What's your secret ingredient that makes your version of a common dish better than anyone else's?
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.
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.
Acid. Lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar, and/or wine. Salt and acid make the existing flavors fucking pop.
For anything cheesy, add a touch of nutmeg. Not enough to identify it, but enough to know that something changed.
Taste as you go.
Funny story. My partner was making mince meat a little while back and instead of adding nutmeg they accidentally added cinnamon. Actually turned out really good!
Moroccans (and probably others) use cinnamon in savoury dishes like tagines and stuff, so not a terrible mistake to make!
Cinnamon is awesome on pepperoni pizza; throw it on before baking.
Agree with acid. Fuck nutmeg though, I'm tired of sauces with nutmeg. It does not give it a je ne sais quoi, it just makes it taste like fucking nutmeg.
That's just too much nutmeg.
Correct, and that's my problem with it: it gets abused too often, so it's on my "this is why we can't have nice things" list.
I had to learn to not go overboard with nutmeg, because it's a very strong flavor that quickly overpowers a dish and when it does, it doesn't taste nice. But in the correct quantity on the right dish, it's brilliant.
Nutmeg is great in creamed spinach as well
Couldn't tell you. Every time I make something really good that's worth repeating, the recipe is immediately wiped from my mind forever. It's like some monkey's paw curse that I can only make the thing the most delicious way once.
Also, butter.
I have the same issue with seasonings. I can never remember how much of what i used to make a perfect dish. With all the smart things being made, what we need are smart seasoning containers, just think after a long cooking you sit down to eat and can pull up an app to see you used 2 grams of this 5 grams of that. You mark the dish then next time you're cooking you pull up the app and it reminds you on how much to use.
You could weigh the containers before and after
Im to dumb and lazy too do that. Hence why smart containers would be nice.
I still pine for that ham bone soup I drunk-made after Christmas that one times.
The other secret ingredient is .... time
Often I'll make something and it doesn't quite taste that great immediately after making it ... especially tomato based recipes
Then when you let it sit for a day ... it tastes a whole lot better the next day.
True. A lot of sauces are the best in leftovers, but every time, I'm like, "no, this doesn't taste right, it's not good, mom taste it and help me," and then she's like, "yeah dummy, it's been on the stove for 5 minutes, give it some time." I'm not patient.
Tomatoes are shy and take time to work into a dish. That's why I like to have my sauce simmering before I start the water when making pasta.
Bolognese, i'll have that simmering for 2-3 hours before i even think about starting the spaghetti,
I get the same. I make something that everyone says is delicious and I genuinely have no idea how much of what went in. I guess it just comes with knowing the basics well enough.
either that, or it only tastes so good the first time, even if your recreate it exactly.
MSG
A few years ago I got a big shaker of just straight MSG crystals in the "ethnic foods" aisle of the grocery store, and I put it in so much stuff. It just makes everything taste better. Particularly anything umami
In Switerland you can get it by the kilogram and in some supermarkets there is an entire aisle just for MSG.
You can get that anywhere worldwide professional cooks shop. No, it's often not in grocery store in English speaking countries, but it's at the wholesaler in 3 lb jars and 10 kg buckets, and (one of the reasons) food tastes better in a restaurant. The other reasons are excessive sugar, fat, cream and butter of course.
King of Flavour
The magic spice
The MSG must flow!
Monosodium glutamate
Uncle Roger approved
Fuiyoh!
Citric acid. It's like adding lemon juice, except without any added moisture, so it works where too much moisture could pose a problem, like when you are making a pizza, nachos, or frying something in oil. It also never goes bad and is incredibly cheap, I use it all the time and am not even halfway through the $15 bag I bought like 8 years ago.
You can also add citric (and malic and tartaric) acid in the right proportions to turn a sweet juice like orange or pineapple into the equivalent of lime or lemon, and then use that juice like you'd use lime or lemon in cocktails or other recipes
Generally, salt or MSG. I find people tend to under-season their dishes, and not layer flavors as they cook.
MSG comes in many forms: cheese, tomato, mushroom, fish sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce... MSG powder.
I'm not taling Uncle Roger portions here. Just a teaspoon of the naturally occurring stuff, a couple splashes of the sauces, or just or a pinch of straight MSG is all it takes to add a bit of savory depth to a dish. I get good feedback about my cooking. Occasionally I overdo the salt, but no so much as to render it inedible. It helps to move the table wine along.
Back incollege, I was a waitress at an Italian restaurant. A lady came in ordered a dish with lots of tomato in it, then demanded I tell the chef she was allergic to MSG, in an accusatory way. What she didn't know is that I was going to school for a medical based degree, and recently had a professor go off about how MSG is in tons of foods naturally and not to believe the craze about it being bad for you.
"Oh my gosh! You're allergic to MSG!?! I'm sorry, but all tomatoes contain MSG. Please choose another dish" ... "I'm sorry, ma'am but mushrooms have MSG in them too. I'll talk to my chef and see what suggestions he might have."
She changed her tone "I'm not allergic, I just don't want it added... it's bad for you... blah blah"
I didn't get tipped, but it was hella satisfying to passive- aggressively educate her.
Based
Yeah, I've a customer like that, absolutely convinced he's allergic to MSG. Pours ketchup all over everything.
MSG in everything except eggs. Doesn’t go well with eggs for some reason.
In my experience it goes well with eggs too!
Bahaha someone else on here recommended MSG and I was like, “Oh yeah, I should go make some eggs and sprinkle some MSG on there.”
Dry yellow mustard powder in mac and cheese. Not the fiery English or Chinese stuff, just boring American yellow mustard.
I just add a bit of bottled mustard, about half a teaspoon to a box of mac I find to be good, too much more and you start to taste the mustard distinctly.
Adding a bunch of black pepper to it also does good things in my opinion
Nah man, Coleman's is the one and only.
I use about 2 teaspoons of dijon, and then also something spicy, like Cayanne Pepper.
MSG.
Not an ingredient necessarily, but I toast rice with spices before cooking it. I throw some oil and garlic in the pot I'm going to cook the rice in, then put in the rice and (for mexican-like dishes) garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, a little oregano, a little cayenne pepper, and salt. I mix that all up continuously over medium heat for a couple minutes, then I add the water and cook the rice. It makes an incredible difference in taste
Not to discount your rice idea, but isn't this essentially the directions for Rice-A-Roni?
It completely is and it completely works wonders.
You do similar with risotto too.
Just like adding a pinch of salt can improve any dish, adding a dash of Worcestershire sauce can improve them for the same reasons but different taste group.
And more generally, if you taste something and feel like it's missing something, go through each of the taste groups and consider if that is what it's missing. Sweet, salty, acidic, umami are the main ones (I've never felt like a dish is missing bitterness, but maybe that's a weakness in my cooking). Spicy isn't a flavour group but can add to a dish and/or mask a lack of balance.
Also, do this balancing act after you've added all the ingredients because they can bring their own biases to the dish.
In my experience, when a dish tastes like it's missing something, most of the time it's acid. My go-to is a healthy squirt of yellow mustard.
Well as a Hispanic, I'm obligated to say adobo, sazon and or sofrito...
But cumin is fire in a lot of things too... Like wanna add flavor but no salt? Sprinkle in a lil cumin. Mac n cheese with cumin is a vibe.
Doesn't taste Mexican without some Goya or at least some Knorr.
Salt :D
Lots of home cooks are shy with seasoning in general (but especially salt). While not impossible, it's fairly hard to over season stuff.
That's why if you ever look at "miracle season alls" the first ingredients are usually something like "Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder".
If you want to be amused, look at these ingredients lists. Often the only difference is what food coloring is used.
For example.
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/tony-chachere-s-original-creole-seasoning/172479
I've also found that coarser salt works WAY better for certain stuff.
If it is too fine, for some stuff you have to use a ton or it just disappears, and I don't really like the result. But if you get the stuff that comes in giant crystals, that's fantastic for steaks/chicken, stuff where you lay it onto the surface of something to season it. It's like uneven salt lets you have spots that are way saltier than what would be enjoyable if you salted the whole thing that much, and it ends up tasting better than the same amount of salt applied more evenly.
Sauces, or anything where I want it dissolved, is the only time I use the fine stuff anymore.
I'm pretty much the same way, though I do throw in a bit of fine salt on occasion for the iodine content. I don't eat a ton of seafood which makes getting the rda of iodine difficult.
I disagree here. Unless you're used to overseasoned food already, it's pretty easy to be heavy handed on the salt.
Yes and no.
Some salts are easier to work with than others. Kosher salt, in particular, is fairly hard to over season with because you can visually see just how much you've thrown onto a steak or such. Fine salt, on the other hand, is a lot easier to over season with.
But then it also depends a lot on the dish. Sauces are really hard to over season. The sea of fluid can absorb a fair amount of salt before it's noticeable. Meats are similar. A steak can have a snow covering of kosher salt and it won't really taste super salty.
Bread, on the other hand, will be noticeably worse if you throw in a tbs of salt instead a tsp.
But salt wasn't specifically what I was thinking when I wrote that. Herbal seasoning garlic, rosemary, thyme, sage, etc, generally won't overpower a dish if you have too much of them. Especially if you aren't working with the powdered form. (Definitely possible to over season something with garlic salt/powder).
Vanilla pudding mix in the dough for cinnamon rolls.
For the brown sugar cinnamon filling, sub some of the sugar out for honey. If you pick a honey with a unique taste, anyone who has them will be unable to pinpoint what makes yours so good.
That sounds interesting!
How does the vanilla pudding mix work? What is it replacing?
I'm pretty sure boxed pudding mix is mostly cornstarch, sugar, maybe some powdered milk or powdered eggs, flavoring, and then dyes and preservatives. If you just dumped a box of pudding mix into a basic lean dough (just flour, water, salt, and yeast), you'd end up with something close to a typical enriched dough (lean dough plus stuff to make it sweeter, more tender, etc). Obviously the sugar and flavorings are gonna sweeten things, and the cornstarch might have a tangzhong-like effect where it traps water, leading to a softer, moister, more tender finished product. It'll also probably interfere with gluten formation, which will also lead to a softer, more tender dough.
To figure out what it could replace, let's consider what's in a "normal" cinnamon roll dough first. Commonly a typical cinnamon roll dough is basically brioche dough, so a lean dough enriched with eggs, a touch of sugar, and a healthy amount of butter. Egg yolks, sugar, and butter all interfere with gluten formation and lead to a softer dough, while egg white might lend a bit of structure, but realistically is mostly just contributing water.
So the most obvious thing that's being replaced is the sugar. If the pudding mix contains some sort of powdered dairy product, that might lend some dairy flavor, but you'd still need some sort of fat. If the pudding mix contains powdered egg, that might lend some egg flavor, but powdered egg has less fat than fresh, so again you may need to supplement there as well. If the pudding mix contains cornstarch, I'd consider lessening the amount of flour in the dough to make sure it's still at the right hydration level.
Note: I've never done any of this myself, so this whole thing is basically just an educated guess 😅
This pretty much nails it, especially the bit about gluten development. You'd really have to work this dough to make it springy (which isn't what I'm after in mine). They're more moist than your typical dough. And a lot of dough recipes don't call for vanilla, which is a good addition imo.
Smoked paprika. It throw it in a lot of stuff you wouldn't guess it was in, as it adds a little bit of a smokey flavour.
Been on a huge S. Paprika kick lately. Not sure why I never thought to use it before. It’s basically works wonders on anything (where appropriate)
Even where you wouldn't think it is appropriate. I make pizza crusts from scratch, and sometimes I put a bit in the dough to give it some flavour.
Sounds delicious (in dungeon) and wholly appropriate—really what I mean’t was savory things. I don’t think it’d be good in, say, lemonade (then again, maybe it would be?).
It's quite good even just on popcorn.
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
https://www.amazon.ca/New-Star-Foodservice-42924-Stainless/dp/B00KH9PSNI/ref=sr_1_5?crid=24TF4K7MC3895&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WYeWQitEX9uwly8bXFdyoViknsh1Pe8fIAf-yFy_Z7qjDuZWj9V21l7Qi5nB2je0c02idYDOjTITRf84ZJKMhrVHHLlXfeIWDjjH5q1XzYxl6-2oh2fxfe2mSbX896ukCvxXnuANaUNWpgscWfi6A6IfGUh_sR6KGIwh04dHLdUHBwxWgo3QuJb8MRNWM5FI8-h98hHH9sDbFTk7guN-qEpMrTQsz1p5pkVWNXPUmhFo-dWm9K07P-pfst8RcpleENcq3nx-0ofPpiXLZUHiS46P0MTBa7BENAkpOvt0CcY.PZUvD6kDG6pomISe-ulk1nTV-zlJsKoZ5mac8tf55RE&dib_tag=se&keywords=micro%2Bmeasuring%2Bspoons&qid=1711050212&sprefix=micro%2Bmea%2Caps%2C365&sr=8-5&th=1
I knew dash and pinch, I didn’t know tad, smidgen, or drop. Fascinating.
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?
About a quarter of a millilitre.
"...and then just add .03 pounds of coffee per .0005 tons of cayenne and you'll be the toast of the town!"
learn to cook
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.
Nutmeg is a criminally underutilized spice, and a little goes a long way. Damn-near everything I cook gets a little bit of nutmeg.
If what you're cooking tastes like it's missing something but you can't quite put your finger on what it is, in my experience most of the time it's acid. My go-to way to add that is with a good squirt of yellow mustard.
A little bit of cocoa powder finds its way into a lot of darker colored savory dishes like stews and such
I am always put off a bit when I notice nutmeg where it doesn't belong, like in chili. I love it in fall sweets and maybe on roasted squash but that's about it.
Yeah… putting nutmeg in everything sounds fucking awful.
Have to agree here. I am not a picky eater, and love just about everything, but nutmeg does not sound at all like something I'd enjoy slipped into dishes. OP I'd be cautious about this one
How can you not like nutmeg in your mashed potatoes?
Always, ALWAYS, opt for the nutmeg nut. It keeps surprisingly long and you can make them last up to 2 years with regular use.
Nutmeg... Can't stand the stuff personally, especially when people put it in white sauces for Italian dishes. It's OK in sweet desserts.
Heat, salt, fat, acid. Technique matters more than secret ingredients.
Using low and slow or high and fast where appropriate depending on the goal. Plenty of fat and salt on everything, and a little acid to brighten up the dish.
Yeah, most shit cooking is from people not understanding what heat does to food. Or... a lot. It's hard to teach, as well.
This thread is fucking awesome and I'm gonna try lots of these.
My Ukranian mate showed me the ways of vegeta. No, not the anime character, the seasoning. Put that shit on fried eggs and never look back.
Actually you can add it to lots of stuff. But eggs were the first thing I experienced it with.
I had no idea that was a real thing! I saw Vegeta mentioned in another comment and thought it was a typo lol
MSG
Aka Make Shit Good
Can't beat the good old super salt
or fish sauce ... which is where MSG was originally derived from when MSG was isolated scientifically
never thought fish sauce did much before ... but after using it a bunch of times ... all a 2 liter pot of soup, stew, sauce needs is a few drops and it makes a world of difference.
Last mile seasoning! Shortly before your dish is ready to serve check for salt acid and heat, and adjust accordingly. This is critical!!!!
Not sure if secret, but most people express surprise when I tell them I add unsweetened cocoa powder and brown sugar to my chilli con carne.
I remember adding cocoa to a curry once then spending an hour trying to correct for it. Now I realise I should have just added sugar?
Cocoa goes great in all kinds of stews and braises, but unfortunately a lot of times people hear "cocoa" and immediately jump to "ew, chocolate in my chili? Gross!"
Yep - unsweetened cocoa adds a lot of richness to many sauces. And the brown sugar I add to my chilli con carne takes away some of the tartness of all the tomatoes I put into it.
Adding half a bag of butterscotch chips sprinkled on the top of box brownie mix. I get tons of compliments like it's the best thing in the world (and it is arguably much better than without the butterscotch).
If the recipe calls for ground beef I'll usually swap it for ground sausage.
I spread pesto inside my grilled cheese sandwiches
What cheese though?
56 cheeses tested: https://youtu.be/ZPQMbbsjXiQ?si=1c-KiISnzNdGtzif
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/ZPQMbbsjXiQ?si=1c-KiISnzNdGtzif
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LSD My cookies are wild man
Note that LSD is heat sensitive so it should be added after they cool.
Love.
Ever since I dropped a hot tray of food on the floor, fresh out of the oven, my wife has said that I season my food with hate, and it still tastes pretty good.
This is an American problem, but I discovered Amish butter a while back and haven’t looked back.
It has a slightly higher fat content closer to European butter (85% vs 80% for the regular store stuff), so everything you make tastes better. Eggs, cookies, steak, potatoes- it improves them all. I can get it fairly easy from a local co-op and it’s the same price as regular butter, but that depends on where you are in the country.
I lived in Lancaster / Lebanon, the heart of Amish country, for over 30 years and have never heard of "Amish butter".
This stuff? Comes in 1 lb or 2 lbs logs? Maybe a different brand or packaging?
Idk what you call it but I’ve seen it at Acme now.
Interesting. I've never seen that before. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
I suppose there they just call it "butter."
Only one way to find out. If there are any Amish in this thread please respond and share your experiences
😆
I recently started grinding spices by hand with a mortar/pestle and salt/pepper mills, and it really made a difference. Now everything smells very nice, which really made all of the food I prepare much better. Less of a secret ingredient, but it's usually better to always have fresh spices / ingredients on hand (if possible)
I grow and dry my own herbs, jar the whole leaves, and grind them as needed. It does help.
Last year I picked a huge amount of mushrooms in the forest, dehydrated them (you can buy a dehydrator or use an oven) and ground them to a powder.
I put mushroom powder in damn near everything I cook, gives it a nice hit of umami.
Be careful out there..
I never pick any mushrooms which could potentially be confused with anything toxic. Even if I'm 99% sure, that's not enough.
Dried shiitake mushroom powder slaps hard
Hell yeah. Unfortunately they don't grow where I live, but we have plenty of Porcinis and Chanterelles which taste amazing
Half a teaspoon of mustard to any creme-based sauce. People dont think it will taste good but once you try it... Doesnt matter if you dont like mustard on its own. But it just adds that different flavor, similar to how salt changes it, without wanting the dish to taste like salt.
And it helps the emulsion! Keeps everything thick and creamy.
I do a similar thing but with horseradish. Just a hint of it is enough to improve the sauce
For chicken or beef pot-roasted with vegetables, apple juice. I started doing it when recipes called for wine but I had little kids and no money.
Seems like a red grape juice would be closer.
For some reason that Concord Grape flavor is just overwhelming for me. Apple is a more neutral flavor. I started with apple because it was what I had on hand, but tried grape and went back to apple. It doesn't add the purple color, but as with wine, the fruit sugars caramelize to aid browning.
everything about my life changed when I realized that if something tastes like it needs salt but adding salt doesn't help, it needs acid.
This book helped me out significantly:
https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/
Sugar.
People are far too afraid of it. Add a tablespoon to bolognaise: Instant improvement.
Also, balsamic vinegar. There’s very few savory dishes that aren’t improved by a table spoon.
Also, Worcestershire Sauce. Can’t deny the umami.
And yes, nutritional yeast.
Cinnamon. Goes well with more savory things than I ever expected.
What's the most left field dish you add it to? Funnily enough, cinnamon in chilli was what I had in mind when I made this post!
Taco/nacho meat is the one that comes to mind. I use it in other things as well but my mind has very helpfully gone blank...
I just tried making sugar cookies, adding black sesame powder and replacing a portion of the butter with sesame oil. These cookies slap.
Oh! I like that idea!
I try to remember that book "salt fat acid heat" when i am making up a dish from the food in the fridge/pantry when trying to decide what might work.
Instead of salt I use Tony Chachere's seasoning. This is a staple in EVERY Louisiana household, so you know it's the real deal.
I do love me some Tony Cachere’s, but have you ever tried Slap Ya Mama? I actually prefer it over Cachere’s as Cajun seasoning goes. Both are great though!
A lot of these are adding umami to dishes. For an umami bomb that doesn't taste like any particular ingredient you can blend together soy sauce, fish sauce, and tomato paste in smaller amounts and add the to your dish.
Butter - I use it in pizza dough, taco meat, stir fry...
I know what brands of garlic powder to use. Nothing beats fresh garlic, but a pinch of the good stuff is worth 10 shakes of supermarket brand crap.
I had a phase where I was really into making rice "the authentic way". Wash it, soak it, boil it in exactly proportioned amount of water, etc. Then I realized that I can instead just add a shit ton of butter and turn the side dish into the main dish
Roasted garlic and/or roasted bone marrow. Soups, meat rubs, compound butters, whatever. The depth of flavours those two things add by themselves is amazing.
Hungarian paprika and MSG
If it’s tomato heavy, add sugar, neutralizes the acids a bit and makes it easier if you suffer heartburn.
When I grill burgers I mix in an egg and breadcrumbs. The egg seals in the juices and the breadcrumbs stabilize it. Garlic salt and Lowry’s seasoned salt mixed in as well.
In fact garlic salt and Lowry’s finds their way into most meals in the house. Great combo for almost any meat and most veggies.
Throwing a little bit of baking soda into tomato based sauces can tame the acidity as well, and is actually a pretty great trick for neutralizing the canned taste if you're using canned tomatoes. Just make sure to add it slowly and mix slowly, otherwise you'll be creating a science fair volcano on your stovetop.
I've found that thats good advice if you dont cook the tomatoes for that long, less than 30 min, like Shakshuka. If you are going to to cook them for hours, then you don't really need it, like for red sauce.
If you're looking to reduce heartburn, add baking soda, not sugar.
Sugar improves the flavor as well in my opinion. Baking soda not so much.
On the subject of burgers, I make sliders using ground beef with chopped garlic and onions, Worcestershire sauce, and peanut butter. Pretty sure I got the recipe from somewhere. I use King's Hawaiian bread rolls for the buns and it's absolutely delicious.
Tomato sauce and everything hot tomato, especially if you use canned tomatoes, needs a bit of sugar. It makes it 100% better. It does not make it sweet, but all the flavors of the tomato just pop while otherwise it is only sour and bland.
Have you tried balsamic vinegar? The thick, syrupy version? Adds that bit more than just sugar.
Of course, it can be fucking expensive so definitely a luxury.
Parmesan in mashed potato. Not enough to be cheesy, just for some unami. Also using grainy mustard.
I like Sour cream in mashed potatoes, but this sounds heavenly. Do you use grated or flaked?
Little bit grated in is all you need. That's the beauty of cooking with flavour enhancers, you can use more or less depending on how you like it.
My husband sometimes uses mayonnaise. If he told me in advance, I'd have turned up my nose at it, but it worked quite well and I only found out after tasting.
Mirin! And other stuff you'd find at Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc stores. Like the different types of sauces and ingredients you can get from them can often mix very well with traditional American foods.
Old Bay in home made hamburger mix. Only do it if you're using an 80/20 mix because the flavor stands out too much if you use lean hamburger.
Marmite.
A small splash of amaretto in macaroni and cheese. Only about a cap full, or one teaspoon, gives it an amazing sweet and salty flavour.
I discovered this incredible recipe one night when I was preparing some mac-n-cheese only to discover I was completely out of milk, and had to substitute the next best liquid I had on hand.
Okay, that is definitely out there! I'll try to remember that next time we have amaretto and are making mac n cheese!
When I make my pico de gallo, I use key limes instead of regular limes. Tastes more authentic.
Jesus, lol, for some reason you're getting interrogated for this take. I don't get lemmy sometimes
Yeah I don't get it. I'm talking about Mexican food here. So one would assume authentic would refer to the flavors of it's origins, vs something like at a taco bell or something. Am I supposed to feel ashamed of my Mexican heritage or something?
Define authentic taste for me.
Tastes like how I remember it tastes in Mexico vs how it tastes in the US
Worcestershire Sauce. It adds umami (anchovy drippings), smokiness (tamarind and molasses), acidity (vinegar), and salinity (anchovy drippings).
One of my favorite lazy-ass, basic meals is a pork chop with garlic mashed potatoes and a bowl of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce to dip a fork of both in.
Actually my friends recipe.
Root beer float: Ingredients: Root beer, vanilla ice cream and just a touch of Kalua.
My favorite nothing to do today coffee is coffee, shot of Grind espresso rum, and kahlua as creamer
Coffee and Baileys 🥰
Sounds delish.
It's not that wild, but I absolutely LOVE blue cheese in a burger.
Yeah, that's one of those combos I just don't get to experience any longer.
This one’s a bit of a preference and not much an ingredient, but a topping. I tend to put molasses on pancakes over syrup or honey. I still occasionally use maple syrup or honey, but I love the bitterness of molasses.
On the topic of syrup, I put maple syrup in coffee instead of just sugar! The "earthiness" of the maple syrup goes really well with coffee.
(I do it with cold brew so I honestly don't know how it is with hot coffee.)
Interesting. I drink black coffee, but I have tried with molasses… it’s not bad by any means, but not something I would drink every day. Never once have I tried maple syrup (and I’m Canadian). I’ve tried maple flavoured coffee, but it didn’t taste great. I’ll have to give it a shot.
I made a coffee cake recently and made maple syrup icing for it. They go together deliciously well.
100ml espresso
45ml maple syrup
200ml of ice
Shake well, then top with 200ml of full-fat or creamy oatmilk.
Enjoy!
Soy sauce makes everything better. If there is some kind of sauce or broth just add a little bit. The extra salt and umami flavor elevate everything. Doesn't matter the cuisine. It goes great in burgers
Basically this.
Just add soy sauce. BAM!
Soy sauce is like half your daily salt intake in one serving, unless you buy the low sodium version.
Yup. That's why you add a little to a whole pot. It's a flavor enhancer. Besides anything you make is way less than anything you get premade
New Mexico hatch Green chilies on everything.
New ice cream topping idea!
Green chili ice cream is pretty great
Suspicious that this is a trick, but I can't say I'm not intrigued.
https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/blogs/hatch/hatch-green-chile-ice-cream
If you can't buy fresh and roast them I recommend the young guns brand of diced hatch chilies
Dry sherry in tomato sauce, soups, or anything with beef in it.
Sherry is good stuff. I use a lot of port in savory dishes too.
I quite like cottage pie (or shepherds pie, depending on my mood). I've found mixing sweet potato into the mashed potato topping makes a HUGE difference. Only 1/4 to 1/3 is needed, anymore and it can be overpowering.
I do a chicken pizza using tzatziki as the base sauce instead of tomato. Initially I was going to have it on top, but decided to go nuts. With the other Mediterranean ingredients on it, goes deliciously.
Huh, so you made a pzzatzika
Sounds more like a flat gyros.
Wijko saté sauce. It goes with almost anything. I'll have no shame in it. My Asian partner does.
Vegans know how to cook haha
Kinda have to when you can't cheat by adding butter, cheese or bacon to everything.
cheese, damn cheese.
Omnivores make noodles with literally nothing and just put cheese on it
I suppose at least vegan cheese is getting much better
I had a vegan cheese charcuterie board last summer and it was a delightful thing.
When I make quesadillas, I put a thin layer of this really good chipotle sauce on the tortilla before I start adding the ingredients. Plus, butter for browning the tortilla always trumps cooking spray. Finally, when browning the meat, there’s a sweet and spicy sauce I’ll put in the pan along with some honey to finish browning the meat. Adds a layer of sticky goodness.
I don't know about "better", but I've been experimenting with adding bitter chocolate to my indian curries. The thinking being, some masalas are a bit like mole if you squint (yes, I know most moles don't actually contain chocolate). Balancing out the bittersweetness has been challenging, especially given that the tomatoes I can get around here are already quite sweet. It also affects how much lemon juice or amchoor is needed. I'm not quite convinced yet that it's a good idea lol.
Feels like you should use cocoa powder or instant coffee/espresso instead. Seems like you're trying to add bitterness, but the fact that the chocolate you are adding also has sugar, it is making things more challenging to balance.
Yeah, cocoa powder is what I am planning for the next attempt. I keep forgetting to pick some up at the supermarket. Coffee sounds interesting, though I'm typically not a fan.
I use it in Japanese curry all the time. The goal is not to make it taste like coffee, but add a bit more boldness.
Cocoa is such a strong taste; from my experience you probably want to start with less than a teaspoon and gradually go up while testing regularly.
hominy in chili
Bog standard "all purpose seasoning" in mac n cheese. Just elevates the whole thing.
What is all purpose seasoning?
https://www.myforkinglife.com/all-purpose-seasoning-recipe/
I've never heard of doing this and it seems extremely strange to me. If I want onion flavor in a dish I would typically chop up an onion.
Balance acidity, that's pretty much how to make every sauce delicious. Per OP's suggestion, that free glutamate punch also helps.
Recently discovered the wonders of yeasty flakes, never thought to put it in sauces (only sprinkles) so I will give this a go, thanks!
My ultimate sprinkly pasta topping is a mixture of grated cheese, crushed Salted crisps, yeast flakes, fresh basil, hot sauce, and Japanese shichimi.
How much do you use? Like in a 2 liter pot of pasta sauce
I've got a lot of yeast flakes I keep for popcorn but there is so much of it that I don't know how else to use the stuff
I'd say with flakes you can probably start with a tablespoon for your 2l pot, and go up or down from there depending on how you find it.
Neat ... thanks for the help ... I'll definitely try it for my next batch
Almost all of my barbecue rubs have black garlic salt/pepper. Make it myself.
Butter. Butter. More butter. More butter, more better
The taste differential between basic sliced bread bought at Aldi vs basic sliced bread bought at Carrefour is surprisingly measurable.
Worcestershire sauce in tuna. It is delicious.
Other than MSG - garlic powder, lemon pepper, paprika, and gochugaru. Almost everything I cook has those 4 put in, with only the lemon pepper reduced if citrus is not part of the dish.
Not heard of gochugaru - how did you come across it?
We usually cook asian food at home, and gochugaru is a staple in Korean dishes. Since it's basically just red pepper, it works on almost anything. It also adds a bit of flavor (other than spice) that I can't really describe, but it's mild enough that it doesn't ruin the dish you're making.
Might give it a try. We're still trying to build our toddler's appreciation of spice up.
Unsweetened cocoa powder in my chili. I'm not sure how common/uncommon that is, but everyone I've ever told looks at me like I'm crazy, right before asking for a 4th bowl. At least Alton doesn't think I'm crazy.
That or dark chocolate. I'm amazed this is still a "secret"
Ground fennel seed.
People use it for chicken, fish and broth and it's great in all of them but it realy shines in salads.
I used to be just like you, not really liking salads. They were always just a side dish or something to eat when I wanted to be "healthy". But that changed when I started adding fennel seed.
Now, whenever I make salad I start by adding a ton of FS, think "shit, I added too much", sit down to eat it only to get back up amd add more.
That's a lovely idea.
I've found diced fennel bulb to be a good aromatic, too.
Sliced watermelon with Tajin spice is the food of the gods.
Pumpkin pie. Add cardamom.
I find a lot of dishes are just better with oregano.
Oregano. 🤫 Don’t tell anybody Andy.
Scrambled eggs. Add some cream and onion.
Dashi. Makes dishes get a lot of umami.
Beans (usually black beans, but I've been looking more into other varieties lately), lentils, peas, soy curls, tofu, tempeh, tvp, rice, oat groats, barley, quinoa, bulgur, amaranth, other grains I can't remember at the moment, and seitan: wherever most people would use mutilated body parts.
I put a pinch of freshly roasted and ground cumin in my guac. Gives it a little oomph
Here's an opposite example: When making lasagna, leave out the bechamel sauce. No more soggy mess
Your comment almost made me faint like a posh Victorian aera woman.
Lasagna is like sex. There will be a soggy mess at the end but it's sorta worth it
Lasagna and sex do not belong in the same sentence, I feel so sorry for you 🙏Your comment is worse than soggy lasagna
Salt, butter and garlic. But I have a feeling my secret ingredients aren't all that secret.
Add two or three tablespoons of sugar when you're making a batch of salsa, just a tiny hint of sweetness is all it takes~
Butter.
A splash of milk (probably any dairy?) in stews and meat based sauces just before serving.
A pinch of cosmo canyon salt
Nandos medium hot sauce in chicken stews.
Cheeky
I also add unsweetened peanut butter to make it creamy and spicy at the same time. It is delicious.
If the recipe calls for tofu (and you are not vegan), use Paneer, almost always an improvement.
But if you are vegan then for god's sake marinade it and give it a quick blast in the oven or air fryer to firm it up a bit more.
Asafoetida and curry leaves. Not exactly secret, but skipping these will make my food taste bland. Also chopping curry leaves will add more flavour.
Do you use fresh or dried curry leaves?
Both. Although dried ones stay longer and are easier to crush by hand.
Good to know since dried are much easier for me to get hold of.
Cum
I heard about this on Milk Street Radio.
This you?