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.
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.
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 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.
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,
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.
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.
Never measure. Just throw. You know you’ve seasoned it enough when the spirits of your ancestors step in.
You could weigh the containers before and after
Im to dumb and lazy too do that. Hence why smart containers would be nice.
either that, or it only tastes so good the first time, even if your recreate it exactly.
That’s why I’m designing a recipe app where I can keep notes etc for everything I make.
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.
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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.
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
The magic spice
The MSG must flow!
King of Flavour
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.
Doesn’t it ferment when you heat it? I don’t know much about chemistry.
No, because you’re heating it to oven temperatures, not just keeping it slightly warm. If it were cool enough to ferment the juice, the meat would be breeding botulism or e coli or something.
No, the heat would kill any yeast that could ferment it. Also it’s usually pasteurized so it won’t ferment.
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.
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.
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 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
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
Always, ALWAYS, opt for the nutmeg nut. It keeps surprisingly long and you can make them last up to 2 years with regular use.
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
Nutmeg… Can’t stand the stuff personally, especially when people put it in white sauces for Italian dishes. It’s OK in sweet desserts.
Last mile seasoning! Shortly before your dish is ready to serve check for salt acid and heat, and adjust accordingly. This is critical!!!
MSG
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.
Aka Make Shit Good
Dry yellow mustard powder in mac and cheese. Not the fiery English or Chinese stuff, just boring American yellow mustard.
I use about 2 teaspoons of dijon, and then also something spicy, like Cayanne Pepper.
Nah man, Coleman’s is the one and only.
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.
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.
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
learn to cook
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.
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
While not impossible, it’s fairly hard to over season stuff.
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).
If the recipe calls for ground beef I’ll usually swap it for ground sausage.
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
