A couple of summers ago I ate at a seafood joint that served a special dipping sauce for their popcorn shrimp that was delicious. Turns out it was just homemade ranch dressing with Sriracha mixed in. I know that sounds gross and honestly, I would never have tried it myself knowing what was in it but it was really good.
I have been adding Worcestershire sauce to so many foods recently as just a final topping. I have also been adding black rice vinegar to a lot of my cooking. It is awesome in homemade barbecue sauce.
No, you got it. The word “rooster” isn’t as titillating. I’ve gotten so used to calling it cock sauce, I have to watch myself around people I don’t know. Imagine being in a grocery store, not being able to find Sriracha and blurting out to someone who works there, “Hey, do you guys have co-- err, I mean, do you guys have Sriracha?”
I thought y’all would like to know that I was in this thread an hour before hitting the grocery store, and came home with our household’s first bottle of sriracha, inspired by all of you.
Judging from Mr. Horseshoe’s reaction, it won’t be the last.
My refrigerator is full of bottles and my cupboard full of spices. Certainly different than the bland Midwestern food I was served when young. My MIL had three seasonings: garlic salt, nutmeg and chili powder.
Now that it’s summer I’ve been using my own fresh herbs for cooking often. Dill, purple basil, oregano, chives, parsley and tarragon.
Though more a garnish than a condiment or spice, I like to put something crunchy in a lot of my dishes such as walnuts, almonds or cashews, french fried onion rings, crusty gratinees, crispy croutons.
Oh … I just remembered … not so much an ingredient, but a condement: (and Buddha help me, I have no idea how to spell it) roumalade(?) sauce. There’s a pub I go to every so often that serves these killer onion rings with roumalade sauce as a dip. I have no idea what’s in it … something like horseradish, mayonaise, tobasco, something else and another thing … but damn it’s good.
We have a nearby restaurant with a long-standing reputation for tasty pork ribs. They sell their bottled sauce. It’s shrimp colored and I swear it’s a local version of remoulade.
I either dry-smoke some sugar (I put rooibos (“Red Tea” is how it’s known overseas) in a wok and put coarse sugar in a steamer over it to catch the smoke) , or else smoky fynbos honey, and reduce some balsamic vinegar by about a quarter until sticky. It’s usually about a cup of sugar/honey to 2 cups aceto balsamica (the cheaper stuff, but still proper balsamic not vinegar flavoured with extracts). Reducing is just simmering over low-med heat, not fast boiling. It’s also how I make my second-favourite, which is homemade teri-yaki sauce. That’s good soy sauce, palm sugar, honey and mirin, all reduced to sticky goodness. I haven’t used store-bought teriyaki in ages.
Be careful you don’t forget the pan, though, or you’ll end up with balsamic or soy toffee. Which I like, but let’s say it’s an acquired taste.
Smoked paprika and chipotle chili powder. Used both in a pot of chili I entered in a chili cook off. I won 60% of the vote out of the 21 entries. Everyone wanted the recipe but I don’t have it written down yet. The smoked paprika is also excellent on eggs, pork, and chicken. I recently added some to a bleu cheese dip and it was excellent. The chipotle chili powder adds a nice kick to chicken fried steak.
