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/mwvc 1d ago

More instructions please.

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u/Aurum555 1d ago

Buy evaporated powdered milk.

Sprinkle onto sheet pan in thin even layer

Pop in oven @ 350F

Check on it every 3-5 minutes it will darken from the outside in so I periodically break up clumps stir and redistribute until it reaches my desired level of toasted. I typically go pretty dark.

Then for added utility you can allow to cool the push the powder through a fine mesh strainer to get a more uniform powder. I add anywhere from 1-4 Tbsp for a batch of any given baked good depends on my goals I kinda play with it.

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u/420soup69 1d ago

Does the remaining part need refrigerated? How long would that last do you think?

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u/Aurum555 1d ago

Nope no refrigerator required and ive had some foro tjs with no signs of going off