What are your favorite ingredients and cooking tips?

Everybody loves food. But not everyone has a “gift” for the kitchen. On the one hand, we all know how to enjoy a good meal, and how to pay a lavish compliment to the chef — but some of us would just  be content to know more about the special ingredients and tricks great chefs use in the kitchen.

It may be the closest we come to those spice racks and skillets, but here’s what some local culinary masters and food writers told us were their top ingredients — the crucial item they could base a whole episode of Iron Chef around — and their prized cooking tips.

Bon appetit!

JILL IGNACIO-BUSUEGO: My favorite ingredient is phyllo pastry (also spelled fillo or filo). It is very versatile as it can be used for both savory and sweet recipes. It is an acceptable substitute for puff pastry especially for the weight- and figure-conscious. Fill it with mushrooms and cheese to make mushroom strudel, fold it into triangles to make spanakopita, or layer it with pastry cream to make a low-fat version of my all-time favorite dessert, the Napoleon.

Cooking Tip 1: When preparing the phyllo, make sure to cover with a piece of cloth, not very damp, but not dry. Work with it one piece at a time, as it has a tendency to flake and break when it dries out.

Cooking Tip 2: When using phyllo, make sure you cut it before baking, as it will be virtually impossible to have clean cuts when baked.

Cooking Tip 3: When sautéeing, make sure you start with your onions before the garlic. Since onions have more sugar,  they need more time to cook. Often when we start with garlic, it gets burnt and the onions are still raw.

FERNANDO ARACAMA, chef, The Tides: My favorite ingredients in cooking are aromatics. I especially like lemongrass, ginger and citrus zests. These ingredients add a distinct dimension to a dish and enhance food in a very subtle yet unique way. My best cooking tip is very simple. Always start with the freshest ingredients you can get your hands on; nothing will taste as good as fresh food like fruit and produce in season or freshly caught seafood and fish.

SANDY DAZA, food writer, chef: My favorite ingredients are garlic, onions, butter and seasoning sauce. Seasoning sauce is No. 1 (Knorr, to be more specific).

Favorite cooking tip: Be willing to try anything. Never stop making new discoveries! If it tastes good to you, serve it!

CYRILLE SOENEN, executive chef, Crowne Plaza Hotel: Favorite ingredients: salt and pepper. Tips: Always season. And always be in a good mood when you cook.

 REGGIE ASPIRAS, author, Kitchen Rescue: My favorite ingredients are still salt and pepper. With a little bit of this and a little bit of that, food is completely transformed. All of a sudden a dish is given depth and dimension. Salt and pepper are the “harmonizers” that accentuate each and every ingredient — the addition of which, to me, is what pulls all the ingredients in a pot together. It is the final touch, the magic dust that makes or breaks a dish. Simply put, a perfectly seasoned dish, no matter how simple or complex it may be, is any cook’s masterpiece!

Cooking tip: Like I said, the secret to good food is perfect seasoning. This is done by constantly tasting whatever it is you’re cooking before it is served and seasoning it according to personal taste. If you’re happy, chances are, those you are serving will be just as happy.

THOMAS WENGER, executive chef, Mandarin Oriental Hotel: My favorite ingredient is the Philippine yellow fin tuna. Having traveled the globe for the past 20-plus years and worked in some of the most exciting cities in Asia since the early ‘90s, I can attest that the best sashimi grade tuna available always came from the Philippines. The yellow fin tuna caught off the coasts of southeast Mindanao are deep red in flesh and a great product that, with the right conservation and fishery laws, hopefully will be available to us for a long, long time. I have worked here in the Philippines for several years and, to this day, I still like and enjoy to cook, create and (most of all) eat dishes prepared with the flesh of this great sea predator. The fresh, firm but tender flesh of tuna is very versatile and lends itself to be used in almost any cuisine or cooking style; be it raw as sashimi, seared with Cajun or other spices, and/or simply marinated in olive oil and herbs and grilled. In Filipino cuisine the Inihaw tuna belly is just one perfect example of a very simple cooking style that brings out the best in taste and texture of tuna meat.

My cooking tip: Use fresh ingredients, keep flavors simple and season with respect and love for the basic ingredient.

ADAM MATHIS, Peninsula Manila Hotel: My favorite ingredient is the potato. Why? They are full of nutrients, inexpensive, everyone likes them, you can do so many different things with potatoes, and there are so many different uses: stuff them, fill them, mash them, make them into gnocchi, layer them, even make ice cream. They work well in salads, roasted, or whole with caviar. You can even make vodka with them.

Favorite tip: Add a few apples in with your potatoes. It keeps them from sprouting. Also, if you boil them, add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water so they don’t turn black. The same if potatoes are peeled raw: they will keep in the fridge for up to four days with a few drops of vinegar in the water.

FLORABEL CO: I like garlic. It adds flavor to the dishes and is good for the health, too. I like making sweet garlic and mixing it with salads.

JESS SINCIOCO, chef patron, Le Souffle: Salt is the best ingredient for me because it enhances the flavor of anything we cook. It’s a vital ingredient that should be used with extra care. It’s also my cooking tip: use more salt than what’s needed and it spoils whatever you are cooking. Use less and your food will taste bland. But use just the right amount and you will be creating an exciting magical concoction. 

Generally, an average person should consume eight to 10 grams of salt a day only.

ALEXANDER PAUL, executive sous chef, Makati Shangri-La Hotel: My favorite ingredient is lemon. I was a young chef wanting to discover the beauty of fresh fruit when I first toured France in 1995. Towards the South of France, bordering Monaco, in an area known as Menton, I saw a lovely lemon tree in the middle of an olive field. The distinct color, flavor and aroma of lemon inspired me to experiment with this fruit.

Tips on how to enhance flavors of dishes with lemon: the zest, juice, and pulp of lemon can be used in the preparation of various dishes. A dash of lemon is perfect in enhancing the flavors of seafood, vegetables, or practically any type of food.