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.
Cum
I heard about this on Milk Street Radio.
Pumpkin pie. Add cardamom.
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
Soy sauce is like half your daily salt intake in one serving, unless you buy the low sodium version.
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.
Worcestershire sauce in tuna. It is delicious.
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.
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…
Dry yellow mustard powder in mac and cheese. Not the fiery English or Chinese stuff, just boring American yellow mustard.
Nah man, Coleman’s is the one and only.
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
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!
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.
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.
Add sugar when you’re making salsa, a tiny hint of sweetness is all it takes~
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.
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.
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Not heard of gochugaru - how did you come across it?
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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.
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.
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.
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 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.
