| | What's your favorite secret ingredient?Page 2 of 13 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) | onions for some things
bay leaf, summer savory, dill, sugar for others..
bon appetite...
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/21/2008 12:31:36 PM | Wow! I just want to acknowledge that IDP said something useful. In fact, I was going to suggest nutmeg, and I'm tickled to share a secret with The Pariah.
Of course we're talking only about freshly grated meg-nuts. Pre-ground spices are a waste of money, and it's even more true of nutmeg, whose flavor is quite volatile and short-lived.
Though subtle, nutmeg is so distinctive that you don't want to use much. A 1/4 tsp in a pot of greens is plenty - and nutmeg is a terrific addition to any greens, no matter how I prepare them. It's also essential to my polenta and cornbread. I like it in spicy dishes that also contain cumin. While it goes into my spice cake and molasses spice cookies, I'm not as free with it in baking as I am with cinnamon. Nutmeg can take over very easily, defeating other flavors instead of complementing them. I dislike it in combination with chocolate, oats, citrus, and a few other things.
Get yourself a micrograter or a specialty nutmeg grater. Pick up half a dozen nuts and keep the spares in the freezer. Like other whole spices, they'll be good for years and years.
Chores!
Vulf  | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/21/2008 2:08:18 PM | I don't know about the "gourmet" part, but my secret ingredient in meatloaf, meatballs and sometimes burgers is cinnamon. This was my Eastern European grandmother's secret ingredient in several meat dishes. I always loved/craved this particular dish my grandmother made called a "clubbala" (phonetic). It was, you could say, an individual meat loaf, or a meatball the size of a dinosaur egg, with a hard-boiled egg in the center. (I suppose this was "Shtetl Gourmet" cuisine!) I once grilled her (no pun intended) on her recipes, and asked her what gave the meat (and the vegetables simmering along with the meat) its distinctive flavor. I was really surprised to learn it was cinnamon, since I associate that with desserts and beverages. I've used it ever since.
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/21/2008 2:30:27 PM | Mine's kinda "Sandra Lee"-ish. I hate baking from scratch, so I'll add a touch of almond extract to a lot of box mixes, and people think they're super-fancy-pants scratch gourmet cookies/cakes whatever.
I'll even mix it into a tube of cookie dough and "fool" people.
If anyone ASKS, I won't lie, but people rarely ask. :) Lucky me.
Wow, Coach - mind if I borrow that? Sounds yummy... | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/21/2008 2:43:01 PM | Well, now for a gal who grew up in New Orleans... that would be Garlic!!! But garlic gets lonely so there must be Onions to go with it. The Holy Trinity in NOLA is garlic, onions, & bell peppers but I don't much care for bell peppers & they don't care much for me so I leave them out.
However, my secret ingredient in so many things I make is Frontier's Chicken Broth Powder. It adds a depth of flavor that will round out pretty much any savory dish.
I have other secret ingredients for specific dishes, but if I tell well.... it looks like there wouldn't be enough pig farms to hide the bodies. LoL | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 4:37:49 AM | I'd love to share my secret...
If you've come to South Texas, and eaten in any of our many great restaurants, and tried to recreate Texican dishes, but they just dont taste the same...Try using garlic and(most importantly) Cumin.
Comino is used in Lots of Texican dishes. | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 8:12:07 AM |
Pre-ground spices are a waste of money
That they are. I learned long ago from one of my cooking teachers that spices are best in their whole form (like coriander and cumin) and last longer. I have a coffee grinder that I use only for spices to grind them when needed. I also learned that you can clean the interior by grinding bread or rice.
As far as "secret" ingredients are concerned...I make my own roasted garlic powder and I buy herbs and spices from Penzey's. | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 9:16:43 AM | My most favorite secret ingredient for savory dishes is roasted sesame oil...just a few drops give the dish a depth of subtle flavor that you taste but usually cannot distinguish what the addition was.
For sweet dishes, either Amaretto or Cointreau. | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 10:28:35 AM | | Here is one for you ,cheese sauce.How can you get the Falvour of cheese when making a sauce. firstly Plain flour then add some butter and melt it in a pan with the flour.mix it till thicken,then get some milk in a jug and add water to it ,so a quater milk and 3 quaters hot water from the kettle,add it to the flour and butter slowly as its cooking and turning it into a sauce the keep it going till it is fully in a sauce.the your secret ingredient would be a table spoon on Mustard english or some thing similar .Mix it in hen then just serve it hot over your veg or any other dishes. Stephano | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 11:00:05 AM | | Dp you Like almond paste.try this on a danish . Get some ground Almond in a bowl,Add some white sugar and a lump of butter,Mix it up together to make it into a paste,then get some croisants and slice it from the side half way not fully.Then add some of the paste in the middle and some on top.Then get some sliced almond and put it ontop of the paste and then put them in the oven on High so the almonds get a little brown and the paste melt, I am very sure you would enjoy them very much Stephano.Xxx | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 1:33:21 PM | | Love.When I cook I put my heart in to it.I love to cook It is my passion.It gives me great pleasure to cook for others and to see a smile on there face when I cook them something.I have been cooking since I was a little girl. | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 2:13:56 PM |
Of course we're talking only about freshly grated meg-nuts. Pre-ground spices are a waste of money, and it's even more true of nutmeg, whose flavor is quite volatile and short-lived.
Great idea, and thanks for sharing the secret- I can see how, in the right amounts, nutmeg would add a whole other layer of flavor and get that "I know that taste but can't figure it out" response from anyone eating it.
Get yourself a micrograter or a specialty nutmeg grater. Pick up half a dozen nuts and keep the spares in the freezer. Didn't know they would keep better in the freezer- I have a couple of nutmegs but just kept them in the pantry and usually forget they're in there until I trip over them looking for something else, and wind up tossing them for being too dry. Next shopping trip, they go into the freezer.
The nutmeg secret is a little like my "not-so-secret" of using dried mint and acacia honey on pork tenderloins then adding the mint and honey to water when I cook rice. About 2 Tbsp honey and 1/2 tsp mint per cup of water the rice is cooking in.
My other favorite secret ingredient... Lipton's powdered Ice Tea with honey and lemon. Dry rub it on (don't be stingy, but not so much you can't see the meat through the rub) and let set at room temp about 2 hours before grilling.
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gb300
| | Joined: 12/25/2006
Msg: 41 | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 5:21:44 PM | | I have special things that go into individual dishes, but one easy thing that goes with everything is the "Nature's Seasoning" spice mix made by Mortons. | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 5:46:41 PM | | I cant see puting cinnamonin your meatloaf and meatballs. Ive tried cinnamon in chilli and it was gross. I heard about puting a dash of vanilla in your potato soup but yep that was gross also. I use alot of garlic and onion. yummmm | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 6:01:57 PM | ^^^^I may be wrong, but isnt a secret ingredient, supposed to be -when you eat a dish, you go...this is good-I cant put my finger on it...but.
If your making cinnamon meatballs, I think I would cut way back on the amount of cinna. | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 6:52:49 PM | | Saffron. It is a bit pricy, but makes about any sauce priceless. :) I also love homemade Bearnaise Sauce as well....I live on the Atkins diet, so I make all low or zero carb stuff. :) Anyone ever need any low or zero carb recipies, let me know. I make all things from scratch. My ex hubby was a fine dining chef...so I did learn one thing from that marriage ~ how to cook good food! | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 8:03:14 PM | | Rosemary is great to add flavour to tomato based dishes and potato dishes. Celery tips with flat leaf parley are great with Scotchie style potatoes. | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 8:48:17 PM | | when cooking a BBQ meatloaf I add, secret given me by a sous chef, a teaspoon of coffee powder to the sauce before pouring it over the loaf, absolutely amazing change in the taste, try it | |
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| What's your favorite secret ingredient?
Posted: 8/22/2008 10:47:15 PM | I just discovered this by accident yesterday while trying to cook up something with my spice cabinet running dry. You might need a coffee bean grinder though. I made curry and when it was done I tasted a blend of coconut, peanut butter and fruit. Funny thing was I didn't add any of those things. The secret -
Fresh ground whole anise seed. I'm going to try and roast them first next time which will be soon. | |
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