What Chef Jon Kung Swears In The Kitchen (2026)

When I ask executive chef Jon Kung to name a purchase he regrets the most, no guess. “In my early twenties, I bought a SMEG refrigerator,” said the 42-year-old Chinese American. TikTok creator he tells me. “It has this British flag on it, and I still have it. I’ve pasted Sex Pistols, Ozzy Osbourne, and the Spice Girls on the side to make it look better. “

It has become the talk of Kung’s house parties. Every holiday season, Kung whips up their very own Chinese party; and seven recipes inspired by their upbringing across Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Toronto, and Detroit—mapo tofu, pumpkin and lotus root curry, superior stock wonton noodle soup, crab cakes, lobster fried rice, mushroom lo mein, and, finally, Cantonese roasted duck soup. And, obviously, salt.

A layered, three-dimensional palate is what has made Kung one of the biggest foodies of his generation, with 2 million followers online. (She also published a cookbook, If Foodand more than 100 recipes.) Whether they are disrupting worldly things for Western audiences or sharing food preparation tipsKung’s view is the same: good food should feel like home.

I caught up with Jon Kung on Zoom to talk about his favorite cooking techniques and kitchen tools.

Wash Your Rice

Zojirushi

Pressure Induction Heating Rice Cooker & Warmer

When I ask the Kungs what they wish they had that they don’t have, they don’t hesitate: “A rice cooker that also washes your rice.”

“It is very important to wash the rice, especially if you are making Asian rice.” Italians don’t wash their rice because they need the starch for risotto, but in almost every other culture, you need to wash your rice.

At this point, you have to wash the rice by hand, but if you want a rice cooker, King likes it the same Japanese rice cookers the WIRED Reviews team swears by: “Zojirushi rice cookers are the best, especially those with pressure cookers, because they keep the rice fresh for a long time.”

Drip Coffee Well done

“I switch between drip coffee and Americano when I make my own,” says Kung. “I used to do a Chemex pourbut I recently switched to the higher quality Terra Kaffe. It’s amazing. ” (Our readers too like Terra Kaffe.)

Skip the Combination Pans

“Composite pans – which are a mix between stainless steel and stainless steel – just end up being waste in both applications,” says Kung. “I wish people would just get one ceramic pan and one stainless steel one.”