That Miracle Ingredient!

A mouthful of wine.

Curry powder added to Chicken Divan. Should be called Chicken DiVINE.

Anchovy paste.

Nutritional yeast.

Brown sugar.

What does the butter do to the tomato sauce OP?

fresh grated nutmeg in scrambled eggs

cinnamon and/or chili powder in chocolate chip cookies

never gonna tell what makes my chocolate pies so mouth watering

R4 I'm curious too. No offense, but it sounds gross.

R6 Yesss to the cinnamon. Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies have a hint of cinnamon. I also use coffee (the stronger the better) instead of water in chocolate cake and brownie mixes.

meat pies? try a little priest

Butter in tomato sauce, agreed. Adds a luxurious mouth feel.

Yes, a lot of high-end restaurants finish off the pasta with butter. It just tastes richer.

When marinating flank steak or any other type of red meat you intend to grill, add one or two tablespoons of Chinese Oyster Sauce to the marinade. It gives the grilled meat a really delicious, unidentifiable, umami flavor.

cream cheese in scrambled eggs

I love OP’s difficult procedures. Had me rolling, OP! Good job.

sour cream in potato salad

Butter also elevates pesto sauce.

cardamom - I switch spices in some basic baking recipes, like cardamom instead of nutmeg in baked pancakes (Dutch babies).

is there anything butter doesn't make better?

Blackening seasoning. Turns tilapia or catfish into gourmet fare.

Potato chips

Honey and mustard in Swedish meatballs.

raisins and ground ginger snaps in stuffed cabbage

R16, yes! I grew up with half mayo, half sour cream. It’s good!

I also like the oil and vinegar version.

R8 google Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce recipe. It was big a few years ago and includes butter. It’s very good. As for OP’s question, a splash of Thai mushroom soy sauce (I get it from a Thai grocery store in NYC’s Chinatown on Mosco street) or fish sauce in savory dishes. They add a nice deep umami flavor as well as the requisite salt.

I know an excellent pie recipe.

(In all seriousness though, Worcestershire sauce.)

pork chops seasoned with poultry seasoning and nutmeg.

Home-grown, Homestewed and home-canned stewed tomoates and home-grown dried sweet basil.

It just makes ALL OF THE DIFFERENCE in the world.

In my family, the boiled potato water is the secret ingredient that makes our pasta so uniquely delicious.

I hate retard OP more than I hate cunt Erna. OP tries to come across as witty and urbane but instead becomes effete and exhausting.

Stop now before you further embarrass yourself.

Joey Brill's AWESOME ham&beans requires use of your homemade broth from the back plus gleanings of a chicken. You cook your hambone in chicken broth with celery, carrot, and onion.

This provides Joey Brill with full authorized control of your menu over at least three meals. You bake a ham so you have a ham bone with knuckle and marrow. You cook a full chicken to obtain the broth goodness, and you make beans.

Add Cinnamon to spaghetti sauce

I add instant coffee and orange extract to pecan pie, brownies, and chocolate cookies.

Always use GOOD vanilla extract.

You take two cans of tuna fish and run them through the meat grinder. The add clam juice and peanut butter.

Boiled potato water for pasta? Sounds interesting. Must try.

Sorry I didn’t come back to answer the butter and tomato sauce question but everyone else pretty much answered it:

It adds a rich velvety texture to the sauce, plus, hell, it’s butter and tastes great!!

Sour cream is also good on pancake batter.

Beer to moisturize any meats being cooked on a pan - from hot dogs to pork chops to steak.

Red wine is a must on any fricase.

Substitute beer for vodka in your Bloody Mary.

You'll thank me later.

Avocado in my potato salad, gives it an amazing flavor.

Save R41's suggestion for his uncle daddy Traylor. Then, be kind to the environment by drinking reinvigorating vodka directly from it's glass or recyclable bottle. If you wanted to share, you could - as long as no spit back rules. You look skeevy. Stick to the beer mary.

Bisto to thicken gravies

Cinnamon in coffee

Red chili flakes in strawberry shortcake

1/4 cup of Italian dressing added to Brussel sprouts the last five minutes boiling. It marinades, softens tough leaves and removes the bitterness.

tabouleh must have way more parsley than Americans can understand or afford and the miracle ingredient is sesame seeds.

R45, intriguing!

R33, a few years ago, I made a honey cake for a Passover dinner. Googled a recipe that called for coffee and orange juice. It was twice as good the next day. The flavors (also had vanilla, honey, brown sugar and spices) were intriguing and you couldn’t pinpoint any one flavor, like cola or a Tootsie roll.

Anyway, your comment reminded me of that. I don’t eat cake anymore, or I’d make it for myself, it was so good.

A tiny vial of bubonic plague.

[quote]tabouleh must have way more parsley than Americans can understand or afford

Afford? Parsley?

R47 why don’t you eat cake anymore, if we may ask?

A pinch of cinnamon in chili.

I add a spoonful of Marmite to beef stew or Beef Stroganoff: it really deepens the umami flavor you want to achieve. Also, several juniper berries: they really add an interesting flavor note. In chicken soup, a couple of cinnamon sticks and some star anise, and at least one dried chili, to make the broth very fragrant and a bit piquant. In potato salad, I always make sure to add chopped scallions and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Those little secrets that home cooks use to make their dishes special are known in French as 'trucs'. French home cooks are very proud of the trucs they pass down from generation to generation. My Mom taught me to cook, and I picked up her secrets.

R51, To be honest, here in Cincinnati, our chili is absolutely redolent of cinnamon. When I cook up a pot of it, the whole house if filled with the scent of cinnamon.

No one has said .... CILANTRO!

Thai/Vietnamese fish sauce to almost anything.

When whisking eggs for an omelette or scrambled eggs, add a small pinch of baking soda to make extra fluffy.

A mere teaspoon of Soy Sauce (low sodium) to chicken noodle soup while it is simmering. (Remember to add turmeric for season/color.)

Add a can of V8 to tomato-based soups.

R41 We called that the poor mans Bloody Mary.

Nutmeg in mac 'n' cheese. I second the motion for Asian fish sauce, particularly in burgers.

Raisins

R56, had a friend who added soy sauce to her steak marinade/rub.

She also said to add a little balsamic vinegar to macerating strawberries for shortcake or ice cream topping.

A hunk of Bakers chocolate in chili.

Sriracha instead of black pepper in everything.

Couple tbl's of mayo instead of butter in boxed mac 'n cheese.

A tsp of curry powder and a tbl or 2 of pickle juice added to egg salad.

Add a splash of olive oil to your marinara sauce for extra flavor and richness.

[quote]Butter also elevates pesto sauce

Just say "pesto," r17.

Accent.

Marinara is made with olive oil, r64.

I learned this from the NYTimes Dining Section: for grilled cheese sandwiches, spread mayonnaise on the OUTSIDE of the sandwich before you add it to a hot skillet. It forms a wonderful golden crust as it browns.

I tried that butter in spaghetti idea tonight, didn't like it.

Mayo (definitely not Miracle Whip).

Add 1 tsp/egg in scrambled eggs. I've had cakes made with mayo, too.

Both the scrambled eggs and cake were divine (tasted rich, set well and held shape, moist) until I learned it was heart-stopping mayonnaise. Still remember them fondly.

Been inspired by watching a lot of Two Fat Ladies episodes on youtube. Lately I add sardines, beef kidneys, and mushroom ketchup to almost everything I make. They combine beautifully in puree as a topping to ice cream, puddings, etc.

Cream cheese in scrambled eggs with salted butter. The chef at ALex in LA taught me that.

squeeze of lemon juice works on most things from savory to sweet!

America's Test Kitchen or Cook's Cuntry, I can't remember which, had a great potato salad recipe. The secret is draining the boiled cubed potatoes, then immediately tossing them with a small mixture of cheap yellow mustard and pickle juice while they're still hot. After they cool, you add your normal mayonnaise-based dressing. The hot potatoes absorb the mustard-pickle flavor, but it mellows quite nicely as they cool and complements an otherwise bland mayo-based dressing beautifully.

Add a wee pinch of salt to a pot of coffee. Not enough to make the coffee salty!

It will add richness to your morning brew.

Add some Dill Pickle juice to chicken salad, potato salad, tuna salad!

I prefer Claussen!

I don't like tomato sauce with butter in it. I can taste the butter. It doesn't taste good with the tomatoes

And I LOVE butter

Not this recipe but I use one from an old Pennsylvania Dutch farm book. If you go into the comments you'll find the secret of just using whole eggs and adding a few drops of yellow food coloring to get the rich yellow noodles.

When I feel like making something from scratch but have hardly any ingredients on hand, I'll make batches of these noodles. Flour, eggs and butter sauce. You can play around with extra flavors. I'll add dried spice jars of Bouquet Garni or Herbes de Provence.

My butter sauce consists of sautéed shallots in sweet cream lighty salted butter (Land O Lakes) and a dash of white wine. Garlic, chives, leeks or even sweet onion will not take it to the next level. Has to be shallots.

A pinch of hand ground chocolate in store brought eggs for scrambled eggs.

So many varied homemade egg noodle recipes. I've tried them all until I've settled on a favorite. Comments in this link are where the secrets can be found.

[quote] cream cheese in scrambled eggs

My favorite restaurant has this as a breakfast dish. It's amazing.

Mongolian Beef marinade? Brown sugar instead of white. Add 3 dashes of sesame oil. That's my secret to take it over the top.

Keep your ginger root in the freezer. Easy to peel. Easy to slice and cube when frozen. Make the cubes tiny using the Japanese method of extraordinary flavor by increasing surface area. It really is a science.

[quote]When whisking eggs for an omelette or scrambled eggs..

A whisk? For eggs? Always a fork, honey, NEVER a whisk.

Substitute applesauce in some cookie/cake recipes that calls for a lot of butter. If a recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, for instance, use half a cup of applesauce, and half a cup of butter. That way, you bring down the calorie count--- plus the cookies/cake get nice and moist.

I'll never tell

I wear it well

I get it from my boyfriend.

Sour cream, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce make a great quick potato chip dip.

A little sugar when making cornbread. So delicious

Potato Salad always German style.

Alter your recipe with bacon fat, bacon, eggs and vinegar. Boil up. Cool down, mix it in. Unfortunately the bacon grease is the secret to this version.

Celery seed or dill seed adds that punch to potato salad. Don't tell anyone. They'll never figure it out.

R89 Yes!

Onion soup mix (in the envelope) added to spaghetti sauce.

I mean the kind that comes in envelopes. Not the envelope too.

Teaspoon of water added to eggs before making scrambled eggs. The water becomes steam which makes the eggs lighter and fluffier. Thanks Melinda Lee!

A clove or two added to brisket, or chuck roast. Whichever other flavourings you decide to use, the clove will remain a mysterious but complex background note. When I make lasagne I put a clove or some clove powder into the meat sauce too. Though my next suggestion, or truc, got major flack on a cottage cheese post, replacing Black pepper with McCormick's Peppercorn Medley in almost anything really kicks things up a fe notches: this mélange is product of France, and contains Black, Green, Pink, and White along with Coriander seed and Allspice. It is perfectly balanced perfection.

Make them while you still can.

Frosted Grapes. Any fruit can be frosted using this method.

Bunches of grapes, 1-2 pounds I egg white beaten stiff

8 ounces caster or icing sugar

Wipe grapes damp cloth after quick soak. Let them sit in colander about 2 hours. Hold bunch by stem. Carefully dip them in egg white. Sugar on piece of wax paper. Press fruit into sugar. Thin layer. Plate and stick in fridge 6 hours or shorter time in freezer.

To keep a relationship fresh, I'm always betting on outcomes especially now with Trump at the helm. Stems arguments and trivial disagreements. So much fun. I love losing because that means in summer months I have to whip this treat up and grab a hand fan. Feeding my SO with one hand while fanning with the other. Up the gloating if you're the winner. You can use a magazine or brochure as your fan.

Can be used as an authentic, heartfelt apology. It's inexpensive to make and something you just can't buy. The doting and time spent will get you out of anything. Even better than those homemade coupons on cardstock for blow jobs. No expiration date and not to be combined with other offers 😚

I’m writing a lot of these down. Keep em coming, including any warnings!

To ensnare a man, women mix in a bit of their menstrual blood into whatever dish they're preparing for the young buck.

Excellent R94. So true about the back note. People realize its set apart and crave yours like no other.

Cloves are underestimated.

As kids we had to bring an orange and Cloves to class. Spear those Cloves into the orange rind and wrap in tulle. Drawer freshener for mother.

I've used the tangerine/orange rind/clove in beef recipes, added to glycerin soap molds and candles made from scratch. Even homemade salt scrubs for myself and as stocking stuffers at holiday time. Hell, even homemade cleaning products. The combination of these two ingredients is so luxurious. So addicting. You'll pine for it. Sweet memories for all.

R97, only if they're black, from Haiti or Louisiana and believe in voodoo and/or hoodoo. Thank you for your input though.

Nein, mein r99. That is old European witchcraft. It may happen in hoodoo as well, I'm not sure, but it has its roots in Europe.

SALT

Can we not forget the power of white peppercorns?

Kentucky Fried Chicken 7 herbs and spices was leaked a few years ago. You guessed it. White pepper.

R100, it's black, hon.

[quote]Substitute beer for vodka in your Bloody Mary. You'll thank me later.

No I wont, that shit tastes nasty and weak when you really need that hair of the dog in the moring. And FYI its called a Mexican Bloody Mary.

OK, r95 sounds exciting but it’s one of those super complicated processes that hardly boil down to “adding one ingredient.”

Some of you have mentioned pickle juice. Is that an actual product or are you just talking about the leftover liquid in a Vlassic or Heinz jar of pickles?

Porchini Dust.

Pick up a small bag of dried Porchini mushrooms at your local grocery store, pulverize it in a clean coffee grinder. Great secret ingredient on savory dishes or meat. And I must say I didn't even like mushrooms until an Italian Pizzioa from Italy told me his secret.

That's NOT the original KFC secret recipe R102. There are dozens of CopyCat recipes which are just wild guesses. In fact if you bothered to read your own link, it says it was reverse engineered. In other words, some cook is guessing what in it.

“My reverse-engineered recipe for replicating KFC's 'Original Recipe'

A splash of Ruby Port in Blueberry pie or any berry type of cooked dessert. It really just kicks it over the edge with a deep berry flavor.

FYI , Ruby Port is a sweet wine, not the left over stuff from your last dinner.

A pinch of Coffee in any kind of steak rub.

Gives it that sort of earthy background note without identifying what it is.

A tsp. of Brown Sugar in any steak rub.

It really helps caramelize the outside of a steak to give it that really dark brown look and flavor. Consider it a Myriad Reaction accelerate.

"Maillard Reaction accelerant," r110?

No clean up required and the secret ingredient is what is actually missing. Also a way to tell a real cook from a pretentious fake. It's science, really.

Years ago, Billy Joel's infant wife Katie? decided to make a career for herself as a chef, just like Gwyneth Paltrow. Neither twat did their homework and just decided to wing it.

Paltrow did a piece with her..wait, maybe it was Jerry Seinfeld's wife...

Anyway another dumb plagiarising bimbo.

Left the rind on the lemon while preparing a fish dish. A no-no taught in cooking schools the world over. In the cooking process the oil from the rind imparts a bitter flavor. Below, make this dish with simple white or jasmine rice on the side.

Fish steaks in foil packets. Heavy duty foil with sides tucked in and folder over the top. Cod but especially flounder. A white fish. Steaks weighing about .5 lbs each. Season w/salt, pepper. 6 lemons but peel off the rind and pith! Slices. Arrange thin slices down the foil square, fish steak on top, cover with more slices. Melted butter, crushed garlic clove (using chef knife handle), dry white wine, fresh chopped parsley. Over coals or 375° oven, 20 minutes. Securely seal those individual parcels. Serve in the packets. Even fish haters will love this light, flaky delicacy. Add the rice into the broth as you go. Just chuck the packets when done. Clean up is a breeze and you've just added a staple to your repitoire.

I know this is going to sound gross but my Hispanic mother who was known for her cooking added a couple tablespoons of whole milk cottage cheese to the Guacamole dip. People rave about it when I make it and I am in California the where fresh Guac is taken very seriously. The small curds act like fat does in a steak, it carries the flavor of the other ingredients without anyone knowing. Dont over do it. 1 or 2 Tbsp. max.

Come November, stuff YOUR Thanksgiving turkey with crumbled-up Dollar Tree pound cake!

Besides, KFC advertises 11 herbs and spices, not 7. Derp.

A fine tip, R110. Ignore the "black is white" troll who never contributes to anything. Claims the opposite of anything a healthy in-the-know member posts. Imagine if that was your m.o. to inject an adrenaline rush? 😂

[quote]Asian fish sauce, particularly in burgers.

UM, NO. Only an Asian would ruin red meat like this.

[quote]Add a wee pinch of salt to a pot of coffee. Not enough to make the coffee salty!

I used to do that too. It tastes better and I think it takes the bitterness edge off a little.

Alternatively, try a pinch, and I really mean just a pinch of baking soda to the coffee as it brews. It neutralizes the acid and just allows the full flavor of the coffee to come through. This also works for tomato sauces so that you don't get acid reflux from the tomatoes.

Still reaching for that adrenaline hit @R117, we see. 😅 Aren't you embarrassed? Cringe-aroni!

R118, now that is science. Putting both on my counter top NOW so I remember come the morning. Thanks guys. Keep 'em coming. Life itself just got kicked up a notch.

[quote]Potato Salad always German style.

AAACK. I cant stand vinegar in a potato salad. You cant taste the potato. Mustard, pickle juice, vinegar in potato salad is totally a Frau Chow. Taste like the crap you get at Denney's.

Skip the vinegar and add a couple chopped up hard boiled eggs. People rave about it but don't know its in there.

R107, I've done that and people lose their minds. I've put it on homemade man'n'cheese among other things. Put it in the breadcrumbs. Also try making your own tomato dust. Dehydrate homegrown tomatoes and grind in coffee grinder. Sprinkle on almost anything.

Growing up (70's), my mom put bacon grease in the peanut butter cookie recipe she had. I've never had any other peanut butter cookies that tasted better. This was back when people kept coffee tins of bacon grease on the stove. I'm not sure if she used it along with butter, or instead of.

Also, I don't know where I saw it but some chef blended up popcorn in some dish and strained it. May have been some sort of soup. The judges lost their marbles.

[quote]add a couple chopped up hard boiled eggs.

Now, that's disgusting, r121.

Eggs and Potatoes R123? Those are a classic combo. Did I hurt your feelings because I don't like Vinegar in my potato salad Dear?

You didn't "hurt my feelings." You caused waves of nausea to sicken me.

I love scrambled eggs and roasted potatoes. That IS a classic combo. What you're suggesting is the shittification of potatoes with yellow-and-white turds.

If you like Lasagna, the American kind with Ricotta, try adding some chopped up hard boiled eggs scattered into one of the layers with the meat. I know some snob will say that's not authentic but they dont know what they are talking about. Besides the fact that my father was from Italy, I researched it as well and it turns out in that one part of southern Italy, they do in fact use hard boiled eggs and Ricotta in their Lasagna.

Wah ha!😂R121 still going? Denney's? Eggs to add zesty zing? Can't breathe. If only we could abandon you like everyone else has. You toxic, lonely troll, you. Tragic.

You never heard of egg salad R125? Its just as mayo based as potato salad.

There's also vinegar in mayo, you old drunk. And egg salad is just as vile as anything else with hard boiled eggs in it (which I just saw you use to desecrate lasagne). You should not be allowed in a kitchen.

It's a miracle anyone survives eating your food, r128 r121.

Par boil your potatoes before you roast them. Super crunchy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside.

Bring a pot of water to a boil first, add the chopped potatoes, 1 tsp white vinegar, bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Then toss on a preheated sheet pan with some olive oil, a sprig of rosemary, slat and pepper. Roast at 400F until golden.

There's nothing wrong with Vinegar R129, I use it in other recipes. I just think is vile in potato salad. Like I said, you cant taste the subtle flavor of the potato. What you are making is just a vinegar sponge salad. BARF!

NOW THAT is a white adjacent W0P failure. A jidrul AND a stunad troll, R126. Go shave your beasty back. Gindaloon Ginzo in the midst.

American lasagna they try cottage cheese instead of ricotta.

Womp Womp, WOP

Can't get off of the floor😂

[quote]And egg salad is just as vile as anything else with hard boiled eggs in it.

Take it up with Julia Child about it you silly troll. Eggs in all its various forms are a classic base in millions of recipes. Obviously you have never taking a cooking class or set foot into a culinary school.

Ricotta cheese and lemon added to blueberry pancakes.

Ricotta cheese. Added to a sweet breakfast bread like cranberry orange.

Racist Trump Troll I see at R133. You just revealed yourself you uppity queen.

I'm not talking about "eggs in all their various forms." Just hardboiled. Do tell me about all the sauces made with the classic base of hard boiled eggs.

OK it’s official.

The emoji queen who’s having fun criticizing other posters has been dipping into the cheap cooking wine.

True that R138. I cant even understand half the racist pretentious shit she is saying.

R130, that troll doesn't have the gumption to cook no less clean the shower. Deserted and abandoned by every soul it comes in contact with. A pig barely living in a stye. Five foot black mold in the shower. Hysterical if it weren't so damned tragic.

[quote]Do tell me about all the sauces made with the classic base of hard boiled eggs.

Trigger Alert, delicate snowflake R137, = Hard Boiled eggs will set her off.

By the way, if you bothered to read more carefully, I never said add eggs to a sauce. You're triggered Dear, calm down and have another glass of that cheap cooking wine.

New Tip, add a vanilla bean to your sugar container. Over time you will get vanilla sugar which is awesome.

Usually when one is discussing "classic bases" in French cooking, one is talking about the bases for sauces, those being the things that make French cooking so distinctive. But what did you mean by "eggs in all its various forms are a classic base in millions of recipes"?

List your first hundred thousand.

You guys have to try this Japanese egg drop soup.

First, make the clear soup broth.

3 cups water to 1 heaping teaspoon of dashinomoto. Dashinomoto is actually a fish based bouillon powder but it doesn't taste fishy at all.

Half teaspoon salt, half teaspoon soy sauce, chopped chives, chopped mushroom garni. There's your base for clear soup.

3 cups of clear soup to boil. 1 egg beaten. Swirl the egg into the soup and remove from heat.

Better than any Chinese egg drop you've ever had. Promise.

Google it R143. I am not going to do your research for you.

I'm ok with a German style potato salad, but my main love is a mayo based potato salad with hard boiled eggs in them. Maybe it's a regional thing? I'm in the Midwest. I also put a little bit of Dijon in the mayo mix, red onion, crumbled bacon, and yes, pickles diced up. I don't see why people are flipping out over eggs in potato salad? To each their own. I think there's a drunk troll on the loose.

R144 I'm going to try that and use a duck egg instead. Bigger and better and richer tasting.

People are not flipping out about eggs in potato salad R146, just the Emoji Troll who is triggered by them. Your recipe sounds tasty.

Yes, R142. Ginger cubes added to sugar just like vanilla. Scrubbing shower salts as well.

Candied ginger is pretty simple to make. I add the chunks into my fried ginger ice cream. Also make sea salt caramel ice custard and rose ice cream. Any time living in Montréal will do that to a guy. Champagne sauce on chicken. Sweet breads in Québec City during weekend jaunts. Spoiled rotten forever.

Definitely cream cheese in scrambled eggs I agree. And chives.

Also, this is not a secret ingredient per se but the way (the only way imo) to cook scrambled eggs is slowly on a low simmer - ie the French way. The only way my mother ever cooked them. And yes this also happens to require a shit ton of butter.

If you know how to make fresh bread from scratch, even if its the No Knead method, throw a tablespoon of Vital Wheat Gluten into the flour. You will get the most amazing rise with big air crumb and nice golden crust. Great for pizza dough too if you are making a Neapolitan style crust.

Egg salad. Many variations. Tuna salad. Where to start? Best Chicken Marsala, Emeril Lagasse. Chicken Francaise, Epicurious. Lemon galore.

[quote]Definitely cream cheese in scrambled eggs I agree. And chives.

It’s (or used to be) the star dish at Sarabeth Kitchen’s UWS long-line-outside Sunday Brunch. They call(ed) it Green and White Eggs.

Is she still around?

When I make bolognese sauce, I add the customary onion, garlic, oregano, basil and bay leaf but also add fennel seeds, rosemary, thyme and red pepper flakes. I'm also going to try R32's suggestion of adding cinnamon.

My favorite quickie vegetable dish is sliced zucchini slices, yellow corn kernels, dill and minced onion stir-fried in a very hot pan with olive oil and butter.

Put a cinnamon stick in the pot when making coffee; it adds a nice flavor.

I like to put a square of unsweetened chocolate in my chili.

To R121, who said "Frau Chow," I love it!

We'll revisit when reaching troll is passed out drunk.

R153 I never liked their eggs. Too busy a restaurant to get them to cook them the way I request them (soft scramble like I described above). And their famous goldielocks omelette has goat cheese and I hate goat cheese.

I always liked their sweets better, like their pumpkin muffins, pumpkin waffles, and their scones. My father used to go up there (the original 92nd Street one before that remodeled) and bring all that stuff home on the weekends. Never worth it to go especially on a weekend.

Really for an all out brunch though (which I almost never do because dinner is still my main meal) Norma’s is the best. But my mission is to get restaurants to serve brunch food for dinner (and frankly I don’t know why they don’t). That would seriously make me the happiest person in the world, and I feel like everyone likes breakfast/brunch food so much more anyway. Only diners do that but diner food ain’t my thing.

[quote]homemade man'n'cheese

Oh...dear.

R157 well to be fair that’s probably quite the popular dish on here as well...

[quote]People are not flipping out about eggs in potato salad [R146], just the Emoji Troll who is triggered by them.

I don't use any emojis. I hate hard boiled eggs.

[quote]Also, this is not a secret ingredient per se but the way (the only way imo) to cook scrambled eggs is slowly on a low simmer - ie the French way.

I remember someone from France making scrambled eggs on a non-Julia cooking show maybe 20 years ago. She insisted on making them this very slow way. She said if it takes you less than 30 minutes, you're doing it wrong. That's just never going to happen in my life today.

[quote]When I make bolognese sauce, I add the customary onion, garlic, oregano, basil and bay leaf

I only use one of those ingredients. I use others, but only onion from your "customary" list.

Here are mine:

The Better that Bullion that is sort of a gel. I buy it at Costco. I add it to rice, eggs anything where it will dissolve. It's organic and lower in sodium. Adds a great richness. I use it in braising and I braise almost everything in the winter.

Miso paste can have a similar impact.

Baking spice from the UK or Penzey's in the US. It's a great mixture that makes everything smell homecooked.

Someone I know swears by lemon in chicken soup. I don't eat or make enough of it to try it.

Berbere

When making guacamole, mash the lime peel into the lime juice. This makes the lime oil come out of the peel. Mix this with the other ingredients (such as garlic and green chiles), then discard the peel. The lime oil adds a lot of flavor to the guacamole.

When making any green salad, add small pieces of mint leaves here and there.

Crush the croutons. Don't just put them on top of the salad. Crush them into crumbs and mix them into the salad at the last minute before serving.

R162, you can test it out by dropping a tiny squeeze of lemon into prepared chicken soup. It raises the tenor while blocking out some of the bleck. No, that sentence doesn't look like it makes sense until you taste it.

I add a spoon of bacon grease to any ground beef after I've browned and drained it. I also start all of my onion/pepper/celery in bacon grease. I'm bored with bacon itself, but I do love the grease.

Also, I sneak nutritional yeast into any of my bullshit starches - rice, noodles, whipped potatoes. It hits enough salt notes without the shitty tongue side effects.

This is my own personal taste, but I like to add powdered mustard and powdered turmeric to my salads. It gives it zing.. I was surprised how turmeric was so delicious.

I add a little nutmeg (freshly grated, or powdered) to cooked spinach, or any cooked greens.

Sugar ruins cornbread and rains ruin everything

Satanic rains....

[quote]Sugar ruins cornbread

Except when it doesn't, which is...well, it's never ruined cornbread for me.

Don't feed the cornbread trolls. It will kill a thread dead.

Old Bay.

A tablespoon of bourbon in banana-bread batter.

A tablespoon of honey in any kind of spicy soup or chili.

Raid kills bugs dead.

Raisins ruin everything

Lard is what makes pie crust flaky perfection. But of course no one uses it anymore.

I make potato salad with hard-boiled eggs, mayo and tarragon.

[quote] I add the chunks into my fried ginger ice cream

Sounds yummy. Would you share your recipe, R149?

[quote]And FYI its called a Mexican Bloody Mary.

Wouldn't that make it a Bloody Maria?

[quote]America's Test Kitchen or Cook's Cuntry, I can't remember which, had a great potato salad recipe. The secret is draining the boiled cubed potatoes, then immediately tossing them with a small mixture of cheap yellow mustard and pickle juice while they're still hot. After they cool, you add your normal mayonnaise-based dressing. The hot potatoes absorb the mustard-pickle flavor, but it mellows quite nicely as they cool and complements an otherwise bland mayo-based dressing beautifully.

I've always just sprinkled the hot potatoes with red wine vinegar. I use yellow mustard (mixed with mayo) in the dressing, though. And scallions, parsley, celery, celery seed, salt and pepper.

I add a handful of fresh basil to pasta sauce to enhance flavor.

Apparently, every DL denizen only eats potato salad.

Add a cherry Sucret to your Blue Marilyn.

So I added baking soda to my eggs this morning. Big difference! And just as tasty, but light.

Then I added celery salt and ground mustard to my salad. Very tasty but you have to sprinkle enough to notice a difference.

I also had bacon fat and chicken drippings gravy with my turkey cops (spiced with home made adobo) and yesterday’s powder milk mashed potatoes.

*Chops

OH shit r157, I didn't even see that misspell..

Another I've tried, a little bit of salt and finely grated onion in fruit salad. A crazy lady at the grocery store told me about it. She saw me buying all kinds of fruits and asked me what I was making. After telling me her secret she ran off. I went to go ask her a question and she was nowhere to be found. I think she was my guardian angel. I was completely sober too.

Compound butter made with just butter and chives. Excellent dabbed on grilled meats while they're resting. Nice on French bread. Excellent in mashed potatoes. Popcorn.... Freezes perfectly too..

This thread is good. Bookmarking.

Dill and scrambled eggs. Sometimes I will make an omelette with dill, tomato and feta cheese.

Mustard or mustard powder in macaroni and cheese, pasta and potato salad, and mixed into meat (turkey, beef) for burgers.

Curry powder in chicken noodle soup.

Freshness is Essential

That miracle ingredient is love, baby!

[quote]Freshness is Essential

Tell me about it!

I make compound butter with fresh chopped basil and sometimes minced garlic, too. It's a messy job, but worth it. I use surgical gloves to keep my hands from getting greasy. I soften the butter, blend in the basil, roll the butter into balls and freeze them. Basil butter is especially good on green beans and corn.

This is a fascinating thread with a lot of interesting suggestions. Just reading it is fun. Thanks, everybody.

Thanks for that, R191. Surprisingly touching, brought a tear to my eye. I loved Julia!

potable water. I add this to countless recipes and it is refreshing to drink by itself.

Toasted sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce and a black pepper spice blend (Mrs. Dash would be an example), can perk up a lot of otherwise bland dishes.

R192, Lol!

To the "cream cheese in scrambled eggs" fans: Try goat cheese with truffles in the eggs. BAM!

R194, does the basil turn brown/black in the butter after freezing? I know basil doesn't do well with cold. If not, this may be something I'm going to try. I also put finely grated garlic in my chive compound butter..

R199 I hate goat cheese.

Dorot seasoning cubes. Especially the garlic herb. They are kept frozen and you just pop one or two in stir fries, eggs, sauces, dips.....whatever.

(R191) Thanks for posting that remix. One of my former students (John Boswell aka melodysheep) did that remix as well as Mr. Rogers and Bob Ross and the whole Symphony of Science series. Check them out.....while cooking using all these yummy suggestions

If you like garlic mashed potatoes, the kind you get in a steak house? Dont use raw garlic, dont boil it with the potatoes. The secret is to take a hole head of garlic, cut it in half, drizzle a little oil over the top and roast it in the oven until its golden and soft. Then run the cloves through a press or ricer with the rest of the mashed potatoes. Its so good if you like garlic and not storng. A French chef taught me that trick.

If you to take mashed potatoes up another notch, microwave a cup of heavy cream and use that in place of your normal milk or liquid. Not low cal but worth every bite. People rave about it, tell me the best they ever had and assume it must be loaded with butter but it not, mostly heavy cream.

Cumin powder to home-made salsa / pico de gallo.

Another pointer on taking the edge off garlic. If using it in guacamole, I finely grate it and let it soak in lime juice and salt. I put the diced red onion in the mixture too. Then prep your avocados and tomato while that is "soaking".

Good tip, R206.

R204, if one doesn't have a press or ricer, the garlic squeezes out free and clear by hand. Delicious spread on crostini or use to make garlic cheese bread..

[quote] People rave about it, tell me the best they ever had and assume it must be loaded with butter but it not, mostly heavy cream.

What do you think butter is made out of?

For those of you who make Ceasar salad, you can use hard-boiled egg yolks instead of raw. I used to buy pasturised eggs before I found that out, which was a PITA. I do have a Vitamix for blending.

Mashed potatoes, for Thanksgiving and Christmas I make Robuchon mashed potatoes. It's one pound of butter per two pounds of potatoes. Rich but so good. Recipe is online. Use good butter.

Omg I looked up the Robuchon Recipe- the ingredients are a breeze but the procedure is a workout and a half.

Boiling potatoes with skin and THEN peeling, freezing the butter and cutting it into cubes that have to then be completely blended into the potato mix, using fancy machines, etc.

Ingredients: ⅔ cup cilantro, ⅔ cup parsley, ⅔ cup Thai basil, 4 cups spinach, 2 cloves garlic, peeled. 2 tablespoons peeled and chopped fresh ginger

[quote]Tear all the stems off the herbs and spinach. (No need to be exact, just rip off most of them.)

[quote]Blanch the cilantro, parsley, Thai basil and spinach in a pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds. As soon as they turn bright green, take them out and drop them into a bowl of ice water.

[quote]Take the greens out of the ice bath and shake off excess water (but leave the greens wet). Put them into a blender or small food processor with the garlic and ginger. Blend until you have a smooth, dark green purée. If it’s too thick, add a little water to keep it moving, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Pour purée into an ice cube tray and pop it into the freezer. To use in fried rice, add a few cubes to the pan once the vegetables and any other protein are cooked and the rice is translucent; keep stirring as the cubes melt and coat the rice. Season and serve.

[quote]On her nights off, Amanda Cohen, the chef at Dirt Candy in Manhattan, uses up the white takeout containers full of rice that accumulate in her fridge by making vegetable fried rice (see the recipe here). To ward off blandness, she stocks her freezer in advance with flavor bombs: small, dark green ice blocks of garlic, ginger, cilantro, parsley and other ingredients, frozen in ice cube trays. When the rice and vegetables are hot in the pan and ready for a boost, you simply melt a flavor cube or two in the mix and let the rice take on a tasty coat of green.

This is a great trick I learned from the NYTimes.

I only like eggs poached and I can't poach an egg to save my life. It never makes it to the plate or bowl without the yolk breaking into the water. Restaurants get them so perfect. I've done the vinegar in the water thing, the swirling the water thing and nothing helps. I use very fresh eggs, still they don't make it to the plate.

As for potato salad, I only like hot German potato salad slightly sweet, very vinegary and with bacon. I don't like the mayo one and I don't like eggs in any kind of salad like tuna or chicken.

I sure miss the restaurant that used to be in NYC called Zum Zum. They had the most delicious hot potato salad and wursts, black bread and kraut. For about 3 dollars you could eat like a German king.

Anyone remember Rain on the UWS in Manhattan (late 90s/early 2000s)? It was the only place I ever liked Thai food. Had the best green curry chicken and also set the standard for peanut sauce.

So many NYC restaurants I miss, someone please start a thread on that...

R211, I don't make the Rubochon potatoes per his recipe. I do them like regular mashed, boiled then riced and add the huge amount of butter (which is the key). They come out great that way. No need to do all that other stuff.

R213, keep on trying/experimenting. I myself have not tried poached eggs yet, but have watched a friend do them. He doesn't do vinegar, and does not swirl the water. They turn out perfect.. I've seen YouTube clips where they use a ramekin to pour the eggs in boiling water.. I've also seen where they just put the ramekin in the boiling water..

compound butter, try maple and honey. Honey works well.

Heavy cream in an old blender=butter

Waiting for adverse troll to refute this post...

Is it safe to post now? Is the R117 b/w adverse troll about? It's black, no it's white, der.

Fuck off R209 five hours ago. Hope you pass out and die in your sleep

That flyover troll avoids when we discuss Manhattan eateries of y'ore.

Try poaching the eggs in a skillet. Can also do in microwave with square of wax paper over ramekin cooking at 9 second intervals.

Stove top skillet method. Boiling reduce water to simmer. Break even intervals to measuring cup or the saucer. Slip 1 at time into water hold cup close the water. 3-5 mins slatted spoon.

R200, this is R194. To answer your question, the chopped basil will blacken somewhat, but if it's chopped finely it is hard to tell, and it makes no difference in the flavor.

Microwave egg poacher r213. That's your answer.

R213 you’re a very picky eater. It would stress me out to have you as a dinner guest.

Lazy guacamole: avocado mashed with salsa. You’re welcome.

Lazier guacamole:

Mashed up avocado with Spike seasoning.

Thanks for all the poaching egg tips. I will try each and ever one. I just bought a fresh carton of eggs so I'll give them all a try. I don't have that microwave thing but I can find it online or at BB&B I'm sure. I never thought to put eggs in a microwave but maybe they'll be good and no mess.

Yes, lol, I am a picky eater. The things I like I really like and the things I don't I can hardly stand to look at. My grandfather was that way about Italian food. OMG, he could not even stand the smell. One time he was invited for dinner and the hostess served spaghetti and meatballs and put a plate full in front of him and he puked right on top of it. Don't think he ever got invited back. I'm good with Italian food btw but I don't like cheese on anything mixed with tomato. I like cheese, just not that way. I eat pizza but one that is vegetables and cheese, no tomato or sauce. I also eat white pizza. Believe it or not I like stinky little anchovies. I can eat an entire can at one sitting and would if not for all the salt.

I do wish someone would start a thread about the great restaurants that once were in NYC, not just fancy ones. The best ones were ones almost anyone could afford like The Automat and Chock Full O' Nuts and the amazing cafeterias that existed all over the city. Now it's hard to even find a real diner. They've all closed. They used to have amazing seafood restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn too. All gone.

No tomato in guacamole! It makes it watery.

Not is it's seeded.

R228, I agree. I like tomatoes just fine, but hate that they (and corn) seem to be added to everything. I guess they're just a cheap, filler ingredient. They ruin sandwiches with their slimy, watery quality. Just serve them, carefully dressed, as a side dish. I can eat them every day prepared that way (peeled and seeded, sliced or chunked, and dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, a dash of hot sauce and basil if you have some). Corn is terrific as corn on the cob. It doesn't belong in chili or salsa.

What do you idiots think is in pico de gallo?

Curry powder in egg salad: simply divoon!

R231, Of course I know what pico de gallo is. But I hate tomatoes in guacamole, and on sandwiches. Pico de gallo is okay, but I'm not a big fan.

The salinity of tears added to cold gruel rations helps bring out the flavor a bit more.

@R213 and R222 -

I have the same microwave egg poacher. To ensure the eggs easily slip out of it when finished cooking, I give it a quick spray of Olive Oil and add a TSB of water to each cup prior to adding the eggs.

[quote]What do you idiots think is in pico de gallo?

Well, not hard-boiled eggs.

Tomatoes in guacamole are gross. Wrong texture, wrong flavor. Guacamole is only avocado, lime, garlic and green chiles. Not even salt, because the chips have salt.

[quote]Guacamole is only avocado, lime, garlic and green chiles.

I think most people use raw onion, but I prefer garlic, too. I put cilantro in, too.

Diana Kennedy, who was the Julia Child of Mexican food said tomatoes are fine to add to guac. If you don't like it, leave it out.

Wasn't she the one with vag odor, R239? Let's leave out the tomato.

Uh no, she wasn't. I think you are smelling your own ball sac.

What on earth is R240 talking about?

He's upset that some people put tomato in their guacamole. I've had it all over SoCal and Mexico and it's made so many different ways. Some don't even add lime, as they think it overpowers the avocado.

Feces adds umami flava

Yes to tomatoes in guac. I oven roast fresh ones from the garden. They freeze well too. Turn out sweet and delicious, not too wet for guac..

Most of the year tomatoes are pretty much flavor free. Then comes summer and the farmers market and a few grocery stores have very tasty locally grown tomatoes. It seems like a waste to put them in guacamole. On the other hand on toasted whole wheat bread with romaine lettuce and Vegenaise is pretty damn good.

I use a pretty standard guacamole recipe but half the amount of avocados and substitute white beans.

I'm going to give R212 's stir fry sauce a try.

Right now to add flavor to stir fry I combine dried red chili peppers, dried coconut and garlic and grind it in mortar and pestle. Once vegetables, protein and quinoa are cooked i combine all three in my wok and add the pepper/coconut/garlic mixture.

Throw in a mixture of hoisin, peanut butter, and mirin at the end. Delish.. For the stir fry that is.

Anyone who types "delish" in public is not someone whose tastebuds I trust.

Guac is so tired. We've all moved on to avocado toast.

Some of us dislike raw tomato.

R226, my first job was in the kitchen of a health-food restaurant. I scooped countless avocados for the guacamole and mashed them with spike. So lame.

People loved the fruit salad, which was chopped fruit with an easy dressing: 1/2 honey and 1/2 liquid yogurt.

Shit is my miracle ingredient. Preferably straight into my mouth from Steve Brannon's ass.

Steve Bannons ass that is. Oh my....

R250, so don't eat it you dumb cunt.

Every white sauce should have a grating of fresh nutmeg. Buy the whole nuts and grate it into the sauce with a mocroplane. The per-grated stuff is drek.

[quote]Yes, a lot of high-end restaurants finish off the pasta with butter. It just tastes richer.

I usually add a little olive oil - I guess for he same reasons ...

R255 Couldn't agree more. Most recipes calling for a classic bechamel benefit from an onion and a bay leaf too, not always, but most of the time.

[quote]Most recipes calling for a classic bechamel benefit from an onion and a bay leaf too, not always, but most of the time. But only at my house.

Fixed.

[quote]No tomato in guacamole! It makes it watery.

Not if you de-seed them before you chop them.

[quote]Tomatoes in guacamole are gross. Wrong texture, wrong flavor. Guacamole is only avocado, lime, garlic and green chiles. Not even salt, because the chips have salt

Armature. Sorry but that's just not true. Tomatoes are optional, Lemon is often used instead of lime in Mexico, Garlic and overpower, green chillis like Hatch are too watery. And as anyone who has ever cooked would know, salt through the process brings out the flavor no matter what its served with. Salt after the fact on a chip just tastes salty. Try a pinch of salt in your next Guac mix and trust me, people will rave about it. Totally brings out the flavor. Drop the chilie, its not supposed to be a green sauce. Thats actually a totally different thing they serve in Mexico.

[quote]Lazy guacamole: avocado mashed with salsa. You’re welcome.

No thanks, it tastes gross. It's the equivalent of a can of Rotel with Velveta. Not welcome at all.

[quote]What do you think butter is made out of?

Whats your point asshole R209? Butter and Cream are totally different in terms of flavor, texture how they are blended into food. Do you put butter in your coffee? Do you put heavy cream on your toast? And by the way, Cream has had the MILK WHEY REMOVED in order for it to become butter.

Its that milky flavor of heavy cream that makes mashed potatoes taste better than just plain butter.

And to think I came here to escape the trolls and vitriol on the Trump threads.

I should've known better after the lasagne flame fest.

R262's secret ingredient: his own cuntescence.

R258 If you perhaps were more familiar with authentic French cuisine, you wouldn't knock my post. The onion is only halved, or left whole, and only allowed to "steep" a bit, then removed. A la Escoffier...You have the gall to scoff at Escoffier? BTW, Please stop "fixing" things for people, you are utterly annoying Mr. Fix it.

Oh, like Marcella's tomato sauce number three? Why didn't you say so, "Escoffier."

The real cunts on this thread are those who don't contribute tips, or advice, or share secrets.... THEY JUST CUNT ALL OVER EVERYTHING. Please clean up your trail of slime on your way out cunts.

R266 Don't for a moment in your ignorance and hubris assume Marcella invented that out of thin air CUNT.

Girls, Girls, You are both cunty foodies.

Oh, I'm certain she got it from your originally unidentifiable onionized bechamel, IScoffAtYou.

I put butter in the boiling water, just before adding the spaghetti or other pasta.

r271 posts from the ever-popular "Ethnic Cooking in the 1950s."

Um, you don't need butter or oil in water when adding pasta to water R271. That's an old wives tail, all you need is a tablespoon of salt. If you want the butter flavor, you add it after its been drained. You cant even cook it a minute or two after that to drive off the excess water.

^^You CAN even cook it a minute or two...

R270 Are you really that dense? You DO know who Escoffier IS don't you? After blathering on about the French method of making humble scrambled eggs, I would think you would know who he is. You are a halfwit.

Of course I know who Escoffier is, Ninnette.

Regardless, I am not going to spend half an hour scrambling eggs. You are more than welcome to do so, of course.

You just gotta cunt more, don't you R276. Why come here and leave your slime trail? If you didn't like my advice, don't take it. Simple. No, you claim I've invented this (Classical French) trickery, and begin to deride me for it. Very strange indeed. Most of your posts on this thread are useless nasty barbs. Try cooking up a better personally cunt.

^ personality

When making pancakes, substitute club soda instead of water. Extra fluffy pancakes.

Add one tablespoon of that pancake batter to 3 eggs to make the fluffiest omlette ever!

Dearest Cuntessa de R277, if you had stated in r257 that you were talking about an intact or halved onion, none of the subsequent cunting would have taken place. Own your part in the vagination and we can talk. Otherwise not.

R276 Vous devriez coller a la cuisine Italienne, abruti.... Si vous plait.

R276 Peut-etre un millier d'oeufs cuits dur coince' dans votre chatte

And [bold]I[/bold] am the cunt, R282?

I was preparing a rundown on different bechamels to share with you—I found one in my earliest cookbooks that's done your way—but it is obviously more important to see who can be the bigger bitch, something I obviously accede to you.

R283 Assez avec les livres, vous etes un poseur.

I always add a little Frank's Red Hot when making tuna salad. Also, if you're not fond of the pungent smell/taste of raw onion (which I always use in tuna salad, pasta salad and potato salad), try peeling and slicing it up first, then soaking it in a bath of ice water for a while - it mellows it out.

When making a home made mac and cheese sauce, aside from *always* grating the cheese fresh yourself (no bagged stuff), a few slices of Land O' Lakes American Cheese (regular or white) really helps keep the cheese sauce smooth and not as grainy and separated as home made cheese sauce can sometimes be.

My grandmother's recipe for chocolate cupcakes would call for the addition of buttermilk, and boiling water, along with the usual other ingredients. The buttermilk gives them a subtle creamy tang, and I think the boiling water reacts with some of the other ingredients, like the baking soda, to help act as a leavening agent...

R283 Va faire delasagnes comme ta maman fait avec la saucisse du petit dejeuner. Encore, une fois, ce n' est pas mon chemin, mais plutot celui d'Escoffier... La Bechamel Classique.

Seconded:

The square of chocolate (I prefer 70% dark) to chili, per r154.

Turmeric added to savory salads, such as chicken or tuna, per r166.

[quote]Va faire des lasagnes comme ta maman fait avec la saucisse du petit dejeuner. [bold]Encore, une fois, ce n' est pas mon chemin, mais plutot celui d'Escoffier... La Bechamel Classique.[/bold]

The Escoffier Academy's version of Sauce Bechamel. Onion is mentioned only in the recipe for Sauce Soubise.

A video in which a chef makes what he purports to be "Escoffier's version of Bechamel." It's got chopped onion, not an intact or halved onion.

R289 Je t' attends avec ces ouefs cuits durs. Google Classique Bechamel en attendant.

...And the pretentious French bitches have drawn this thread into a screeching halt.

Get the FUCK out of here with powdered milk for mashed potatoes. You use milk or cream.

Basil to corn and butter. Saute frozen corn (fresh Jersey is better) in lots of butter until the liquid evaporates. Add torn basil leaves at the end. It has become one of my family's Thanksgiving vegetables.

Take a box of brownie mix. Mix it with a can of pumpkin. Not a can of pumpkin pie filling, just the pumpkin. Do not add anything else. Bake as directed. Not that it's healthy, but it's better than how it's normally prepared, and tastes nice and moist.

walnut oil - Cook green beans to your favored tenderness. Melt one tablespoon butter in skillet, add 1 tbsp. walnut oil and a 1/2 tsp chopped parsley. Toss the green beans in the skillet until well mixed. Serve topped with toasted walnuts. Heavenly.

However big a bunch of beans you're going to serve, stick with the 50/50 walnut oil/butter mix.

(R75)- Took your advice and tried the pinch of salt in brewing coffee. Thanks it helped cut the bitter taste.

Just buy ghirardelli double chocolate brownies, add a touch of vanilla, a tablespoon of Dutch coco, a pinch of salt and coffee instead of water.

Adding Gran Marnier to your brownie mix instead of water makes them extra special

Don't need to use pine nuts to make a good pesto. You can use walnuts, pecans, and/or macadamia nuts.

Cumin is the key ingredient for a great picadillo

Semen in my yellow cake mix.

Cream cheese has to be added to mashed potatoes to give it a little acidity and richness in flavor.

Ground porcini mushrooms put any beef dish over the top.

DUST. Very low in fat. You can have as much dust as you like.

Not my recipe, but rather coaxed out of a good friend’s Italian grandmother: a tsp of fennel seed and a 1/2 cup of sugar elevate a rather standard homemade spaghetti sauce recipe to unmatched heights. IMO.

Add fennel to low fat ground beef in a meat sauce for pasta to make it taste a little like Italian sausage.

Dump rice vinegar on top of chicken, then bake it until a syrup forms at the bottom of the pan and the skin is crispy.

Salt!

Has anyone ever covered beef in baking soda for about a half hour before cooking? It is supposed to tenderize. Do you rinse the beef and dry it , or just wipe it off?

I've never heard of that R307 - I add vinegar to Adolph's meat marinade to help tenderize it more, and it adds flavor.

Another wonderful thread!

Beer into French onion soup and chili. (Lager beer like Heineken or Corona, something neutral-tasting.) I have tried the Guinness dark beer, too strong and overtakes the dish. I'm guessing you could use beer for a ton of different recipes that call for stock or wine. So easy.

I haven't read all 300+ posts here. I will read them later.

When making mashed or whipped potatoes, use a little bit of heavy cream instead of butter, and also add a dab of English mustard.

Grated papaya to tenderize meat.

Or scraped or puree or whatever

Creamy Tomato Soup:

At the beginning of the recipe, I fry two or three strips of bacon in the pot, and drain the grease before deglazing with white wine, and moving forward with the recipe. I use the crisp bacon as a garnish on the finished soup.

Other times, when I serve it, I like to float a pat of salted butter on top of the hot soup. It creates rivulets of delicious melted butter goodness and puts it over the top. But I don't do this if I've used bacon in the recipe.

French Onion Soup

A year ago, I began using mushroom powder (I make it myself from finely ground, dehydrated mixed mushrooms) in the recipe. It deepens the earthy flavor of the soup, and is a nice contrast to the natural sweetness of the caramelized onions.

Add sweet chilli sauce or sriracha to boldness sauce, at the same time as the crushed tomatoes are added. Delicious!

Dusting cubed, marinated tofu with cornstarch before baking or grilling it gives it a great crunchy coating.

Copious amounts of pot, silly.

Onion soup mix (from the packet) in spaghetti sauce, or in homemade tomato soup.

Cooking - ground fresh mustard seed in everything!

Baking - sour cream in everything!