What Chef Jon Kung Swears By in the Kitchen (2026)

When I ask influencer cook Jon Kung to sanction the acquisition they regret most, there's nary deliberation. “In my aboriginal twenties, I bought this utilized SMEG fridge,” the 42-year-old Chinese American TikTok creator tells me. “It's got this giant British flag connected it, and I inactive person it. I've stuck Sex Pistols, Ozzy Osbourne, and Spice Girls stickers connected the sides to effort to marque it a small better.”

It's go a speech portion astatine the meal parties Kung hosts astatine home. Every vacation season, Kung whips up their Chinese takeout feast; it's a seven-course dispersed that maps their upbringing crossed Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Toronto, and Detroit—mapo tofu, pumpkin and lotus basal curry, superior banal wonton noodle soup, crab rangoons, Balinese crab fried rice, mushroom lo mein, and, for the expansive finale, Cantonese roast duck with cherry duck sauce. And, obviously, dessert.

That layered, third-culture palate is precisely what has made Kung 1 of the astir compelling nutrient personalities of his generation, with implicit 2 cardinal online followers. (They besides published a cookbook, Kung Food, with implicit 100 recipes.) Whether they're demystifying planetary ingredients for a Western assemblage oregon sharing meal prep tips, Kung's position remains the same: bully nutrient should consciousness similar home.

I caught up with Jon Kung implicit Zoom to speech astir their favourite cooking techniques and room gear.

Wash Your Rice

When I inquire Kung what they privation they had that doesn’t already exist, they don’t hesitate: “A atom cooker that besides washes your rice.”

“It’s truthful important to lavation your rice, particularly if you’re making Asian rice. Italians don’t lavation their atom due to the fact that they request that starch for risotto, but successful astir immoderate different culture, you person to lavation your rice. Also, I don’t deliberation radical cognize determination are bug eggs successful rice. They’re called atom weevils, and unless you’re buying that ace costly prewashed rice, determination are tons of bugs successful rice.”

For now, you'll request to lavation your atom by hand, but if you request a atom cooker, King likes the aforesaid Japanese atom cookers the WIRED Reviews squad swears by: “Zojirushi atom cookers are fantastic, specifically the ones that person unit options, due to the fact that they support atom caller for truthful long.”

Drip Coffee Done Right

“I power betwixt a drip java and an Americano erstwhile I marque it for myself,” says Kung. “I utilized to bash a Chemex pour-over, but precocious I switched to the ace automatic Terra Kaffe. It’s benignant of awesome.” (Our reviewers besides really similar the Terra Kaffe.)

Skip the Combination Pans

“Combination pans—the ones that are a premix betwixt nonstick and stainless steel—just extremity up being garbage versions for some jobs," says Kung. "I would alternatively radical conscionable get 1 ceramic nonstick cookware and 1 stainless alloy pan.”