Go-To Ingredients

This blog is designed for people who want to cook like a pro but don't have the time, money, or inclination. I am a person that never has any of these, yet I manage to impress with the things I pull outta my ass. If you want to please while your belt is a little tight, always make sure you have the following things on hand and you'll do fine in any pop-up situation.

Here's a look at Toni Gibroni's Top 10 Cheat Sheet:

• Always keep a little thingy of heavy or whipping cream on hand. A classy way to dress up anything is with sauce, and whipping cream is a cheap thickening agent that packs a lot of flavor.
• For bringing a meaty flavor to even non-meat dishes, use Montreal Steak Seasoning. Frank's Red Hot may use the tagline "I put this shit on everything," but seriously, Montreal Steak seasoning is something you can use on fucking everything, and it makes everyone want to have sex with what they're eating. True story.*
• Buttah, because seriously, if you don't have butter you need to go home because you're drunk. I'm not talking about margarine either, that shit is fucking gross when you try to cook with it and it ruins the bottom of pans. Also because it's fucking made out of poison. If you don't do butter because you're vegan or something, then fine. Use some smart balance or whatever the fuck you need to make you feel good at night. 
• Flour, because you can bread things, make roux, and throw it on yourself to look like you've really been working hard at something when people show up.
• Little plastic lemon and little plastic lime juices. Mostly because they're cute, but also because they help bring a little pizazz to anything you add it to, they last for 10 million years, and you can attack burglars with their highly acidic streams right in the eyeballs, should you ever find yourself in that position.
• Sesame oil- added to almost anything, it gives a sensational toasted smell and flavor. 
• One block of awesome cheese- not for sandwiches and shit, but for toppings, sauces, or garnish. I recommend Dubliner cheese. 
• Frozen cubes of spices. Found at Trader Joe's, you can purchase crushed garlic, ginger, cilantro, basil, etc pre packed into little trays that look like ice cubes. If you don't like cooking a lot or you don't have a lot of storage space in cabinets or on counters, these little miracles pack a punch for your tastebuds that dry spices just can't touch.
• A nice flight of vinegars can really come in handy for many things, from taste, to cleaning, to preservation of foods. I recommend having a rice vinegar, a white vinegar, an apple cider (unfiltered) vinegar, and a red wine vinegar on hand always. They are useful for a variety of reasons, plus if you're a man reading this, most bitches will automatically be impressed if you accidentally show them your collection. True story** 

You might be saying to yourself, "Jeeze, Toni- this seems like a bunch of random-ass malarky," which is true. But I promise you can find ways to frequently use all of them and make even the cheapest dishes sassy. 

*Not true at all. 
**Probably only true if they are really stupid.