this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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Recipes and Cooking Tips

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In the "Add a pinch of sugar" thread, many of you mentioned other things you like to add to boost the flavor in your dishes - MSG, tomato powder, soy sauce, etc. What's an ingredient you find that you love to add to dishes to improve the flavor (or aroma, texture, or maybe even the way it looks)?

I am a big fan of mushroom powder. It adds a nice boost of umami with some additional flavor that comes along for the ride. Just throw some dried mushrooms into a spice grinder and grind until powder.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago

Almost always some acid. White wine, vinegar, lemon juice.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (4 children)

The soap gene people are going to hate me, but cilantro.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It’s like a cheat code for food.

Edit: which I find out two seconds later is a phrase someone else already used. But the sentiment stands. Fish sauce is magic.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I made caramel one time with some fish sauce in it. It was pretty good!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ethiopian Berbere seasoning. A lot of places make a blend with too much cayenne, but if you can find one that isn’t especially spicy, it’s an incredible earthy umami flavor you can put in almost anything.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

A coworker of mine brought some back for me from Ethiopia. It's so good!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fat and vinegar.

Rice? Generous splash of white vinegar into the rice cooker, then a pat of butter at the end to melt in the residual heat. If you want something to pair with stir fry, try drizzling with sesame oil instead.

French fries? Toss 'em with a splash of malt vinegar (they already have oil from the frying).

Salad? Toss it with a splash of a good quality balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Bonus points for tahini.

Stir fry? Splash some rice vinegar into the pan and drizzle sesame oil over the top at the end.

Pasta? Drizzle of a good quality balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil on the plate.

Pizza? Pat of butter right after you take it out of the oven to melt from the residual heat, then a drizzle of good quality balsamic vinegar.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

For the umami thing, black garlic is really good. Kinda like fermented roasted garlic, really nice in soups and stews

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I like to throw a cinnamon stick into stews sometimes, or in chili.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Salt, acid, fat, heat. In everything.

Acid: vinegar, hot sauce, or some type of citrus. Fat: butter or oil. Heat: Paprika if you only want to pretend but a actually spicy note goes well in almost everything, at least some black pepper.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The heat in "salt, acid, fat, heat" is physical heat from a fire, stove, etc.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Fennel seeds and a bit of oil in tomato sauce. First had it at a popular Italian place and I've loved it ever since

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The perfect 5 spices:

Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and MSG.

Almost everything you cook will benefit from these.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

Kimchi/ferments/pickles

Gochujang

Chinese 5 spice

Balsamic, Chinese vinegar

Seasoned rice wine

Furikake

Chili oil

Hot sauce - especially a smoked habanero/chipotle

Better than bouillon but used like a flavor concentrate rather than stock

Some of my other favorites like berbere were already mentioned, periperi is in a similar vein

Splash of beer in a stew or bread recipe, also diastatic malt.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Anchovies

Worcestershire Sauce

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Tony Chachere's (pronounced sash-er-ee) Creole Seasoning. It was my go to meat seasoning when I was younger before I started branching out. Being from Louisiana, we put Tony's on everything. It's especially good on fries and eggs. You can basically just substitute the salt in any dish as it's pretty salty on it's own.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ginger paste. It's kind of cheating, but I hate how much time it takes to finely mince ginger to the point where it just disappears into a recipe.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Oyster sauce

Sesame oil

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I buy a block of hot pot seasoning, keep it in the freezer, and shave some off whenever I need some spicy, salty, mouth numbing goodness. I found one that is made with beef tallow, too, which is nicer than the palm oil kind.

Sichuan peppercorns are great to use to boost many dishes too

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ajvar.

It's good to use instead of tomato paste or ketchup in any recipe that calls for it. My favorite is using it as a glaze for meatloaf.

You also shouldn't underestimate something as simple as smoked salt.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Shallots and butter. Most things I make including cakes, I’ll reduce down some shallots, butter, and roasted peppercorns. Really adds to any dish

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Citric Acid and real Liquid Smoke make most things pop.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Liquid Smoke is like a cheat code. Makes everything better. See also: Gravy Master

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not very special at all, but I like adding finely chopped flat leaf parsley on top of savory dishes. Looks nice and I really like the taste of parsley.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Anchovy paste. When I make tomato sauce I like to fry all my aromatics together with some minced calabrese salami and then I push everything to the side and sautee about a teaspoon of anchovy paste in the reserve oil until it gets fragrant and then incorporate it in with everything else and finish the sauce and oh hell it is amazing. It's not for every dish but when you want to drop a killer umami bomb into something like a broth or a stew it is unreal.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

A little bit of sherry can add a surprising improvement to some dishes.

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