Jerk rub.
Chicken rinsed, patted dry, then massaged with dry jerk rub. Put into a ziplock, then into a cooler which is filled with beer and ice. When the beer supply goes to 1/2 original and the sun begins to set, drop anchor and fire up the grill.
Powdered horseradish from Penzeys.
Sugar - I take my cue from medieval cooking and use sugar as a spice, mostly in a poudre douce, but I add a spoonful to most everything.
Teriyaki - I make my own, with sherry rather than mirin.
Fish sauce - I use it in non-Asian cooking all the time. If garum was good enough for the Romans, it’s good enough for me. Try roasted peaches with a sauce/basting of cumin, white pepper, fish sauce and honey…
For meats, garam masala. Rub some on your pork chops with pepper and salt before cooking, it’s awesome. Goes great with beef as well.
Uhhhh, I put a drop of green food coloring in my green Jell-O[sup]TM[/sup] salad to make it extra green!
Not really, but I do use cinnamon and dried cranberries in my carrot-and-raisin salad.
Secret ingredient in chili con carne is : a healthy spoon of Beef-flavored “Better then Bouillon”, especially in venison chili
Secret ingredient in gazpacho is: Melon!
Secret ingredient in BBQ dry rub is: Achiote, pulsed into a powder instead of made into a paste.
General secret ingredient used in everything is Huy Fong Chili Garlic paste
I can think of a couple, depending on what I’m making.
Baked beans: a tablespoon of instant coffee.
Biscuits and pancakes: full fat buttermilk, non of that low-fat crap. Also White Lilly flour.
Also for pancakes, Penzey’s Baking Spice.
Scrambled eggs for breakfast burritos: a glob of cream cheese added at the end and mixed in. Also chili spices cooked with the bacon.
The “green stuff,” a rub recipe I got from my Brazilian great-aunt. It is a mixture of blended white onions, parsley, chives, and garlic, mixed with kosher salt until it gets the consistency of wet sand. It’s the only seasoning I use in meatloaf, and it’s great on any kind of grilled meat, especially beef.
A tiny touch of cardamom in anything baked. It really sets off the vanilla or almond extracts. It should be just a scrid, not identifiable, just a whisp of an accent you can’t put your finger on.
TruLime in almost anything with fresh tomatoes, but espaecially salsa.
A drop of dark sesame oil in soups and stews.
I don’t know if it is secret, or if other people use it frequently, but Celery Salt is something I consider vital to my kitchen. I use it in place of regular salt on dishes that are otherwise lightly seasoned.
Do any of you use it, or am I alone?
I learned from my mother, at a very tender age:
Vanilla goes into anything sweet.
Garlic goes in everything else.
I’ve come to use many seasonings and flavors over the years, but for a general rule of cooking, Momma knew best.
~VOW
Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
Just a little bit adds a subtle umami taste to vegetarian dishes.
I use smoked paprika in my egg salad. Hence, it rules.
That pretty much works in any type of stew. Even with regular bouillon cubes. Both high sources of glutamates. I believe it was in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential where he talks about sneaking chicken bouillon into his stock-making classes at culinary school and receiving astonished praise and high marks for his skills in extracting all that flavor out of chicken bones & veggies. Now, these cubes, do give the food a somehow “sharper” taste, but used sparingly, they work well to amp up soups and stews.
Yes on the buttermilk! Pancakes, waffles, and biscuits without buttermilk just aren’t as delicious. As for flour, we go for King Arthur, although I hear good stuff about White Lilly.
Another place cream cheese is excellent is in pimiento cheese. Especially if you think you hate pimiento cheese, as I did before I discovered this way of making it:
-Sharp cheddar, coarsely chopped.
-A clove of chopped garlic
-A dash of cayenne
-A glob of cream cheese
-A spoonful of mayo
-Chopped pimientos.
The cream cheese replaces some of the mayonnaise and makes it thicker and more amazing.
I refuse to drink a Bloody Mary without it. Absolutely refuse.
That reminds me of two more that I sneak into stuff:
Stews & soups
Vegeta
Tacos & burgers
Goya’s Coriander & Annatto Sazon
White Lilly is made from soft winter wheat. If you live in the South, you get it at the corner store. If you’re a damn Yankee, like me, you order it from Amazon, because it’s just not available up north.