Profile: J. Chang Kitchen

Culinary talent James Chang is cooking up your new kitchen essential: chili oil.

All photos courtesy of James Chang

Inspired to create an oil that rivals the mass-produced options, James Chang is crafting batches of aromatic chili oil free of preservatives and ready to be poured on everything you eat. Keep reading to find out what James keeps close when he’s cooking, and how he recommends you enjoy his famous chili oil. Then go grab a bottle of this spicy delight (and other amazing J.Chang Kitchen products) as soon as possible.

How did you get into the restaurant/hospitality industry?

I don't think I ever was given a choice? I come from a family that to this day is still in the service industry. My father had restaurants for the most of my life and I grew up helping out either in the kitchen or up front. My fraternal grandmother ran a shop selling rice when I was a toddler in Taiwan, my Uncle in Taiwan still operates a stall at a local outside market selling prepared foods, my Aunts have all been in the food service one way or another, and my cousin to this day still operates a high end Japanese Kaiseki restaurant in Taipei. I guess you can say that it's embedded in my DNA at this point. 

What inspired the creation of your chili oil?

I used to buy mass produced chili oil just like everyone else. Then one day I glanced at the ingredients in a jar of it and realized there were a lot of preservatives and extra ingredients in them. So I started to experiment with my own take on them. I actually learned from watching an older cantonese chef that I used to work with many years ago. Throughout the whole process I tried different things and different ingredients to come up with the flavor profile that I have today. That's why my first publicly sold batch was Batch #5. All previous ones were test batches. I also was pushed by Darrell Loo, my close friend and bar manager at Waldo Thai to start selling it. (He was my guinea pig 😂)

What can we expect for the future of J.Chang Kitchen?

I'm not sure on what the future holds to be honest. With the pandemic ravaging the nation and the service industry it's hard to predict anything past this week. I would like to one day transition into my own brick and mortar but until then I'll keep at the chili oil, finishing salts, and pop-ups. 

I’ve seen some of the awesome pop-ups you’re doing out of Waldo Thai - can we expect more of those?

Nothing is set in stone yet but we do plan on continuing the pop ups at Waldo Thai. As soon as anything is finalized we will post on our social media. Whether it be Facebook or Instagram.

I’ve also seen a lot of your amazing employee meals and how they’ve inspired your pop-up meals - what goes into the menu development process for these meals?

The employee meals came from the pandemic. It was a way for me to tinker with some random ideas I had in my head and to also help boost morale at work. There really is no development process lol. It's really just me thinking I wonder if this will work? I then take my ideas and play around until I like the flavor that was developed. A big part of what I make also depends on what's on sale. There are times I will go to the store and buy things that are on sale that I have no idea how to cook and play with it. I'm also a huge fan of mexican food and Italian food, I think it definitely shows in my employee meals. I feel like Chinese/ Taiwanese food works really well alongside these 2 cuisines.

Other than chili oil, what do you consider to be your kitchen essentials?

Soy sauce and doubanjiang. I currently have about 10 different types of soy sauces and they all serve a purpose. What a lot of Americans don't realize is that all soy sauces are not created the same. Just like in wine there bottom tier all the way to top grade. Soy sauces also share similarities to wine in that aspect. Each country has their own flavor profiles and each country has multiple types that are all used in different cooking methods. Doubanjiang is also a common asian condiment in Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean cooking. It's made using broad beans, fermented soy beans, salt, and chilis. Once again, each country has their own variations of it down to each state/region has their own flavor profile.

What's your comfort meal?

That's a harder question to answer. It really depends on my mood at the moment. But I'd say as a general rule either Taiwanese minced braised pork over rice or soy braised pork belly. Both were things that I love to eat anytime I went back to Taiwan as a kid. The soy braised pork belly was something that my grandmother used to make at least twice a week and to this day I still am not able to replicate her flavors. 

What are all the foods you like putting your chili oil on?

I always tell everyone that the first application of my chili oil should be on either cheese-heavy pasta or pizza. The cheaper and crappier the pizza the better. The cheese and dough helps carry the flavor thru. 

but, here's a list of things that I think the chili oil goes well with:

Heavy cheesy sauces

Rotel dip

Ranch

Sour cream

pizza

pasta

any chinese food

instant ramen

BBQ sauce

dumplings of any kind

tacos

lasagna

eggs

I mean, the list of what I've put it on goes on and  on.... lol

What’s been your favorite part of launching your line of oils and sauces?

To be honest, I love people's expressions when they first smell and then taste my chili oil. The whole widening of the eyes and the mmmmm sound that comes forth makes it totally worth it. I also get a deep satisfaction that I'm able to sell something that a lot of people with dietary restrictions can enjoy. My chili oil is gluten free, vegan, and contains no extra preservatives.

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