The 3 Ingredients Antoni Porowski Can't Live Without - Exclusive

"Queer Eye" star Antoni Porowski understands food on many levels. He's the food and wine expert on the makeover series and has two cookbooks under his belt. In "Antoni: Let's Do Dinner," he details how to make incredible-sounding dishes like pasta carbonara layered with scallions and peas or his pan-seared steak that's smothered in harissa butter. But before the massive success of "Queer Eye," Porowski worked for years in the restaurant industry and understands the powerful way that a meal can bring people together.

While promoting his new cooking competition show "Easy-Bake Oven," he told us in an exclusive interview that working his way up from busboy to manager taught him a lot. "It's such an important job because it teaches you how to deal with people," Porowski revealed. "It helps you hone in on interpersonal skills and when to say something and when to not say something. I have a lot of compassion and respect for literally anybody who works in the service industry, especially these days." All this cooking experience has also led him to know exactly what ingredients he can't live without his kitchen being stocked with.

Antoni Porowski said he always likes to have good flake salt, lemons, and parmesan on hand in his kitchen. "I love my parm because you can use the rind and you can throw it into a soup or a stew, and it helps give a nice salty flavor to literally anything," he explained. "Then you scoop it out before serving once it's softened up. Also, my spice drawer — I love my spice drawer so much. It brings me so much joy. If I don't know what to make for dinner, sometimes I open it and I'm like, 'Who have I neglected for the past few weeks? Who can I give a little love to?'"

The host also admitted that if he had a night off from cooking, he'd love to have a meal prepared for him by a famous icon who's known for her homewares and goods. "Because it's fall and it's starting to get nice and toasty, I would say Martha Stewart does make genuinely the best apple pie that anyone on this planet has ever tried," Porowski said. "With fall coming along, I would love her to make me one of her famous apple pies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream."

"Easy-Bake Battle" premieres on October 12 on Netflix.