What's your secret ingredient?

[Arbiter]

Mine is anchovy. Anytime a savory recipe calls for a pinch of salt, I'll add an anchovy instead. It instantly melts into nothing, provides the salt AND a deep savory flavor (with no fishiness). It's essentially natural MSG with bonus vitamins and minerals. I've been hiding anchovies in almost all of my dishes. My family members who would otherwise balk at the idea of eating anchovies love my cooking.

 

[rel=alternate]

Love and care.

 

[souschef]

Love

I kiss every dish i make before serving it to you


On a more serious note it depends on what i'm making. I really like liquid/powder smoke for meats and all manner of toasty dishes. Thyme is something i like to include on almost everything i do. Half of a cinnamon stick in red meat sauces like jus or demiglace

Butter of course (cold), when finishing sauces for a glossy appearance.. And when sauteing i do 50/50 butter and olive oil so i can cheat the butter's low smoke temp

There's probably more but i don't remember it right now

 

[Billy Bob Dick]

Lowry's Seasoned salt and a shit-ton of black pepper

 

[Pierre D'Olnique]

Cheese and bacon. There's very few things that these two won't improve.

 

[Bloitzhole]

Similar to OP - fish sauce.
Great especially for anything tomato heavy to add that extra bit of savoriness and it saves me opening up a tin of anchovy every time I wanna add a little oomph.

 

[souschef]

Similar to OP - fish sauce.
Great especially for anything tomato heavy to add that extra bit of savoriness and it saves me opening up a tin of anchovy every time I wanna add a little oomph.

Anchovies in tomato sauce is a boss move

 

[JambledUpWords]

• Lemon/lime zest
• Extra salt than what the recipe calls for (slightly more, not too much)
• Vanilla bean extract (I add more vanilla than what recipes will call for)
• Garlic (a lot of recipes lowball it)
• White wine/red wine (depends on the recipe, but substituting a bit of broth for wine adds a lot more depth)
• Fresh herbs > dried herbs (the flavor of fresh herbs is so much stronger, and you don’t need as much to get the flavor compared to dried herbs)

 

[Chongqing]

About a year ago I discovered chipotle pepper powder and since then I've used it excessively.

A butcher recommended it to me.

 

[Tablet County]

The Chris-Chan special.
Remember to recycle, kids.

 

[Meelo]

CL-20

 

[Agamemnon Busmalis]

Chipotles in adobo for chili and cumin for macaroni and cheese.

Anchovies in tomato sauce is a boss move

Indispensable.

 

[Dagoth AMOGUS]

Similar to OP - fish sauce.
Great especially for anything tomato heavy to add that extra bit of savoriness and it saves me opening up a tin of anchovy every time I wanna add a little oomph.

Worcestershire sauce is basically sauce with some fish in it right? Cuz thats my go to. OP has good taste, and so do you.

I feel bad for people with seafood allergies. Seafood is the bomb.

 

[peachlover669]

crushed red pepper, spice perfected unlike all the bastardizations of spice that the spics and chinks have created

 

[The Blue Morpho]

Allspice

A dash goes into everything savory I make, no exceptions.

 

[JULAY]

The sodium salt of glutamic acid.

 

[MerriedxReldnahc]

I sometimes add some ground coffee to my tri-tip rub and even the coffee haters in the family really like it.

Love and care.

Love
I kiss every dish i make before serving it to you

With most of my cooking I'd say it's delicious because of love, but one of the best omlettes I've ever made was when I was genuinely enraged at the time. I normally struggle to fold them and not have it turn into a pile of ass, but apparently hate is the secret ingredient.

 

[rel=alternate]

I sometimes add some ground coffee to my tri-tip rub and even the coffee haters in the family really like it.




With most of my cooking I'd say it's delicious because of love, but one of the best omlettes I've ever made was when I was genuinely enraged at the time. I normally struggle to fold them and not have it turn into a pile of ass, but apparently hate is the secret ingredient.

I am sure that somewhere deep inside the hate has something to do with the desire and care to accomplish the dish the way you want. It's all love in the end. Just like you will hate fuck and love every second of it.

It's corny, but cooking is really about love and pride. Taking ownership over something you produce and standing by it. Without this, it's just motions.

 

[Squanto Airi]

If I told you then it wouldn't be a secret ingredient now, would it?

 

[Black Man Underwear]

Butter.