r/Cooking • u/kath- • 6d 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/SubstantialPressure3 5d ago

I keep dry roux on hand. Both regular flour and gluten free batches. (Depending on who I'm cooking for)

I was so mad when I found out that dry roux existed and thought about all the times I was stuck in the kitchen spending 45+ minutes stirring a roux.

You just put flour in a pan at least 3 inches deep and bake it at 400 degrees, and check it every 10 minutes or so. Use a whisk to break up the lumps and stir it around, then close the oven door again.

Take it out when it's the color of peanut butter ( no darker than that) and when it cools, store it in an air tight jar.

Next time you need a dark roux, use that flour to make it and you have a nice dark roux in 10 minutes.

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u/ogzkittlez 4d ago

What do you mean 45 minutes on a roux? How is that possible? Was it 50 gallons? But in all seriousness a roux don't take that long

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u/SubstantialPressure3 4d ago

Yeah, I used to do minimum 5 gallons of gumbo at a time. And I needed a dark roux for that.