"Six Must-Have Seasonings That Dramatically Enhance Home-Cooked Meals—Perfect for Yourself and as Gifts!"

2020.10.27 published

There Are Seasonings That Suddenly Make Your Food Taste Like a Restaurant!

Do you have a favorite seasoning??

Special salts and sauces can make home-cooked meals taste as good as restaurant dishes, so I love "a bit unusual and higher-end seasonings".

Recently, I've been staying home a lot and eating mainly home-cooked meals, and I was satisfied thinking, "Oh?! My home-cooked meals might actually be as delicious as eating out!"

But thinking about it, I do spend quite a bit on seasonings...! That might be the reason! So I wanted to summarize some "great seasonings" that I've found.

Instead of common broths or cooking-related seasonings, I’ll just introduce those "that simply make completed dishes delicious when drizzled on top" only.

(I’m not good at cooking; I can only grill or boil things...!)

【1】Balsamic Sauce

Leonardi’s fig balsamic sauce. This is balsamic sauce, not balsamic vinegar! It's the sauce often served on steak at restaurants.

In fact, I received this from KIYOKO HATA, with whom I've collaborated for KIYOKO HATA × marry, and she said, "This is delicious, definitely try it. You can drizzle it on ice cream or meat," and it was so good that I've been repeating it since.

Just drizzling it over grilled meat or vegetables makes it taste like you're at a popular restaurant famous for its grilled meat!

After taking a bite, I thought, "As expected of KIYOKO HATA's favorite flavor...!" and was convinced and impressed.

Having one bottle is fantastic. It's also delicious when you slice fresh mushrooms and add them to a salad.

➡️ Available for purchase on this Rakuten page

【2】Truffle Salt

Truffle salt is quite a standard luxury seasoning, isn't it? There are various kinds available, but I think Dean & Deluca’s is just right—not too pricey and not too cheap.

30g is about 1500 yen.

(Dean & Deluca also sells 30g for about 3000 to 5000 yen, which is pretty expensive, but the 700 yen ones from other import food stores have a rather lackluster aroma).

I use it for carbonara, in somen noodles, and in salads!

It transforms into truffle bread when you spread it on bread! ♡

➡️ Available for purchase on this Rakuten page

【3】Truffle Oil

Truffle oil is perfect when you want to add aroma without adding salt.

(Freshness Burger also has truffle oil...!)

I love to add truffle oil to the dipping sauce for my somen noodles.

Adding avocado or egg to it makes it so good that I think, "I could happily eat only somen for the rest of my life."

Truffle oil tends to be more expensive overall compared to truffle salt, but the one from Bartolini Emilio is delicious for just over 1000 yen.

I've heard that Hitoshi Tsujii also loves it.

➡️ Available at Seijo Ishii

【4】Candle Shop's Sansho Pepper Oil

I love the ramen restaurant "Candle Shop" (Rōsokuyā) located in Ginza and Omotesando Hills.

It’s always popular and has a long line for its mapo tofu ramen!

I made the right choice when I bought the sansho pepper oil they sell there!

It’s about 2000 yen for a bottle, but it makes my homemade Chinese stir-fry and mapo tofu taste incredibly delicious.

【5】Nakamaru Soy Sauce

This is a soy sauce that I've been buying repeatedly ever since I got it at the airport when I returned to Kyushu.

It's a sweet and rich type, perfect for sashimi or grilled meat. I dislike plain salty soy sauce, so I love the sweet soy sauce from Kyushu, especially the "Nakamaru Soy Sauce" which has the "Okino Island Sweet Soy Sauce" and "Shinminato Sashimi Soy Sauce."

It’s not widely available for online purchase (it is offered as a return gift for hometown tax payments...), but you can find it at real stores like Loft Shibuya, Kawasaki, Umeda, Lotus Baguette Daikanyama, and Nakameguro outside of Kyushu.

I've also heard that the soy sauce for bread and the one for eggs are popular.

➡️ The return gifts for hometown tax payments can be found on this page * there are 5-bottle and 10-bottle sets available.

【6】Uni Sauce (Sea Urchin Condiment)

I bought this immediately when it went viral on Twitter a few years ago. It's supposedly a fish sauce made from sea urchin.

I love to eat somen noodles with uni sauce, olive oil, and a little bit of dipping sauce.

It doesn’t have any alcohol or alum taste, and the flavor of sea urchin is strong; one bottle goes fast.

➡️ Available on this Rakuten page *

I Want to Share This Excitement♡

After living for 34 years, as someone who has loved eating from a young age, I introduced special seasonings that I believe I will continue to purchase in the future. They give a sense of uniqueness and definitely make food delicious just by being drizzled on.

There are lots of other favorites like sriracha, spicy bean paste, and satay sauce from Costco that make things taste better, but this time I focused on "products that can be gifted" for the list.

I love these seasonings so much that I want to turn all my favorites into a gift set!

If there's something on the list you don't know about, please consider ordering it! Just boiling somen, grilling meat, or grilling vegetables will yield incredibly delicious meals! ♡

※ If you have any more recommendations, please let me know via DM on Instagram✨