STOCKING YOUR GLOBAL PANTRY

Trending sauces, spices, pastes and condiments from around the world // By Mike Kostyo

When Delta Air Lines introduced its first-class service in 1954, then dubbed “Golden Crown Service,” the menu was fairly standard American fare: shrimp cocktail, a broiled steak tenderloin, a stuffed baked potato, green beans and a tossed salad with French dressing. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, new additions to “international gourmet” dining menus were mostly French dishes, like duckling à l’orange and lobster thermidor.

How things have changed. Today, when the team at service partner SodexoMagic is developing menus for Delta’s signature Sky Clubs, Mediterranean, Filipino and Caribbean flavors are the order of the day as these flavors become more mainstream and in demand among the airline’s global travelers. A Mediterraneaninspired vegetarian tomato and manchego sandwich is finished with a swipe of Kalamata mayo, while a Filipino plantain slider includes the country’s beloved banana ketchup. Elsewhere on the menu, flavors and ingredients like ube, carrot-ginger dressing, jerk, curry and escovitch (a Caribbean combo of pickled peppers and onions that often tops fish) can be found.

Delta isn’t the only operator with a full pantry of global ingredients. Starting with the Sriracha craze more than a decade ago, globally inspired sauces, condiments, seasonings and flavors have found their way onto just about every menu across the U.S., from on-trend options like gochujang and salsa macha to global mashups like chili crisp aioli and harissa ranch. Whether you’re looking for a creamy base for an entree, a flavor-enhancing paste to add layers of flavor to marinades and stocks, an umami-packed condiment to spread onto sandwiches and handhelds, or a final drizzle or sprinkle for an everpopular bowl, it’s time to take your global pantry to the next level.

Super Sauces

Creamy, indulgent global sauces continue to be culinary powerhouses, adding a rich note to dishes, cutting through the ever-spicier flavors on menus and lending themselves to creative combinations. Chef Itamar Abramovitch of Napa Valley’s Blossom Catering and the culinary mastermind behind the region’s over-the-top (M) EAT CARNIVAL, calls tahini one condiment that allows him to “conquer the world.” He praises its versatility, with variations that can be tangy, sweet, savory and even spicy. “You can braise a dish in it, use it to mask flavors and add it to any sauce,” he says, noting that he often incorporates other sauces into tahini to change the flavor profile.

without the spice — that has incredible depths of flavor,” he says. “You can make your own, but I have also found great ready-made sauces available online.”

Chef Abramovitch is also a fan of amba sauce, which is made from fermented and curried green mango. “It’s a very unique, tangy, zesty sauce —

Chef Yesenia Ramdass, owner of Williamsburg, New York’s plant-based Caribbean HAAM (Healthy as a Motha) concept, maintains a robust global pantry to elevate the flavor profiles of dishes like empanadas, jerk mushroom sandwiches and mofongo, the classic Puerto Rican dish of pork and plantains. For Ramdass’ Yuh Motha’s Mofongo, a blend of sweet and green plantains is topped with crispy mushrooms over a pool of curried coconut cream sauce made from coconut milk, an “essential item” in Chef Ramdass’ kitchen.

Powerful Pastes

Another pantry staple for Chef Ramdass is tamarind paste, “which adds a tangy depth to dishes,” she says.

At Portland, Maine’s newly opened Thistle & Grouse, owner Chef Bobby Will always has harissa paste in the kitchen. “Although originating from Tunisia, I prefer working with a more floral Moroccan one,” he says. “It’s a better, more adult chili paste as opposed to Sriracha and can be just as versatile.

Oil-poached black cod with lacto-fermented Alaska spruce-infused beurre monte and onion “fudge” at Alaska’s Tutka Bay Lodge (credit: Within the Wild Adventure Company).

I use a spicy harissa in a harissa honey glaze for our crispy duck drumettes appetizer, and I prefer the more floral paste for my shakshuka for brunch menus from time to time.”

Local Influences

Executive Chef Steven Hubbell of New York’s The Alderman, meanwhile, believes you can still celebrate local ingredients in global applications. “I always keep my pantry stocked with locally sourced produce that helps me recreate globally inspired favorites,” he says.

His favorite dish on the menu at the moment is a happy hour shrimp toast inspired by New York dim sum parlors, where shrimp is ground together with lemongrass sourced from the Finger Lakes, then blended with butter to create a light and airy mousse. That mousse is generously spread onto thick-sliced brioche alongside a healthy helping of house hot mustard, and the entire creation is fried in butter. “Often, the assumption is, in order to recreate global flavors, importing ingredients is your best bet,” says Chef Hubbell. “We find that using fresher local products gives the dishes the authenticity of the original.”

Herb Revival

When it comes to herbs, one pantry favorite for Chef Ramdass is culantro. Not to be mistaken for cilantro and sometimes referred to as long coriander, culantro is an herb with long, serrated leaves that’s better served in cooked dishes than raw like the more delicate cilantro. Chef Ramdass uses the herb in her mango calypso chow and tamarind chutney that she serves with empanadas.

Chef Hubbell reaches for cilantro and mint for a “variation on chermoula, an herb-based North African marinade.” He’s currently pairing the two herbs with

A – Amba

B – Berbere

C – Chermoula

D – Dukkah

E – Eel Sauce

F – Furikake

G – Gochujang

H – Harissa

I – Indian Pickles

J – Jerk

K – Karashi Mustard

L – Lingonberry Jam

M – Miso Paste

N – Nuoc Cham

O – Oyster Sauce

P – Piri Piri

Q – Quince Paste

R – Raita

S – Salsa Macha

T – Tahini

U – Ube Halaya

V – Vegemite

W – Wasabi

X – XO Sauce

Y – Yuzu Paste

Z – Za’atar heavily roasted coriander “for a nice pungent flavor that pairs well with our New York strip with charred green garlic,” he says.

Umami Bombs

Savory and spicy sauces like roasted garlic kimchi sauce and hot mustard are in good company on menus today, as consumers continue to seek out more in-your-face flavor profiles. Chefs are also layering fermented flavors and umami-rich options into dishes, with ingredients like miso, shio koji and MSG finding their way into kitchens across the country.

Up in wild, rural Alaska, R&D Chef Tim Crockett of Within the Wild Adventure Company needs to make sure the ambitious culinary program at the luxury Tutka Bay Lodge is stocked with a wide range of flavor-packed, globally inspired ingredients. The pantry is a key source of flavor building when ingredients get harder to source at these high northern latitudes. For Chef Crockett, fermented, umamirich pastes and related sauces and condiments are a primary building block; he adds them to flavor stock when cooking grains and legumes or to beurre monte and consommés to add depth.

Amino pastes like miso or shio koji have been particularly critical to developing flavor at Tutka. “There are so many different types of fermenting and preserving techniques from all over the world throughout history that have helped us not only save and increase longevity in products, but have also transformed these ingredients into another realm of flavor that may really make certain dishes shine,” Chef Crockett says.

Chef Will of Thistle & Grouse always has nori on hand. For an umami-packed garnish, he toasts the dried seaweed, grinds it into a fine powder and dusts it on house-made potato chips served with beer-battered Maine hake for a take on fish and chips. The flavor-enhancer also gets added to salad dressings for an extra layer of flavor.

These types of creative and bold flavor explorations continue to fuel a new era of globally inspired dishes that wow consumers, introducing them to exciting, chef-made creations that they rarely find in their home kitchens. As you develop menus that entice customers with exciting new condiments, sauces, seasonings and flavors, what will you incorporate into your own global pantry? The sky’s the limit.

Mike Kostyo is a freelance writer covering food trends and the vice president of a food industry consulting firm based in Chicago. He has a master’s degree in gastronomy from Boston University as well as certificates in the in the culinary arts, baking arts, wine and artisan cheese production.

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