The ingredient that changed your life

Tell me about that one ingredient, that when discovered, it opened your mind to a whole new world of flavor possibilities!

For me, the first to come to mind is Worcestershire sauce. I’m talking about way back in my youth. It was my first introduction to what we now call umami. When I noticed my mom put it in her meatloaf I began experimenting. At the time I was just blown away by how much it changed things. I even used to put it in my Top Ramen I was so obsessed lol. More recently, dukkah. Trader Joe’s is correct when they say to take bread, dip it in olive oil, and then dukkah. So tasty!!

What about you?

pseudo,
@pseudo@jlai.lu avatar

Vinaigre. I always loved acidic taste but I’ve never tough that every dish required an acidic component. Now I have some of it in every grain I cook, every casserole I make and with every protein I eat. Lemon, lime or mustard are great but they bring more parfum to the dish while cider vinaigre is closer to neutral. It cheap and shelf-stable.

SavinaRoja,

Lately, honey fermented garlic. It was a giant leap forward for my stir fry and sauce game. Starting to branch out into more honey-based ferments.

OttoVonGoon,

MSG. When I discovered how versatile and effective it is, it became a part of my daily cooking to the point that I keep it in a little spice drawer right next to the salt and pepper.

nfld0001,
@nfld0001@beehaw.org avatar

Kosher salt, and by extension salting by hand with a salt cellar instead of using a salt shaker. Salt is some real basic stuff, I’ll definitely admit. But switching from table salt and changing up my salt game was a small detail that really got me into cooking.

I grew up in a house that was entirely table salt and salt shakers, so I didn’t learn about kosher salt until I started to learn more about cooking on my own. Handling kosher salt by the pinch and the hand made it much easier for me to develop an intuitive sense of seasoning food. If anyone is wary about over salting or doesn’t trust their salt shaker not to turn their meal into a salt lick, I highly recommend giving kosher salt and salting things by hand a try.

Adam Ragusea does a better job than I can at the moment of describing kosher salt’s context and advantages. I’ll leave the elaboration to him, but I’d be happy to give my personal perspective on details if asked. Apparently kosher salt is primarily an American thing according to him? I didn’t know that until reviewing the video for my comment.

MangoKangaroo,

Yellow onion. I basically always have at least one or two on-hand and incorporate them into basically all of my singature cooked dishes.

d3Xt3r,

Garlic chilly powder. An Indian mate of mine introduced it to me recently, and I reckon anyone who loves spicy food should have this in their pantry. You could use it as a spice in your stir-fries and curries, or sprinkle it on your fries/roasted veggies/pizza/pasta, add it to your favorite sauce or salsa, or just add some to whatever dish your making to give it a spicy garlicy boost. You can find this ingredient in Indian stores, if not, it’s simple enough to make it at home.

green_witch,
@green_witch@beehaw.org avatar

Fresh lemon juice / zest. Just wow.

jonsnothere,

And in conjunction with that, though not an ingredient: microplane. Great for zest, hard cheese, (Frozen) ginger,…

FederatedSaint,

For pasta dishes: Sun-dried Tomatoes

For tacos: pickled onions!

jonsnothere,

Quick pickled red onions are the bomb. They go with so much!

Oszilloraptor,

Maybe slighly off-theme, but:

Cucumber and spring onions

They are great on lunch-sandwiches (e.g. salami, cheese, cucumber, a few spring onions) and multiply my satisfaction with just 20seconds of extra work.

It’s surprising how 2-3 slices of a tasteless thing can increaae taste so much.

MangoKangaroo,

+1 to spring onions. Great garnish to give a little extra life to stuff

senkora,

I’m not yet that guy who puts Tabasco on everything, but the future path is clear. I almost want to get one of those little Tabasco holsters to carry it around with me

kool_newt,

Better Than Bouillon.

MycoMadness,

Such a handy tool. When I was experimenting with intermittent fasting, I would use a small portion of that with hot water to be a “lunch”. Worked very well!

kool_newt,

Oh good idea!

nfld0001,
@nfld0001@beehaw.org avatar

Better Than Bullion is some high quality stuff, but any bullion is great to have on hand. It’s hard to beat a fresh stock if time and resources permit, but I’ve just about entirely switched to using bullion derivatives instead of stock cans or cartons for lower effort meals. The stuff keeps for ages and is practically impossible to waste. Sometimes I used to have incomplete stock cartons and wouldn’t use them in time. That’s a non-issue when I’m making stock as I go with something like BTB or Knorr.

Talose,

Schezuan peppercorns. I’ve had the same packet for years because it takes so little to add a very unique, peppery numbness to any Asian dish. Literally grind up a pinch in a mortar and pestle with some msg and put it in any Asian cuisine to elevate all the other flavors dramatically

solanaceous,

On a related note: pixian doubanjiang. It’s a spicy bean paste and a key ingredient in several well-known Sichuan dishes: hot pot, spicy poached fish, mapo tofu, ants climbing trees, etc

Squids,

Anchovies! If you’re only using anchovies for pizza and putanesca you’re missing out on so much! Pop one or two of them in your tomato sauce right around when you fry the garlic before adding the tomatoes. It won’t make them taste fishy but it will give it that extra something. Smush them and put them in your glaze! In your dressing!

Also less a single ingredient and more a mindset - booze. You need to use more booze in your cooking. I don’t just mean “use more wine”, I also mean different types too. Sake in your teriyaki, beer in your beef stew, cider in your pie filling, brandy in your stroganoff, kirch in your (sweet) pie, use it! Istg so many recipes I see online omit the booze or call it optional and it hurts me so much.

Ardon,

Also if you don’t have anchovies, you can punch up a sauce in much the same way with fish sauce. Its probably not identical to using actual anchovies but it’s much easier to keep in a pantry.

Squids,

I mean I guess a bottle of fish sauce is technically easier to store than a jar of oil and fish but imo that’s a little silly

Also kinda different flavour profiles

Eufalconimorph,

Colatura di Alicci is anchovy sauce. Garum is also anchovy-based for the existing commervial versions.

Pleat1752,

I’ve been getting into a recipe book lately that regularly suggests using the zest of a lemon/lime as well as just the juice. I can’t believe I used to throw it away! It adds a slight bitter counterbalance as well as some nice floral notes to whatever I’m preparing.

shiveyarbles,

Habanero powder… adds smokey spicy flavor so good

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