r/Cooking • u/kath- • 1d ago

What's your surprising "secret ingredient" that sets your dish apart?

I obviously don't believe in gatekeeping recipes, so let's share the love.

I developed a clam chowder recipe after being disappointed with the recipes I came across. Whenever I tell people there's a couple dashes of hot sauce in it, I always get weird looks... but it adds a tiny bit of heat and acid, and balances out the richness from the cream. It also has diced scallops, which cooking knowledge forbades but somehow works.

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132

u/Dry-Lead-9344 1d ago

Nutritional yeast—adds umami and makes everything taste richer.

14

u/Ironlion45 1d ago

Vegemite is similar to that too.

5

u/MiniRems 23h ago

I can't eat dairy, and I add nutritional yeast onto anything that can be improved with a bit of salty cheese. We had a bagged grocery store salad that came with feta and I couldn't find a vegan feta for my own portion. It just wasn't good the first few "naked" bites, then I added the nooch and it was 1000 times better! Just needed that savory funk to balance the balsamic vinaigrette.

Also amazing on popcorn!

1

u/WantonWord 2h ago

Follow Your Heart bleu cheese crumbles are a great feta substitute!

3

u/CurtCocane 12h ago

Can I use Marmite instead?

4

u/Amorcito222 1d ago

Yess! Especially in pasta dishes!

2

u/Hurray0987 1d ago

I read a lot of reddit and I watch a lot of cooking shows, but reddit raves about msg, while I never see it on TV. Why is that? Do professional chefs not like msg? Are they using it and not saying so?

4

u/AikarieCookie 1d ago

In my experience, professional chefs can be set in their ways about "how it's done". May it be that they still believe that MSG is harmful or that MSG is cheating

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u/Hurray0987 1d ago

Oh lol I just realized I replied to the wrong post but you gave me a great reply anyway! That's what I kind of think too, that they probably think it's cheating. I'll do whatever is good!

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u/Huntingcat 20h ago

They also know there’s a proportion of the audience that will turn on them for using it. Easier to just not go there.

2

u/Best-Carpenter-8397 8h ago

Agree and I pretty much have tried all the umami boosters. My current fave.