One of mine is potato salad. I always add a good splodge of french dressing
Anyone got a secret ingredient for vegetable soup? …mines always a tad bland. good chance to add requests.
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I put garlic in just about everything. Probably not really a secret ingredient, but it does go with just about everything
For soup I like to add turmeric for the colour. Also kinda tasty
What kind of phycopath does not add garlic to everything. 🤣
My friend has an ice cream maker and I keep begging her to make me some garlic ice cream.
Turmeric in chicken noodle soup is my go to…and some msg too
Little bit of vinegar and MSG will liven things up in many cases
Marmite in stews
That stuff is basically pure msg, so a spoon full in a pot will add a whole lot of taste without making it taste like marmite
I don’t like the stuff of toast, but it’s nice to have a glass around for cooking
msg - makes shit good
Soy sauce in lieu of salt, for pretty much anything liquidy. Gravy, soup, pasta sauce, what have you.
100%! Why have just salt when you can have salt and umami!
I also put a little soy sauce in the beaten egg mixture for omelette or scrambled eggs :)
Boullion and smoke seasoning. Boullion makes the meat, especially chicken taste more well rounded. Smoke season I will add when using an indoor grill/skillet and it will really taste like it was done on an open flame.
HonDashi. I add it to nearly all my soup stocks (unless I’m trying to make a dish vegetarian).
I have a black eyed peas soup recipe with a secret ingredient. For every pound of peas I use I add 2 pounds of pork.
This is the way
I prefer a splodge of mustard in my potato salad. And I second the suggestion of adding garlic to most everything, including veggie soup.
I add beetroot. This makes the soup look discusting but it tastes good and is full of iron - which was the main purpose of including it.
Oh good thinking. Just normal or have you used pickled?
Normal, fresh. I cook the soup for 40 minutes to make sure the beetroot cubes get soft.
Soup is about just throwing in whatever you have. Generally, if there’s some kind of a meat/bones, gelatin will give the broth body. If it’s more of a bean or potato situation, you may need to pull a portion out, mash it up, and add it back in to give body. You could also temper some eggs and add them in.
If you dont have gelatin or something starchy, you can add a cornstarch slurry to thicken it. If you have a really thin broth, it won’t taste right even if it would otherwise be really tasty. Taste is an amalgamation of senses, and texture is part of that.
Acidity definitely helps soups. Brothy beans are great with a little vinegar, some soups are good with lemon, etc.
This is a good advice. Thank you.
Anchovies
A little cinnamon is great on chicken or in rice.
Fennel.
Ew.
For potato salad: I have several secret ingredients. I don’t necessarily use them all at the same time, but hard boiled eggs, yellow American mustard, and relish made from home-made sweet pickles.
On the topic of pickles: This is particularly true for sweet pickled veggies (like cukes & peppers), I’ll add some fresh cut ginger. Pairs extremely well with more the more traditional pickling spices used in my part of the world.
For most anything savory: A bit of celery seed. This one falls into the “with great power comes great responsibility” category, though. Use just enough that you, the cook, can detect it but not so much that other people can easily pick it up in the flavor profile. Also, it works best with dishes that pair sweet and salty profile with herbs, such as soups and marinades.
For dishes that need a bit of extra fat: I’ll sometimes add some bacon grease if I know that everybody having the dish is fine with pork products. It’s a quick way to add saltiness, meaty/umami, and smoke flavoring to things like various greens, various bean dishes, and stuff like that.
When I’m making vegetable soup, I usually add some balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, and MSG. The acid and umami make the soup taste more balanced and hearty. I hope it’s helpful!
