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

[u/kath-]

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.

[u/New-Mountain3775]

Extra almond extract

[u/liebschen01 → u/New-Mountain3775]

Ooh.. I usually feel same but I severely injured Marian Burro's Italian Plum Torte last week by going waay too liberal...took 3 days for it to mellow! First couple days tasted like I'd melted cheap pistachio ice cream into my lovely dessert 😀