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.
Smoked Paprika.
God tier.
Almost always some acid. White wine, vinegar, lemon juice.
MSG
This is the correct answer, MSG is a legit game changer. Just 1/8 tsp does wonders in just about everything that’s lacking some oomph.
Greens with a little neutral oil, ginger, garlic, chinkiang vinegar, and that little bit of MSG, stir-fried over ripping high heat for about a minute, beats anything you can get at a restaurant.
It’s sad that some people are still afraid of MSG.
Fish sauce
It’s like a cheat code for food.
Edit: which I find out two seconds later is a phrase someone else already uses. But the sentiment stands. Fish sauce is magic.
The soap gene people are going to hate me, but cilantro.
Hey, did you know you can learn your way out of the soap gene response? I have the soap gene and hated cilantro when I first tasted it, but I love it now. Just had to retrain my brain. (Owning a Mexican restaurant for a couple of years forced my hand in this endeavor lol.)
There’s a recent gastropod podcast episode on this. All you need to do to start being ok with or liking something is to try it in small quantities a few dozen times.
Any secrets you care to share about upping my Mexican food game?
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.
A coworker of mine brought some back for me from Ethiopia. It’s so good!
The perfect 5 spices:
Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and MSG.
Almost everything you cook will benefit from these.
I feel like this must be an existing spice blend, because I agree.
Cocaine /s
Cinnamon
I like to throw a cinnamon stick into stews sometimes, or in chili.
Anchovies
Worcestershire Sauce
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.
I am gonna have to get some and try it! I’m sure I’ve had it in a dish before but couldn’t tell you what it tastes like.
Shout out to Old Bay seasoning. Also really tasty on things. The celery seed in it gives it a very distinct flavor.
I do like old bay, mostly in seafood boils. But I grew up on cajun and that’s my heart, lol. Yeah you should have Tony’s around all over where you are. I remember when I lived in Japan I had to order it online, lol
Oyster sauce
Sesame oil
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.
Vinegar makes sense with rice (e.g. Sushi rice).
I have also started throwing in a piece of dried kombu into the rice cooker with the rice and water. It adds some nice extra flavor.
Malt vinegar on fries 🤤
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.
I’ve used it before. It’s handy! My mother in law makes huge jars of ginger garlic paste for using in dishes.
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.
The heat in “salt, acid, fat, heat” is physical heat from a fire, stove, etc.
And the heat in mine isnt. Always use a little spice. Except maybe desert. Go eat some mayo.
