Have you ever tried to recreate a food you’ve eaten at a restaurant, only for it fall flat at home? Like you’re missing the secret ingredient?
I’ve been there. And there are a few ingredients that can take a so-so dish to symphonic levels.
One of them is toasted rapeseed oil.
Also called roasted rapeseed oil or Caiziyou (pronounced sigh-zuh yomore ), it’s essentially a toasted, more acidic version of canola oil. When I’m wok frying, I use toasted rapeseed oil. It gives wok cooking the most incredible toasty aroma. When you smell it, you will instantly identify a flavor that your wok-fried food is probably missing.
Which leads me to this week’s question: What’s your favorite “secret ingredient”?
I'm talking about the things you add to a dish to crank it up to an 11. Some of my other favorites are Turkish oregano (sprinkle it on pasta, or chicken after you take it off the grill and WOW), toasted rice powder (secret ingredient in many Thai dishes), lemon zest (try it on roasted vegetables or in salad dressing), and don’t even get me started on anchovies.
So what’s your secret ingredient? Share in the comments!
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Chicken Boullion cube to everything with liquid. It is my secret MSG enhancer, without admitting to using MSG:) Plus I make most of my own stock, so adding a cube is a helpful way to getting that Unami without committing to anchovies or mushrooms. Love the anchovy comments, I need to sneak more in, secretly of course. People think they hate MSG and anchovies, but they really don’t.
Duck fat. Yeah, I'm a one-trick pony, I know.
I use Badia Complete seasoning a lot. It has a great blend of all purpose herbs and not too much salt. For any Asian dish that I want to add a slight kick to, whether during cooking or when I sit down to eat, I use Japanese Seven Flavor spice (Shichimi Togarashi). It is on the tables of all "diner" type restaurants in Japan, and it is amazing. A blend of chiles, sesame seeds, seaweed, and orange peel, but no salt. Yum!
Mr Zimmern, could you do a post about different ways to use anchovies? I just read about Caesar Spaghetti from www.thekitchn.com, but I need more ideas! ☺️
You got it!
Yep I second that 👍
I'm real believer in the 'Bay Laurel' leaves fresh or dried... it's one ingredient that when not used, it seems like something 's missing??? Another key ingredient I love to use, is a great quality Oyster sauce... provides a ton of Umami + a richness adding depth to stews, sauces, soups, ect... Sometimes only a dab or 6 depending...
Fish Sauce and Anchovies (not together) are my favorite things!
Freshly ground nutmeg
Calabrian chiles in any form - dried, in oil, in vinegar
Ok first of all I love that KitchenAid mixer with the flat black paint. Very cool. My secret ingredient is catnip. Makes for a fun dinner party… You should see the people rolling around on the floor after ingesting. 😹 Seriously though, and sadly, I don’t cook much, but do use lemon zest occasionally to brighten up a dish 🍋
Agreed that Anchovies are a "must," in every kitchen. I have tins. I have jars ... even tubes. And, I like to try those that are sold in "flavored" oils. They can lend that "little something."
I love Garbanzo/Cece/Chickpea. While I have the dried, on hand. I love to puree some of the canned beans, to add texture, and depth of flavor to so many dishes.
Anchovies without a doubt for me. Melt them and add veal meatballs. They add depth to so many recipes
Wherever appropriate, I add fish sauce and MSG.
Also i love, loveage, put it in roasted vegt, soups, broths....has a celery taste but more floral
Wildly Delicious garlic basil salt.....no msg....but creates the umf in all your dishes, that takes it to a better level
Barrel aged soy or white soy at the end of cooking
A teaspoon of vanilla extract in a pot of vegetable soup. Seriously.
Also, cinnamon in chili or marinara sauce.
xo sauce, anchovies, chocolate, nori flakes,
Maggi seasoning. A few drops elevate any sauce or soup.
1)Zucchini (rough-chopped, diced, liquified, whatevs) in any soup/stew/sauce you want a velvety, gelatinous mouth-feel in.
2)The global sensory lexicon of chile peppers (Cameroon smoked! Aleppo! The paprikas! Anchos! Moritas! And that's just some dried/smoked ones! You can get *anything* you want out of the capiscums:)
3)Turkey necks and chicken skin. So many options. Use in stocks. Use in sauces (beyond tare), dehydrate and fry. The anchovies of the avian world.
And cosign on Deborah's thyme (English and otherwise!) and Roget's bay leaves (my wife says soups taste "hollow" without bay leaves!
bay leaves, agreed
English thyme.
I grow it and dry it myself or use it fresh. Substantially different than regular thyme and super fragrant.
Dried ground porcini mushroom powder and/or porcini salt—both available from Spice House, which is local to me, but also ships! (I don’t work for them or anything, just love them.)
I use mushroom powder a lot as well! It adds the umami I need for lots of things.
I love Asian cooking of all kinds, and the one ingredient I use in practically everything is Mirin. I will use it in a sauce for chicken wings, and to even marinate steaks. It makes everything taste better.
I’m on a mushroom broth kick. Make a giant pot full add to everything I can. Also delicious as a lil cup of delicious broth in am. Other favs…oyster sauce 🧡. White miso and recently found dried hatch peppers…those are getting sprinkled in/on everything.
A heaping tablespoon of molasses in any tomato based sauce or stew, chili, spaghetti sauce, etc.
Reduced corn milk! Anytime I make canned corn I reserve the juice and condense as a substitute for water in things like pot pie. Anchovy paste, dry vermouth, ... confit garlic 😋 I'm sure there are more!
I don't cook in my wok much. Basically I'm terrified of it also all of the preparation.
Lobster tomale and roe. It's the unami of the lobster!
A secret ingredient I descovered for what was missing in my chicken potpie is a small amount of brocolli. That perfect pot pie taste just wasn't there otherwise.
What do you think about information out there that speaks of canola oil as a non food, used for mustard gas in WWI, as well as being hard on the eyes etc??
Fennel pollen