cottage pie? Yes, please). And how about mayonnaise to plump up an omelette, or Tabasco to add flavour quicker than a 12-ingredient marinade ever could?

Here, chefs around the country reveal what canny essentials they can’t live without.

Dried herbs

Often dismissed for being dusty and dated compared with their vastly superior fresh cousins, dried herbs have long been associated with the pastas and pizzas of sub-par 1980s trattorias.

Pascal Wiedemann says, ‘dried oregano is great in pasta sauce’

But Pascal Wiedemann, chef-owner of Pompette in Oxford, couldn’t disagree more. “For convenience, and as a flavour boost, I have a few different dried herbs in the cupboard,” he admits. “Dried oregano is great in pasta sauce, and I’ve got a real soft spot for herbes de Provence, which I use in a simple rotisserie-chicken rub and when barbecuing sausages, chops or steaks. Fresh herbs can never be replaced for finishing a dish, but dried can work well if used with consideration.”

Garlic powder

Roberta Hall-McCarron calls garlic powder a ‘store-cupboard staple’

The ultimate flavour bomb is “a store-cupboard staple in our household”, says Roberta Hall-McCarron, chef-owner of The Little Chartroom, Eleanore and Ardfern in Edinburgh. The concept “feels quite Americanised”, she admits, “but Waitrose does a very good version. It’s great for adding into all sorts of things – scrambled eggs, meat marinades, salad dressings, meatball mixtures, breadcrumbs for pangrattato... the list is endless.” Hall-McCarron isn’t ashamed to admit its appeal: “you get a super punchy, intense garlic flavour without the fuss of mincing garlic cloves and getting your hands messy”.

Tabasco

Chef Sally Abé, founder of Teal in London, uses the iconic hot pepper sauce “all the time” at home: “it’s unbeatable on baked beans or with scrambled eggs”, she says. Her favourite iteration? Chipotle Tabasco, which adds richness and depth to everyday dishes. “I love how it lifts a simple dish, bringing all that smoke and spice. I like having hot sauce with cheese on toast, or if I’m having a jacket potato.”

Sriracha

Paul Ainsworth adds sriracha to his eggs with avocado for breakfast

Hot sauce is a hit with many chefs; for Paul Ainsworth of the eponymous No.6 in Padstow, Cornwall, sriracha (derived from chilli peppers, distilled vinegar and garlic) is top choice. “I absolutely love the sriracha by a brand called Hunter & Gather,” he says, “especially on Cornish eggs with avocado for breakfast, or in the summer brushed over meats on the barbecue for an instant, hassle-free glaze.”

Mayonnaise

Masaki Sugisaki specifically rates the increasingly popular Kewpie brand from Japan

It might be painstakingly made by hand in their restaurants, but for many off-duty chefs mayo comes from a jar – lots of jars.

“I eat a lot of mayonnaise at home,” reveals Tomás Gormley, chef-patron of Cardinal in Edinburgh. When it comes to serving it, however, “I just can’t see past sandwiches”, he admits. “Just ham, cheese, mayo (instead of butter) and then, sometimes, salt-and-vinegar crisps.” Off-the-shelf mayonnaise is often teamed with another indulgence in Gormley’s kitchen: “This is best on normal white bread, it’s not a fancy thing,” he says. “Warburtons Toastie works well. Or just any sliced white from the corner shop.”

Masaki Sugisaki, executive chef at Dinings SW3 in London, is a little more refined – he reaches specifically for the increasingly popular Kewpie brand from Japan (all the rage in Britain’s upmarket sandwich shops), which uses egg yolks instead of whole eggs for an intensely creamy texture. “Kewpie mayo is my guilty pleasure,” he says. “I can’t look past it. I’ve been a big fan since I was a kid and I still use lots of it today. I like to mix some through when I make omelette at home – it makes it really soft and light, and nicely seasoned.”

Tomato ketchup

Sam Buckley says he appreciates the nostalgic value of Heinz tomato sauce as much as anything

These days, miso, soy and Parmesan get all the credit for delivering umami (deeply savoury) notes, but the OG was surely ketchup – a potent-but-entry-level introduction to the fifth taste, thanks to its craveable concentrated tomatoes. Few chefs deny it hits the spot.

“It’s always been about ketchup for me”, says Abé. “I put it on hot cottage pie. Why not? It works so well. I get Heinz, obviously.”

Sam Buckley, chef-owner of Where The Light Gets In in Stockport, Greater Manchester, says he appreciates the nostalgic value of Heinz tomato sauce as much as anything. “We usually have a glass bottle of it at home,” he says. “I joke that I do a thousand Hail Marys for buying it, but I grew up on it and it’s necessary with chips. I often make a quick Marie Rose sauce with it at home, or add it to potato hash.”

In fact, says Buckley, “if I’m having a bacon, sausage and egg bap for breakfast the answer to ‘what sauce’ is just ‘yes’: I have red and brown together.”

Anchovies

Alex Dilling, of Hotel Café Royal in London, will sneak anchovies into most dishes

Such is his love of these opinion-dividing fish that the two-Michelin-starred chef Alex Dilling, of Hotel Café Royal in London, will sneak them into most dishes. “I have a family who aren’t so fond of them, but I find ways to hide them easily,” he says. “Adding anchovies to butter when braising cabbage is a top trick, as is using them blended in a vinaigrette for a punchy salad. They give an amazing umami flavour and can be used when braising.”

Gormley, however, is a recent convert to anchovies. “I used to feel they were unnecessary in meat-based sauces like bolognese, but now I always blitz them up and add them to tomato sauces, melting them with the onions at the start of cooking.” Their most craveable application? “I love them on sourdough toast,” he says.

Yogurt

Adam Handling mixes chia seeds to natural yogurt for a fuelling breakfast or snack

Yogurt, specifically protein yogurt, is the fuel of choice for Adam Handling MBE, who has restaurants scattered across London, Berkshire and Cornwall. “I travel so much these days that I feel content knowing I’ve got yogurt in the fridge for when I get home,” he says. “I eat protein yogurt all the time. I buy natural, full-fat stuff and mix it with chia seeds and leave it to sit. It’s a sort of instant chia pudding. Very good for you. Sometimes I add raw honey, sometimes pumpkin seeds.”

Butter

Brian Danclair says that butter is a mainstay in his kitchen

Who, in all honesty, could live without butter? Vegans aside, there aren’t many of us who don’t desire it spread, whipped, mixed and even poured into our meals. It’s often the reason chefs’ restaurant dishes taste so good. But Brian Danclair, chef and founder of Fish, Wings & Tings in London, admits he adores butter, “to a remarkable degree. It’s a mainstay in my kitchen, used when grilling prawns in a spicy marinade, frying steak before I add a fresh herb salsa, or basting chicken. I even put a big block inside warm croissants,” he says.

For Tommy Banks, chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Black Swan in Oldstead, Yorkshire, butter, specifically the Indian staple ghee (clarified butter that has been simmered to remove the water and milk solids), is essential when constructing breakfast sandwiches. “There’s nothing more delicious on a weekend than a fried egg sandwich cooked with ghee,” he says. “The flavour is incredible, giving a beautiful buttery depth, and it just elevates something so simple.”

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