Here are a few resources that may be helpful. At the very least, they’ll point you in the right direction if you get in touch.
Beef: Snake River Farms ships nationwide: snakeriverfarms.com; Niman Ranch ships as well; nimanranch.com; Fleishers is a favorite of shops to visit in New York that thankfully also mails its product: fleishers.com.
Cheeses: We source all of our cheeses from a great purveyor, Chris Killoran at Chef Collective. For home cooks, some good options are igourmet.com, zingermans.com, and murrayscheese.com (Murray’s is an amazing New York City shop).
Dried seafood: As with red bird’s-eye chiles, Chinatowns are your best bet, but there are a variety of sources online, including ustrading.com/en and filstop.com/dried-fish.
Fresh heart of palm: Puna Gardens, in Hawaii: punagardens.com.
Japanese ingredients: The Japanese Pantry: thejapanesepantry.myshopify.com. Or if you’re in New York, please visit the great East Village shop Sunrise Mart, which has literally everything: sunrisemart-ny.com.
Lamb ribs: You’re looking for Denver-cut spareribs, which can be ordered through D’Artagnan: dartagnan.com.
Mandarin orange olive oil: Lucero (lucerooliveoil.com) makes a mandarin orange olive oil, and the Agrumato brand, available as Agrumato Orange extra-virgin olive oil from Abruzzo, is another great choice (amazon.com).
Oysters and mussels: Island Creek Oysters, a great purveyor in Maine, will send oysters, mussels, and other shellfish: islandcreekoysters.com/ico.
Pork: Flying Pigs Farm, up in Shushan, New York, offers the pork butt ideal for our main dishes and much, much more: flyingpigsfarm.com.
Quail: D’Artagnan can deliver 4-ounce quail: dartagnan.com.
Red bird’s-eye chiles: Most Chinatowns and especially Thai markets should have you covered, but Temple of Thai will ship the green variety: templeofthai.com. And Bangkok Center Grocery, in Manhattan, is worth a visit.
Seafood: Two great purveyors in New York City that are worth a visit are the Lobster Place (lobsterplace.com) and Mermaid’s Garden ( mermaidsgardennyc.com).
Smoked whitefish: Russ & Daughters, a New York classic, ships its smoked whitefish, along with almost everything served there, from caviar to herring to schmears to bagels and bialys: russanddaughters.com.
Spanish products: Ibérico ham, mojama, anchovies, and more can be found at La Tienda (tienda.com), a Virginia-based retailer that has been around since 1996, as well as at the local favorite Despaña, in Soho ( shop.despanabrandfoods.com).
Spices, seeds, salts, grains, beans, nuts, oils, and more: The amazing East Village shop SOS Chefs is worth a visit but also ships: sos-chefs.com.