A touch of honey in chili is wonderful.
I find a splash of lemon juice brightens up most soupy concoctions
I love a mash of 3 parts potatoes, 2 parts carrots, and 1 part rutabaga. It’s topnotch with pot roast and gravy.
My secret ingredients are:
A dollop of Dijon mustard in most sauces and gravies. It adds an edge and nicely balances out richness. Also, a generous amount of mustard mixed into commercial barbecue sauce really improves it, as it cuts the aggressive sweetness.
A drop or two of almond flavoring in almost anything I bake. The small amount doesn’t make your baked goods taste almondy, but gives a yummy jenny say quoits to the flavor.
A little bit of chicken Better Than Bullion in salad dressings or cream sauces give them depth and umami without making them taste chickeny.
A dollop of peanut butter mixed into your chili as you’re cooking it brings a mysterious nutty, mellow flavor that mimics great Mexican moles. Authentic moles usually have some kind of nut ground into them, like almonds or sesame seeds. The peanut butter brings the same flavor, subtly.
My wife makes a spectacular chocolate cake using an emulsion of eggs and oil and, to brighten the cocoa’s flavor, a splash of vinegar. Of course, she doesn’t make that emulsion herself: she grabs the jar of Duke’s Mayo out of the fridge and whisks a cup of mayo into the batter.
When boiling fresh sweet corn on the cob, I add a splash of Zatarain’s Liquid Shrimp and Crab Boil to the water pot. It intensifies the sweetness of the corn without being noticeable on its own. My daughter once asked me why my boiled corn tasted so good when all the other times she had it were kind of blah.
I always use a bottle of malty beer when making a pot of my award-winning original chili. I also make my own blends of chili powder (at least as good as Carroll Shelby’s) and beans (black, pinto, and sometimes kidney). Some chopped celery can go in too.
I’ll have to try curry powder in my chili sometime. I love curry dishes!
New Years Eve, I make three or four certain dishes every single year (even now, living alone) - one of them is crackers with a bit of sour cream and a bit of anchovy on top. I could eat a whole platter.
One East Asian TV chef (I don’t remember her name) stirs Marmite into her creamy mac and cheese. I’ve yet to try this, but it sounds yummy! I suspect Vegemite would work equally well.
Another TV chef whose name I don’t remember bakes a melange of root vegetables (beets in particular) doused with honey. I made this for Christmas a few years back. I liked it, but my daughter (then 25 or 26) barely touched it.
Eat your fruit and veg, Leeza! 
My Ma substitutes 50% chili powder for cinnamon in her apple pies. She started doing it by accident but folks can’t get enough.
Peanut butter makes a lot of things better. I often use it when making Asian dishes, especially ones with chicken.
You have to use lard when making Hungarian dishes, especially Chicken Paprikash. The smell of onions and garlic sauteing in lard and paprika is wonderful!
Like Justin Wilson “The Cookin’ Cajun,” I use EVOO to make my roux when cooking gumbo, jambalaya, shrimp etouffe, etc.
I use cinnamon and nutmeg to spice up my summertime apple and peach-‘n’-pear cobblers.
My Christmas trifles are made with jam and fruit juice, rather than fresh fruit and alcoholic beverages.
An Italian cookbook I bought in Venice has a recipe for a tomato-based sauce with chicken livers, served over rice. It’s delicious, even if you don’t like liver (chicken or otherwise).
I occasionally saute a little chopped-up baked or boiled potato, onion, garlic, and dill pickle in butter. Then I stir in thick sour cream, pour the lot over a plate of blini, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Very Russian, especially in hard times like now.
Cincinnati chili has to contain chocolate, cinnamon, and cumin. If it doesn’t, it ain’t Cincinnati-style.
I’m a native Texan and chili is nearly a religion. Cincinnati “chili” ain’t chili. (And chili doesn’t have beans in it - that’s spicy beef stew)
I’m inclined to agree with you, since it’s more of a heavily spiced ground-beef stew with no vegetables, save onion. I believe it was created by Greek immigrants, who stuck with seasonings they knew. Nevertheless, that’s what it’s called, and I like it, especially when it’s served over macaroni (the so-called “chili mac”) and topped with grated cheese and chopped onion. I might stir in some pinto or kidney beans as well. I know some may consider this an abomination, but there you are.
Max Miller on Tasting History has a recipe for authentic Texas chili that I want to try sometime. IIRC, it comes from the Chili Queens who sold their stews on the town square of old San Antonio.
I used to have a cookbook from the International Chili Society that gave lots of different recipes, but I think they’re all on line now.
That is indeed the origin story of Texas chili. A good many years ago when I lived in San Angelo I competed in local chili cook-offs. The rules dictated that nothing could be cooked ahead of time, and you had one hour to cook your chili, so you needed to have everything prepped ahead of time. You had to make one pot for the judges and another pot for “People’s Choice” chili. An old timer tipped me off to adding the cocoa, and the following year I won second place from the judges and the People’s Choice award. A few year’s ago my HOA in New Jersey had a chili contest, so I dusted off my Texas recipe and won the whole thing.
I did the same thing in Moscow back in the ‘90s, as part of a promotion for the American-owned radio station where I worked. (The cook-off was my idea.) I tied for the first-and-only prize, but only because the voting was slipshod. I brought two pots of chili to the contest, one with my own original recipe and one with shredded beef and hot peppers, accompanied by cheesy kidney beans and bacon as a side dish. I should have won hands down, since both were better than any of my expatriate competitors’.
isn’t that basically red-eye gravy?
My smoker has a liquid pan, not a water pan. Cherry 7-Up or Sam Adams Cherry wheat, Dr. Pepper, or a perhaps an orange shandy to give whatever I’m smoking a little bit extra flavor.
I match the liquid to the wood I’m using & like using fruit wood for things like salmon or turkey. ‘Heavier’ flavored woods, like hickory or mesquite are better for things like a brisket.
SFAIK, true red-eye gravy is just strong black (liquid) coffee, mixed with pan drippings from frying ham and allowed to reduce a bit. Becky is talking about espresso powder stirred into brown gravy, which I guess is the kind you’d ladle over things like roast beef or Salisbury steak.
Coca-Cola poured over ham and allowed to reduce a bit on the stove or in an oven makes a nice glaze.
Can’t speak for anyone else here, but when I’m cooking for someone I don’t know VERY well, I do inquire about allergies and other dietary limits when determining the menu.