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

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.

MSG. It’s amazing.

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.

MSG

Monosodium glutamate

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.

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.

MSG in everything except eggs. Doesn’t go well with eggs for some reason.

Dry yellow mustard powder in mac and cheese. Not the fiery English or Chinese stuff, just boring American yellow mustard.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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).

Last mile seasoning! Shortly before your dish is ready to serve check for salt acid and heat, and adjust accordingly. This is critical!!!!

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.

If the recipe calls for ground beef I'll usually swap it for ground sausage.

MSG

LSD My cookies are wild man

Love.

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.

I spread pesto inside my grilled cheese sandwiches

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

I just add dill and Vegeta to everything.

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.

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.

I just tried making sugar cookies, adding black sesame powder and replacing a portion of the butter with sesame oil. These cookies slap.

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 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.

Cinnamon. Goes well with more savory things than I ever expected.

Parmesan in mashed potato. Not enough to be cheesy, just for some unami. Also using grainy mustard.

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.

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.

Actually my friends recipe.

Root beer float: Ingredients: Root beer, vanilla ice cream and just a touch of Kalua.

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.

Worcestershire Sauce. It adds umami (anchovy drippings), smokiness (tamarind and molasses), acidity (vinegar), and salinity (anchovy drippings).

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.

Hungarian paprika and MSG

Soy sauce
flax seed oil in tomato sauce
lime juice
yeast extract

Vegans know how to cook haha

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.

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.

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.

Marmite.

Wijko saté sauce. It goes with almost anything. I'll have no shame in it. My Asian partner does.

When I make my pico de gallo, I use key limes instead of regular limes. Tastes more authentic.

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.

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

It's not that wild, but I absolutely LOVE blue cheese in a burger.

A quarter-dash of cinnamon in anything that calls for ground or minced beef. Enhances the savory notes of the rest of your seasonings and broths. (Haven't tried this with pork yet; but considering the existence of molé, I expect it to work with chicken too.)

New Mexico hatch Green chilies on everything.

Dry sherry in tomato sauce, soups, or anything with beef in it.

Black salt. Pair with any fruit.

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.

Butter. Butter. More butter. More butter, more better

hominy in chili

Bog standard "all purpose seasoning" in mac n cheese. Just elevates the whole thing.

I find a lot of dishes are just better with oregano.

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.

Sliced watermelon with Tajin spice is the food of the gods.

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.

Pumpkin pie. Add cardamom.

Balance acidity, that's pretty much how to make every sauce delicious. Per OP's suggestion, that free glutamate punch also helps.

Worcestershire sauce in tuna. It is delicious.

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Almost all of my barbecue rubs have black garlic salt/pepper. Make it myself.

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.

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.

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.

Dashi. Makes dishes get a lot of umami.

I put a pinch of freshly roasted and ground cumin in my guac. Gives it a little oomph

Scrambled eggs. Add some cream and onion.

Oregano. 🤫 Don’t tell anybody Andy.

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~

Here's an opposite example: When making lasagna, leave out the bechamel sauce. No more soggy mess

Butter.

A splash of milk (probably any dairy?) in stews and meat based sauces just before serving.

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A pinch of cosmo canyon salt

Nandos medium hot sauce in chicken stews.

Garlic chilli powder. An Indian mate of mine introduced me to this condiment and it changed my life. I add a few pinches of it to most of my dishes now (noodles, pasta, pizza, sandwiches, fried rice, stir-frys and of course curries) - and it elevates then to the next level. (I love spicy food btw so this may not be for everyone, but for me it opened up a whole new world).

If the recipe calls for tofu (and you are not vegan), use Paneer, almost always an improvement.

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.