What's your secret ingredient that makes your version of a common dish better than anyone else's?

ClockworkOtter@lemmy.world to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 244 points –

Mine probably isn't that secret these days, but almost every sauce I add nutritional yeast to. Curry, chilli, bolognese, it just makes them all better.

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Coffee: just put like a 16th or 32nd of a teaspoon of cayenne in the grounds, gives a depth of flavour people love. Just a miniscule amount, they should never spot it for what it is.

Use a real fucking measurement Jesus christ

It is a “real fucking measurement,” just not one you use. 1 US teaspoon is approximately 5 ml.

I recognize that US measurements are stupid and don’t make any sense to those who don’t use them, i.e. the entire rest of the world, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t real measurements.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally wish I didn’t have to have a chart giving me conversions between teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups on my fridge, but recipes in the US are all in our dumb measurements so it’s what we’re used to. I also wish everything would be measured by weight instead of volume, but here we are.

A (1) teaspoon might be used as a measurement. 1/32 of a Teaspoon is asinine.

Admittedly, yeah. Technically in the US’s stupid system that should be “a half pinch.”

A pinch being 1/16 teaspoon.

Lol, of course they have a name for it

Are all those recipes that call for a "pinch of this" or a "dash of that" suddenly making more sense to you?

I just thought it meant "a bit", and it basically does because noone can really measure a 16th of a teaspoon

I knew dash and pinch, I didn’t know tad, smidgen, or drop. Fascinating.

That's not a teaspoon. I didn't say you couldn_t measure arbritrary amounts of stuff, just eyeballing a 16th of a teaspoon is not something you can do accurately

Look i don't know what your dumb ass is on about, you can't eyeball the amount if you use milliliters either.

They literally make the spoons for measuring it.

what the fuck are you talking about? They didn't make teaspoons for measurement purposes... It's right there in the name.

expressing a 16th of a teaspoon in mL is just awkward. I'm Canadian, believe me, i understand both systems perfectly well and use what works best situationally.

Are fractions upsetting?

A "table spoon" is already not a proper unit, fractions of it are just abhorrent

Americans use sticks and tablespoons to measure butter and it does my fucking head in. A tablespoon of oil, however, is perfectly acceptable.

"...and then just add .03 pounds of coffee per .0005 tons of cayenne and you'll be the toast of the town!"

About a quarter of a millilitre.

found the chemical technician

My ex used to go insane following her mother's recipes for things, which she had to "feel". Write an SOP or GTFO was usually her motto

Specifically cayenne?

Yes, for a specific effect. It gives a smoky depth of flavour and much improves some shitty coffees. The dude here saying a pinch salt, that works too but a different effect.

I've used a dash of salt in french press when I have very few options over how its made, it takes off the bitterness and adds no saltiness.