Start here: stock 9 bottles, unlock every recipe

Chinese home cooking is a pantry game, not a technique game. Buy these once — all from the international aisle or a 15-minute online order — and every recipe on this site opens up.

The 9 bottles & bags (sauces count as ingredients, these are the only ones you need)

1. Light soy sauce — the salt of Chinese cooking. Any brand (Kikkoman is fine).
2. Dark soy sauce — for mahogany color in braises. Optional but cheap.
3. Oyster sauce — makes any blanched vegetable taste like dim sum.
4. Rice vinegar — pickles, dips, hot & sour anything.
5. Black Chinkiang vinegar — deeper, smokier; the noodle-dip vinegar. Rice vinegar works meanwhile.
6. Toasted sesame oil — the finishing perfume. A little goes far.
7. Chili bean paste (doubanjiang) — unlocks mapo tofu and the entire Sichuan chapter.
8. Fermented black beans (dou chi) — dim sum steamed ribs, steamed fish. Keeps forever.
9. Dried shiitake mushrooms — umami bombs; the soaking water is a stock cube.

The permanent staples (never count as ingredients here)

Salt, white pepper, sugar, cooking oil (any neutral oil), and water. That's the entire backstage crew.

Then pick your first dish by time budget

• You have 10 minutes: tomato & egg over rice, or the 4-ingredient soup.
• You have 20: silky steamed eggs — the texture will surprise you.
• You have 30 and want the story: the Chaoshan daikon & pork soup this site is named for.