The BA Seal of Approval 2012: The 50 Products We Can’t Cook (or Live) Without
You might call those of us at Bon Appétit particular. We don’t bake brownies with just any chocolate, or sprinkle our eggs with just any salt. Our ingredients are so important to the way we cook that we decided to make it official—with a seal of approval. Used correctly, these 50 items will upgrade every aspect of your culinary life, guaranteed. Click here for more information on how our editors chose the products in this list.
Noro Studio1/49Everyday Butter: Organic Valley
Since unsalted butter is often the No. 1 or No. 2 most prominent ingredient when baking—meaning you could go through a pound at a time—use the best you can afford. It significantly enhances the flavor of everything from pound cake to pie crust. We like Organic Valley’s list of ingredients, or lack thereof: sweet cultured milk, and a culture to help ripen the cream. For pure butter (with no artificial “butter flavor”) and good value, this is it. ($5.69/1 lb.)
Tom Schierlitz2/49Fancy Butter: Celles sur Belle
When butter is the star–slathered on bread or baked into a rich shortbread–we want one made from cream that's been matured. That's what gives the French-made Celles sur Belle its complex flavor and slight tang, which we adore. ($6.99/250g)
Tom Schierlitz3/49Chocolate (Cocoa); Chocolate (Bars): Scharffen Berger
The unsweetened cocoa and chocolate bars developed by two San Francisco-based artisans (they sold their brand to Hershey’s in 2005) are pricey, but for good reason: Both products blew away the competition with their perfect balance of bitter and fruity. Use the cocoa in cakes, hot chocolate, and brownies; melt the bars into frosting and ganache, and chop it for cookies. (Bars: $4.95/3 oz., Cocoa: $9.95/6 oz.)
Tom Schierlitz4/49Flour: King Arthur
The flour from this employee-owned company is the foundation—structurally sound and bromate-free—for all the baked-goods recipes we publish in our pages. We favor all-purpose for everything from chewy cookies to these spectacular brownies. In general, we stick with unbleached because, well, why add bleach to your baking when it’s completely unnecessary? Bonus: With this flour in the house, you’ve got what you need to make a roux or bread a cutlet. ($4.99/5 lb.)
Tom Schierlitz5/49Peanut Butter: Skippy Creamy
When we’re making cookie dough or, say, luscious peanut butter frosting, we stick with Skippy. Most serious bakers do. “Sometimes you need a properly stabilized, emulsified peanut butter to get the job done right,” says BA assistant food editor and resident pastry pro Alison Roman. “It doesn’t hurt that Skippy’s salt level is spot-on, which is crucial—it dramatically affects the way your baked goods turn out.” Now, if only we could convince them to sell it in a giant squeeze bottle. ($5.29/28 oz.)
Tom Schierlitz6/49Natural Peanut Butter: Woodstock Smooth
Now this is what an ingredient list should look like: “organic peanuts, sea salt.” The result is a peanut butter that’s perfect for the kids’ lunchboxes but tasty enough to satisfy our palates. In a hotly contested category, Woodstock won for best flavor: deep, without tasting overroasted. (We also love that the company’s a supporter of sustainable farming via the American Farmland Trust.) ($7.49/16 oz.) woodstock-farms.com
Tom Schierlitz7/49Finishing Sugar: Sugar in the Raw
Finishing sugar is a key secret ingredient in a pastry chef’s tool kit. It’s indispensable for sprinkling onto cookies and other sweets to give them a sparkly finish and add texture. We dust these crunchy golden crystals onto cookies, pies, and biscuits before baking for caramel flavor without the cloying sweetness of brown sugar. You can also sub it for white sugar when making simple syrup, sweeten your coffee with it, or use it to rim a cocktail glass. ($3.83/2 lb.)
Tom Schierlitz8/49Vanilla Extract: Nielsen-Massey
You don’t need us to tell you that using pure vanilla extract instead of imitation (which comes from coal tar) is worth the extra pennies. But not everything in those little glass bottles is the same. Nielsen-Massey, a third-generation family-run company, offers an aromatic extract derived from vanilla beans sourced from Madagascar, Mexico, or Tahiti (we find Madagascar to be the best all-purpose variety). Even with only a few drops at stake, there’s no cookie, confection, or whipped cream you should make without it. ($18.95/8 oz.) surlatable.com
Tom Schierlitz9/49Puff Pastry: Dufour
Once baked, these meltingly flaky sheets transform anything that sits atop them (a scoop of ice cream), anything tucked beneath them (pot pie), and anything wrapped up inside them (for proof check out our addictive recipe for Pigs in Sleeping Bags) into something mind-bendingly luxurious. Crisp, airy, and made with real butter, Dufour simply crushes its vegetable oil-based peers. ($10.99/14 oz.)
Tom Schierlitz10/49Mayonnaise: Hellmann’s
Truth: All good things can be traced back to New York delis. Exhibit 1A? This famously blue-ribboned jar was first sold in 1905 at a sandwich shop on the Upper West Side. Homemade mayo has its virtues, but we crave the comfort of knowing that our BLTs and coleslaw will taste exactly the way they tasted last year, last decade, last century. ($4.79/30 oz., look for Best Foods west of the Rockies)
Tom Schierlitz11/49Ketchup: Heinz
When it comes to ketchup, homemade is not an improvement. This is what it should taste like. If you’ve ever dared to stray from the 1876 standard-bearer, you know why former associate food editor Chris Morocco says of such a reckless move: “It’s not going to end well.” ($3.29/40 oz.)
Tom Schierlitz12/49Miso: Miso Master Organic
When your brothy soup or salad dressing is missing backbone, add miso, which is fermented soybean paste. This particular one— a “mellow white”—is easy to find (no need to schlep to a specialty market) and, because it’s sweeter and less assertive than others, easy to experiment with. ($7.72/16 oz.)
Tom Schierlitz13/49Soy Sauce: Kikkoman Less Sodium
There are many, many brands of soy sauce out there. But you want Kikkoman, because it tastes of soy, not just salt. The Wisconsin-made staple isn’t only for dipping dumplings—we recommend using it whenever you want to give a dish a savory umami hit. ($2.72/10 oz.)
Tom Schierlitz14/49Dijon Mustard: Maille
Whisked into vinaigrettes, stirred into braising liquid, or dolloped on a wintry Belgian beef stew, Dijon mustard is a classic culinary go-to (unlike whole grain, yellow, or sweet kinds). We looked for a mustard that could balance richness and brighten flavors. Maille won for its distinct note of white wine, a creamy, almost egg yolk-like feel, and the blast of nose heat that defines a solid Dijon. ($3.79/7.5 oz.)
