Welcome to My Pantry
6 Kitchen Staples Max Nelson Can’t Live Without
Including the one homemade treat he always keeps in his freezer.
As home cooks, we at Food52 think a lot about grocery shopping—which types of produce we’re gravitating towards, what ingredients we’re willing to splurge on, and (perhaps most importantly) which pantry staples we lean on each and every day. The answers vary wildly depending on who you ask, and they can reveal a ton about someone’s cooking—and eating—style. So, we’ve decided to start asking some of our favorite chefs, creators, and members of our team to tell us the kitchen staples they couldn’t live without. First up is Max Nelson, also known on Instagram as Chillguyinbrooklyn, whose videos you’ve likely seen on our social feeds. Here are six things you’ll always find in his kitchen.
1. High Quality Olive Oil
“A little drizzle on almost anything with good olive oil is going to be a great finishing touch,” says Max. We couldn’t agree more. His go-to olive oil at the moment is the [Brosius Family Farm Spanish Duo]. “I like it because it’s a single-origin olive oil made from a family farm in California. I like to try all different finishing oils because they all have slightly different flavors but this one is my current favorite.”
2. Better Than Bouillon
Rather than paying for a box of stock—which, let’s be honest, is mostly water—Max likes to use this concentrated paste. “Way better to make it homemade, but if you're not going to go that route, get this stuff,” he says.
3. Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp
Our love of chili crisp is well-documented, and this one, from Lao Gan Ma, “is the chili crisp to end all chili crisps.”
4. Two Kinds of Salt
Max always has two types of salt in his kitchen: one for cooking and one for finishing. For the former, he relies on Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, and for the latter, it doesn’t get better than flaky, crunchy Maldon Salt.
5. Parmesan Cheese
“I always have a brick of Parmesan cheese in the fridge,” Max says. “I'll just eat this with a little black pepper and olive oil. I don't care. This stuff is always good and I'm always going to have it.”
6. Frozen, Homemade Cookie Dough
According to Max, homemade cookie dough is “the best snack.” And, stored in the freezer, it lasts for months—meaning you can make freshly baked cookies (or eat straight cookie dough) whenever a craving strikes. In his freezer right now you’ll find a brown-butter variation on his popular giant chocolate chip cookie recipe.
More from Food52
- Our 52 Most Popular Products of All Time
- 10 Dansk Pieces Made for Fall Entertaining (and Curling up at Home)
- Our Favorite Fall Baking Recipes
- 19 Essentials for Setting a Modern Farmhouse Table
See what other Food52 readers are saying.