What's your secret ingredient that makes your version of a common dish better than anyone else's?
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.
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.
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
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
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
If the recipe calls for ground beef I'll usually swap it for ground sausage.
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 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 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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hungarian paprika and MSG
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.
Marmite.
Wijko saté sauce. It goes with almost anything. I'll have no shame in it. My Asian partner does.
I find a lot of dishes are just better with oregano.
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.
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.
Permanently Deleted
Dashi. Makes dishes get a lot of umami.
Pumpkin pie. Add cardamom.
Almost all of my barbecue rubs have black garlic salt/pepper. Make it myself.
Black salt. Pair with any fruit.
hominy in chili
Worcestershire sauce in tuna. It is delicious.
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.
Sliced watermelon with Tajin spice is the food of the gods.
Balance acidity, that's pretty much how to make every sauce delicious. Per OP's suggestion, that free glutamate punch also helps.
Salt, butter and garlic. But I have a feeling my secret ingredients aren't all that secret.
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.
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~
A splash of milk (probably any dairy?) in stews and meat based sauces just before serving.
A pinch of cosmo canyon salt
Garlic on grilled cheese.
Butter.
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).
Alcohol. But it's not actually on or for the dish itself.
love.
Heavy cream.
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