James Harris/CNNUnderscored
Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is a restaurateur, author and Emmy Award-winning host of a number of hit series, including Food Network's “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives,” but he also takes pride in some lesser-known, yet still elevated cuisine. other The title is “I'm the Condiment King!”, he boasts. “My fridge is full of everything you can imagine.”
Enter Fieri's latest masterpiece: Flavortown Sauces, a line of nine spicy barbecue sauces and condiments, including Honey Mustard, Smokin' Hickory BBQ, Kickin' Chipotle, and, of course, his signature Donkey Sauce (a mix of creamy aioli, garlic and lemon). “Pour the sauce on toasted bread for a sandwich or add it to a burger,” Fieri says. “It'll elevate any dish.”
Fieri, who launched the range in March, says he's spent years developing and testing the sauce. “I think we've had about 10 different kinds of honey mustard,” he said. “I'd invite my friends and family over to a football game on Sunday, lay out the sauce, and we'd all sit down with crackers and write down our thoughts. So this is the real deal. I feel like a proud dad!”
In his kitchen in Northern California, Fieri cooks almost every day and recently cooked up a noodle-and-beef dish for his family. “It's like when a musician keeps strumming his guitar after a big concert,” he said. “This is my art.”
Below, the self-proclaimed “condiment king” shares with CNN Underscore his five tried-and-true kitchen essentials.
“It's one of my favorites,” he says of the sauce, which is a play on all the “secret” sauces featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Fieri wouldn't share the exact recipe, but it's based on aioli with chili powder, mustard and a touch of garlic. “It goes well with hot or cold dishes,” he says. “You can use it in your cooking, but it's also great as a dip for any vegetable platter.”
Though it might be reserved for camping trips, Fieri keeps this cast-iron, rectangular sandwich maker in his kitchen because it's easy to use and makes delicious sandwiches. “You just take two slices of bread, fill them with whatever you want, put them in and flip them over,” Fieri says. “You can make them sweet or savory,” and Fieri recommends adding a little butter or oil for flavor.
There's a reason it's a stovetop staple for chefs of all levels: “Not everyone can afford it, but it's worth it,” he says. The sturdy cast-iron cookware boasts a surface large enough to brown ingredients before simmering, and the light-colored enamel interior makes it easy to see how your food is cooking to reduce burning and scorching.
Read Review
The chef never, under any circumstances, uses pre-ground pepper to season his favorite meats. “A lot of people do that, and it's a problem,” he says. “The minute you crack a peppercorn, it loses its essence and flavor.” That's why he reaches for this high-speed mill. “It's like a turbo grinder!” The mill uses hardened, high-carbon stainless steel blades to allow for fewer rotations.
