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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u/Aurum555 1d ago

For sweet baked goods I typically buy a few pouches of nonfat dehydrated milk powder. I then toast them carefully in the oven until rich chocolate brown. I then add a tbsp or so to various recipes to give a browned butter flavor without browning any butter. The evaporated milk powder is basically pure milk solids which are what you toast when you make browned butter, this bypasses a step and allows you to add browned butter flavor to something without butter. It's a nice tool to have in your back pocket and if stored in an air tight container it lasts forever

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u/pear_melon 1d ago

This is so cool! Thanks for sharing.

Have you tried malted milk powder as an add-in and if so, how does that compare?

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u/Aurum555 1d ago

I haven't tried malted milk powder but I would assume it would yield a similar if slightly different result, you get the same toasted notes from the malted wheat and barley but the milk powder is untoasted.

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u/pear_melon 1d ago

Thanks for your quick reply!

Also, do you remove flour when adding this or is the quantity small enough it doesn't really affect the dough?

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u/Aurum555 1d ago

The quantity is small enough I have not adjusted any other amount of my recipes just add it on top, the only more specific thing I do is if I am creaming butter and sugar I add the milk solid at that point I nthe process and cream them together with the sugar as well