How to Source, Store, and Use 10 Essential Global Condiments

Gochujang

Hot, roasted, complex, funky, sweet

Thick, glossy, and deep red, this essential Korean chile paste is a powerhouse of spicy, salty, fermented flavors, rounded out with a little sweetness. It’s made from fermented soybeans, gochugaru (Korean ground red pepper), salt, and sticky rice. Gochujang is melted into the meaty sauce and brings sweet and spicy depth to Ground Beef Bulgogi Sloppy Joes with Fiery Napa Slaw and is essential in Korean cooking, landing on Korean barbecue tables as an integral part of ssamjang (the spicy, salty sauce served with the meat). 

Shopping intel: Look for the iconic red tubs, not the squeezable, thinner, vinegary gochujang-flavored sauces. Sold in Asian markets or Korean-focused stores like H Mart. One brand we like is Chung Jung One. 

Other uses: Work into a marinade for meat (especially grilled pork), adding a little rice vinegar, honey, and miso. Mix with oil and toss with potatoes before roasting. Stir a spoonful into a meaty ragu or a marinara sauce for a kick of spice.

Storage: Once opened, gochujang keeps in the fridge, well-sealed with a layer of plastic wrap under the lid, for ages.

Preserved Lemons

Supple, salty, lemony, deep

Morocco’s most glorious pickle is one of our favorite flavor boosters in the global pantry, and unequivocally worth making yourself (we have a recipe in the book). Preserved lemons are used in many North African and Middle Eastern cuisines but are absolutely central to Moroccan cooking. Both the peel and the flesh are gorgeous after the 1-month fermentation. Finely chopped, they add a tangy and salty bite accompanied by a light floral aroma to Slow-Roasted Salmon with Citrus-Olive Relish. 

Shopping intel: In a pinch, jarred versions can be found in fancy foods stores and of course in Middle Eastern and North African food shops. We’ve tried several and found they have a cooked-citrus quality that detracts from the pure lemony bliss of the homemade stuff. 

Other uses: In cream cheese spreads, tahini-enriched vinaigrettes, spicy tomato soups and stews, on flatbreads with spices, with eggplant or stewed lamb, even in icings for lemon muffins. By the way, the syrupy brine is also delicious.

Storage: Sealed in jars before opening, for months in a cool, dark place. After opening, in the fridge for many weeks.

Long-Aged French Vinegar

Grapey, tart, ethereal

This vinegar is made from the grenache-based sweet wine of the same name in a southeast region of France, near Spain, and it is showcased in our Broiled Leeks with Toasted Pine Nut Sauce as it imparts the nutty sauce with a sweet and tangy complexity. Seek bottles with four, five, or even six years of barrel aging. Unlike industrial-production wine vinegars, Banyuls is deeply grapey though bone dry, with a haunting, persistent, piercing, sun-roasted fruity-nutty quality on the tongue and an aroma that you just have to experience. 

Shopping intel: Sold in some French or European specialty-food stores, but Amazon and other online sources are a good alternative. Pricey (up to $20 for a bottle), but powerfully worth every drop.

Other uses: Pretty much any savory dish that will be elevated by a touch of acidic, nutty zing.

Storage: Months or longer in the pantry.

Palm Sugar

Intense, richly flavored, deeply caramel, crumbly, tangy

Many Southeast Asian palm tree sugars are pale in color and mild in taste, but gula jawa, from Indonesia, is chocolate-dark and has an almost briny, profound caramel intensity that is simply remarkable. It’s critical in many Indonesian dishes, both savory and sweet. Gula jawa pulls double-duty in our Chewy-Fudgy Almond Butter and Palm Sugar Cookies, bringing a caramelized sweetness to the four ingredient dough while also enhancing the underlying earthy and nutty notes.

Shopping intel: Look in a good Asian-food store like H Mart, where it will sit with many other types of sugar. It’s sold in cylinders and blocks, variously called palm sugar, coconut sugar, gula  jawa, gula merah, or even — in one case — “Island Ambrosial Nectar Palm Sugar.” Key factors: It should be very dark brown and made in Indonesia. If you have no local store, Amazon sells several varieties. 

Other uses: Stir small chunks into half-thawed vanilla ice cream and refreeze. Microplane onto oatmeal or grits, melt to make a powerful syrup, sprinkle into cookie dough, or use in place of brown sugar for a streusel. 

Storage: Once opened, gula jawa will quickly turn from its moist, almost crumbly texture to sugary stone. To avoid that, triple wrap with plastic and store in a tight jar, where it will keep for ages. If it does harden, make a syrup on the stove with water.

Chipotles in Adobo

Hot, smoky-rich, tangy, saucy

In Mexico’s two-in-one pantry star, dried and smoked jalapeños are reconstituted in a mixture whose recipe has a Spanish origin, adobo. Mexican adobo usually contains onion, garlic, sugar, vinegar, paprika, and herbs such as bay leaves and oregano, plus salt and sugar. Both the tangy, smoky, not-sweet barbecue-like sauce and the bonus clutch of supple whole smoky chiles can be used in recipes. We turned to this flavor-packed ingredient to amp up the spice and smokiness in our Lightnin’ Fast Weeknight Skillet Chili.

Shopping intel: Almost any Hispanic or Mexican section in a supermarket will have at least one variety. After tasting five brands, we loved La Morena for its smooth, smoky balanced adobo, not too hot, and its large, plump, succulent chipotles. 

Other uses: Puree for a ready-made thick sauce of considerable complexity and fire. Add to chilis, black beans, and barbecue sauces. Stir some of the adobo sauce into sour cream or Greek yogurt for a dip or taco topping. Chop and put in mashed Yukon gold or sweet potatoes. 

Storage: In an unopened can, for years. After opening, a week or so in the fridge. Can chop or puree leftovers and freeze in ice cube trays for longer storage.

Coconut Cream

Creamy, rich, coconutty, mouth-filling 

For richness, in savory and sweet dishes, nothing is as handy in the global pantry as a can of coconut cream. Experience the transformative power of this plant-based essential in our Wedge Salad with Coconut Ranch and Furikake as it adds a velvety texture and rich creaminess to the ranch-inspired dressing. But shopper beware: Manufacturing standards allow for plenty of leeway, in terms of fat and solids content, so check the ingredient list on the can and opt for the fewest ingredients possible. (Make sure you don’t accidentally buy cream of coconut, the sweet syrupy stuff used for piña coladas.) 

Shopping intel: Most supermarkets, as well as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, carry coconut cream, and there are many house and organic brands. In Asian food stores, you can find a huge selection, including tiny cans for smaller portions. 

Other uses: Treat coconut cream gently on the stove; it does not want to be boiled hard, lest the fat separate (unless making a dish like beef rendang). Try it in dairy-free ice creams, just be sure it is thoroughly emulsified or blended; unlike heavy cream, it can resolve into fatty bits if not well emulsified before adding to other ingredients. 

Storage: Stable for months or years in unopened cans. Once opened, store leftovers well sealed in the fridge and use within a week or two. We freeze leftovers, sealing 1-cup quantities in freezer bags.

Korean Toasted Sesame Oil

Roasty-toasty, silky, nutty, tannic 

One’s first taste of the best Korean toasted sesame oil is a big revelation of flavor and texture. The best, most roasty-toasty Korean oils attack with rich “high notes” in the nose; a silky, supple feel in the mouth (with a light cut from tannins); and a clear, persistent nutty flavor unlike any other. Our Spinach, Grapefruit, and Avocado Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette showcases all of these traits as the prized oil is combined with rice vinegar for a deeply toasty, yet perfectly balanced dressing. This oil a bedrock ingredient in Korean cooking, and also used in Chinese, Japanese, and other cuisines.

Shopping intel: Avoid inexpensive industrial oils; good sesame oil will cost $10 or more for a small bottle or can. Look for dark-hued oil (the color of light maple syrup), extracted from carefully roasted seeds — not the clear, light un-toasted variety that sells for much less (the words roasted or toasted may not be on the label, though). Brands we like include Chung Jung One Premium, Otoggi Premium Roasted (made in China — but many Korean oils are made with imported seed), and Beksul. H Mart and similar stores are good sources, or look online.

Other uses: Add to stir-fries of all sorts, gingery vinaigrettes in the Japanese style, spicy dipping sauces for dumplings and noodles, and to ice creams or cookies that want a bit of extra nutty oomph. 

Storage: Will keep for many weeks in a cool, dark place, even longer in the fridge.

Oyster Sauce

Velvety, sweetish, briny, savory

The flavors of Asia’s instant umami-booster are familiar to anyone who has eaten stir-fried vegetable and seafood dishes in Chinese-American restaurants. It’s a glossy star in Cantonese and Hong Kong cooking. For many brands, expensive boiled-oyster stock is stretched with gums, preservatives, starches, coloring, and more. But hunt and ye shall find a few less-processed brands that add oceanic umami without the assertive sea power of fish sauce or shrimp paste. Our Roasted Asparagus with a Savory Butter Sauce relies on this versatile condiment to bring intense umami and a touch of sweetness to the brown butter-based sauce.

Shopping intel: There’s usually an oyster sauce in chain supermarkets, but it may not be the best stuff. Try a large Asian food market. Labels should list oysters first; otherwise, claims of “premium” quality are dubious. Two favorite brands are Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce and Megachef, from Thailand, which is clean, intense, and tangy. 

Other uses: Add to meaty gravies, sauces, and glazes, and of course to stir-fry sauces and noodles. When meats are headed for the slow cooker, add a glug. 

Storage: It will keep in the fridge for weeks after opening.

Miso

Salty, toasty, savory, intense

This thick fermented Japanese soy paste  is one of the most profound things in the global pantry. It’s as complex as a beautifully aged Parmesan and comes in varieties that range from mild to robust, sweetish to very salty, pale beige through yellow to dark red or chocolate brown. Soybeans are steamed, fermented with koji and then aged. The longer the aging, generally, the deeper the color and the flavor. As to not overpower the delicate seafood, we lean on mild white miso in our Shrimp Scampi Vermicelli with Garlicky Miso Butter to impart the weeknight sauté with a subtle nutty sweetness and noticeable complexity. 

Shopping intel: Natural-food stores often carry miso, as do, increasingly, good supermarkets. But Japanese stores and supermarkets like H Mart are likely to have the widest assortment, usually in the refrigerated section. There are plenty of misos made by small American companies, but we recommend a visit to a Japanese or Asian food store to buy a couple of tubs (or pouches) — perhaps a milder white (also known as shiro) or yellow, and a saltier, more intense red version. Also available online, but it ships as a refrigerated product. 

Other uses: Miso will become your go-to secret to inject umami into soups, stews, sauces, meatloaf and burgers, vinaigrettes, marinades, and as part of a glaze to brush onto grilling meats and veg. Try stirring with a wee bit of hot water until a thick slurry forms, then blend. You can also mash it in with a spatula. Delicate and complex, miso retains its flavor best when added later in the cooking cycle, and not boiled. 

Storage: Properly airtight in the refrigerator, miso will keep for many weeks or longer. We find some of the tubs tend to lose their seal, so consider transferring to a jar with a tight lid.

Cultured Butter

Creamy, cheesy, tangy, rich

Fresh cream is inoculated with a live culture and left to ferment before churning, and the result is a creamier, richer, faintly tangy butter that we use in recipes in which buttery flavor is the star. 

Even the most humble vegetable can be elevated to crave-worthy status when cultured butter comes into play. Our Super-Buttery, Super-Simple Irish Cabbage contains only 5 ingredients (one of which is water) allowing the cheese-like richness and mild tang to carry the vegetable to new heights. One of our favorites is widely sold, Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter, while good food shops carry small-producer versions worth seeking out. 

Shopping intel: Available at most national grocery stores. Find it next to the other butters.

Other uses: Great for finishing vegetables, spreading on morning toast, or adding to your favorite biscuit or pound cake recipe.

Storage: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month once opened.