A Look Inside Chef Solomon Choi's Fridge: Fresh Ingredients & Pantry Staples

A Look Inside an Inspiring Chef’s Kitchen

Chef Solomon Choi is known for his vibrant, flavorful Korean-Mexican fusion cuisine. While his restaurants are famous destinations for food lovers, few get a glimpse into the place where Choi’s culinary magic begins – his own kitchen.

Recently, Choi gave viewers a mini tour of the ingredients stocking the shelves and drawers of his refrigerator and pantry. From gochujang to kimchi, it offers telling insights into what fuels his flair for bold tastes.

Keeping it Healthy and Fresh

Despite his love of strong spices and rich flavors, Choi strives to keep his diet balanced. His fridge overflows with fresh fruits and vegetables.

An Abundance of Greens

Choi stocks up on leafy greens like spinach, kale and arugula to balance out heavier ingredients. He incorporates them into everything from stir fries to tacos.

Seasonal Produce

In addition to greens, Choi keeps his fridge filled with whatever produce is currently in season. From juicy peaches and plums to ripe avocados and tomatoes, these ingredients add vitamin-packed sweetness and texture to his dishes.

Pantry Staples

Beyond fresh ingredients, Choi’s kitchen contains some Korean and Mexican pantry staples that are key to his cooking.

Gochujang

This fermented red chili paste adds signature heat and umami flavor to many Korean dishes. It’s an indispensable ingredient in Choi’s unique culinary fusion.

Kimchi

No Korean fridge is complete without some kind of kimchi – whether store-bought or homemade. The fermented vegetables provide probiotics as well as crunchy texture and tang.

Masa Harina

This special corn flour is essential for making tamales, tortillas, and other Latin American staples. It’s the secret behind the irresistible wrappers encasing Choi’s Mexican-inspired fillings.

Bringing People Together Through Food

While specialty ingredients help make Choi’s food stand out, he stresses that good cooking is really about the people you share it with. His fridge contains leftover containers ready for dining with family, friends and neighbors – anyone hungry for connection.

The Protein Profile: Marinations and Fusion Bases

While the previous look at Chef Solomon Choi’s fridge highlighted the vibrant greens, the middle shelves are where the structural integrity of his fusion cuisine resides. Choi maintains a rigorous rotation of proteins that serve as the canvas for his Korean-Mexican experiments. Unlike a standard home cook who might buy meat on the day of preparation, Choi treats his fridge as a short-term dry-aging and marinating chamber. You will often find airtight containers holding thinly sliced ribeye, soaking in a mixture of pear juice, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. This isn’t just for traditional bulgogi; Choi uses this tenderized beef as a high-umami substitute for carne asada in his tacos, creating a flavor profile that is simultaneously familiar and surprising.

Beyond beef, Choi keeps a dedicated drawer for seafood, often housing skin-on salmon fillets or jumbo shrimp. The edge case here is his treatment of octopus, which he frequently pre-braises and then stores in a light citrus-soy brine. This allows for a quick sear on a cast-iron skillet, resulting in a texture that mimics the charred edges of carnitas but with the oceanic depth of Korean seaside cooking. He also keeps blocks of extra-firm tofu pressed and ready. For Choi, tofu isn’t a secondary thought; it is a sponge for flavor. He often stores it submerged in a ‘mother sauce’ made from charred scallion oil and fermented black beans, ensuring that even a quick weekday meal has the complexity of a slow-cooked dish.

The Condiment Door: A Global Flavor Map

If the shelves are the body of Choi’s kitchen, the refrigerator door is its nervous system. It is a crowded, meticulously organized array of glass jars and squeeze bottles that bridge the gap between Seoul and Mexico City. Moving past the gochujang, one finds a variety of soy sauces, each serving a specific purpose. He stocks ‘Jin-ganjang’ for heavy braising and ‘Guk-ganjang’ (soup soy sauce) for its saltier, lighter profile that doesn’t discolor clear broths. Nestled next to these are artisanal Mexican salsas, specifically *salsa macha*—a nutty, oily condiment made from dried chilies and seeds that Choi often swirls into Korean stews to add a smoky, fatty dimension.

Acidity is another crucial pillar in this section. Choi avoids the one-note profile of standard white vinegar, opting instead for a collection of rice vinegars, apple cider vinegars, and concentrated lime juice. He often creates ‘fusion gastriques’ by simmering rice vinegar with honey and dried ancho chilies, keeping the resulting syrup in squeeze bottles for precision plating. This door also houses his collection of oils: toasted sesame oil for finishing, perilla oil for its earthy nuttiness, and avocado oil for high-heat searing. The presence of these fats alongside pungent fish sauces and shrimp pastes allows Choi to adjust the ‘funk’ level of any dish on the fly, ensuring that the balance of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy is always perfectly calibrated.

Dairy and Its Plant-Based Counterparts

In a traditional Korean kitchen, dairy is relatively rare, but in Choi’s fusion world, it is the glue that binds disparate ingredients together. His fridge always contains a wedge of *Queso Fresco* and a container of *Cotija*. These cheeses are prized for their ability to provide a salty, creamy contrast to the heat of Korean peppers without melting into a greasy mess. Choi often crumbles Cotija over *dakgalbi* (spicy stir-fried chicken), where the cheese’s dry, salty granules mimic the effect of a savory garnish while tempering the gochujang’s fire.

To provide a cooling element, Choi stocks Mexican *crema* or high-fat Greek yogurt. He uses these as a base for ‘Kimchi Crema,’ a signature sauce made by blending the juice from aged kimchi with the cream, creating a pink, tangy drizzle that elevates everything from fried rice to tostadas. For his morning routine and lighter sauces, he keeps unsweetened almond or oat milk. These plant-based milks are often used in his ‘fusion lattes,’ where he might whisk in a bit of toasted grain powder (misugaru) for a nutty, protein-rich start to the day. The interplay between the rich, animal-based fats of the cheese and the light, clean profiles of the plant milks demonstrates his commitment to a balanced, modern palate.

The Fermentation Station: Beyond the Cabbage

While kimchi is the undisputed king of Korean ferments, Choi’s fridge reveals a deeper obsession with the art of preservation. One shelf is often dominated by *jangajji*—vegetables pickled in a soy-based brine. You’ll find jars of pickled ramps, garlic scapes, and even chayote squash, a nod to Mexican produce. These pickles provide a sharp, crunchy counterpoint to the rich meats he prepares. He also keeps a steady supply of *danmuji* (yellow pickled radish), which he occasionally juliennes and tosses with cilantro and lime as a fusion slaw.

An interesting edge case in his fermentation collection is his use of Mexican *tepache* ingredients. While the beverage itself is often kept on the counter during fermentation, the resulting fermented pineapple rinds are sometimes kept in the fridge to be used as a base for smoky, acidic marinades. He also maintains a ‘scraps jar’ where he places the stems of herbs, onion ends, and mushroom stalks, submerged in a light salt brine. This isn’t just about waste reduction; it’s about creating a ‘living’ vegetable stock that grows more complex over time. This approach to fermentation shows that for Choi, flavor is a long-term investment, with the fridge acting as a slow-motion laboratory where time does the heavy lifting.

Beverage Curation for the Modern Palate

A chef’s fridge is never complete without a thoughtful selection of liquids to hydrate and celebrate. Choi’s beverage shelf is a mix of traditional Korean teas and modern functional drinks. He almost always has a large glass pitcher of *Boricha* (roasted barley tea). It is his primary source of hydration, offering a nutty, toasted flavor that complements the smoky notes in his cooking. Alongside the tea, one might find bottles of sparkling mineral water, which he uses both for drinking and as a secret ingredient in his tempura-style batters to ensure maximum crispiness.

For social gatherings, Choi keeps a few bottles of premium Soju and a rotating selection of Mexican craft beers, particularly ambers and lagers that can stand up to spicy food. He also stocks *Jarritos*, the iconic Mexican soda, but often uses them in unexpected ways—such as using the tamarind flavor as a base for a glaze on pork ribs. This section of the fridge highlights his philosophy that every item should have a dual purpose: it should be enjoyable on its own and functional as a culinary component. Even his choice of kombucha is calculated, usually favoring ginger or hibiscus flavors that echo the floral and spicy notes found in his food.

Fridge Organization: The Professional Standard

The internal logic of Choi’s fridge is a masterclass in professional kitchen management adapted for the home. He utilizes a strict ‘FIFO’ (First In, First Out) system, ensuring that older produce is always at the front and used before it loses its peak vibrancy. Every container is labeled with blue painter’s tape and a permanent marker, noting the contents and the date it was prepared. This level of organization prevents the ‘forgotten jar’ syndrome that plagues many home kitchens and ensures that his creative process isn’t hindered by a search for ingredients.

Temperature zones are also key. Choi knows that the back of the bottom shelf is the coldest part of the fridge, making it the ideal spot for raw meats and highly perishable seafood. The top shelf, where the temperature is most consistent, is reserved for ready-to-eat items like his prepped salads and fermented jars. The crisper drawers are meticulously managed, with one dedicated to high-humidity greens and the other to low-humidity fruits. He often lines these drawers with clean kitchen towels to absorb excess moisture, extending the life of his herbs and leafy greens by several days. This technical approach to storage is what allows him to maintain such a diverse and high-quality inventory in a limited space.

The Hidden Gems: Aromatics and Finishing Touches

In the small, often overlooked corners of the fridge, Choi keeps the ‘hidden gems’ that provide the finishing touches to his dishes. This includes a small container of rendered bacon fat or duck fat, which he uses to sauté aromatics for an extra layer of decadence. He also keeps a stash of fresh turmeric and ginger roots, stored in a way that prevents them from drying out—often wrapped in slightly damp paper towels inside a reusable silicone bag. These aromatics are the starting point for almost every meal, providing the foundational heat and earthiness that define his style.

FAQ

What are some key healthy items in Choi’s fridge?

Choi stocks up on fresh greens like spinach and kale as well as seasonal fruits and vegetables. These provide nutrients and balance out heavier ingredients.

What Korean pantry staples does Choi rely on?

Gochujang (Korean chili paste) and kimchi (fermented cabbage) are essential to adding authentic Korean flavors to Choi’s dishes.

How does masa harina contribute to Choi’s cooking?

Masa harina is a special corn flour used to make tamales, tortillas and other Latin American staples that form the wrappers around Choi’s Mexican-inspired fillings.