Bravo’s Top Chefs Must-Have Ingredients

Last night, I was the host and provided commentary on a "Quickfire Challenge" between Top Chef Season 7 contestants Tiffany Derry & Ed Cotton to benefit Dallas Furniture Bank. If you are not familiar with Bravo’s Top Chef, a Quickfire Challenge is where the chefs must create a seafood dish in 20-minutes. They are able to request items that they’d like in their “pantry” to make their dish.

This lead me to wonder what are the must-have items that chefs always have at home. Chef Tiffany Derry always has on hand dijon, creole mustard, champagne vinegar, kosher salt and Creole seasoning.

Chef Ed Cotton focuses more on the big picture and prefers ground meat, taco shells, fresh produce and some canned beans to create a Mexican fiesta.

What are your must-have items at home to season up your food or items needed to make an easy meal?

P.S. Chef Tiffany Derry is busy planning her next restaurant in Uptown across the street from Bread Winners called "Private Social” this summer.