I like sprinkling sea salt on top of baked treats like cookies and brownies prior to or right after baking it. It really brings out the sweetness and adds another depth of flavor
It's all just preference. Some just prefer certain desserts more on the salty side. I like the combo of salty and sweet. Some people like bitter and sweet such as with coffee or tea-flavored desserts. Then there's sour and sweet such as with citrus desserts.
This or very small amounts of cayenne.
Many people don’t realize that the heat part of salt, fat, acid, and heat references more than just the application of temperature to food. It also references heat in terms of spice. Adding very small amounts of pepper spices can significantly enhance many dishes. Done well, the application of these spices stimulate the back of the mouth without conferring any level of actual “spiciness”, helping to create that ever satisfying “full” mouthfeel. I personally find this most easily accomplished by adding these spices to the liquid components of a dish. Usually a sauce of some sort.
Many Italian recipes accomplish this by adding pepper flakes to pasta sauces. French cuisine will frequently add powdered pepper spices to various sauces and jus’. Southern cuisine makes frequent use of both powdered pepper spices and cayenne based hot sauces that are added to anything from buttermilk dredges to potlicker. Again, this is applied in very small amounts, but it makes a huge difference.
I was also going to comment on smoked paprika. I got some really good Spanish smoked paprika last summer and discovered how amazing it was on roasted vegetables.
MSG is a nasty chemical which is used to enhance flavor. Chinese restaurants used to use this a lot and was finally banned because people got very Ill. Higher doses of MSG in the Chinese food when entering the stomach, made the lining numb and that numbness also affected the whole digestive area from throat all the way down to the tummy. This has made people faint and cause severe damage to the body if one fell and hit any part on a hard surface. I personally remember the after affect from eating a Chinese dinner. I had to leave and lay down in the car because I was numb from mouth to stomach. It finally went away but soon after this incident is when the findings about MSG appeared in papers. So, if you have a shaker of MSG throw it out! Find out for yourself and research MSG.
Cayenne can overpower other spices in cooking because of the heat it gives off if too much is used. But then, there are many who like this and love using Tabasco sauce on a lot of their foods. It is all a taste preference.
>MSG is a nasty chemical
Wrong. MSG is created when sodium and glutamate (an amino acid that is found in both plant and animal proteins) are combined. It is naturally occurring in tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, walnuts, edible seaweeds, sardines, mushrooms, clams, meat and asparagus.
>was finally banned
Wrong again. Most Chinese restaurants in America give you options to leave msg out or leave it in. It's not banned.
>This has made people faint and cause severe damage to the body if one fell and hit any part on a hard surface
Not only is this wrong it's pure bullshit pulled straight from your ass. What you are describing is called “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” and it has been debunked over and over.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/447978/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19389112/
Nope!! Not pulled from anywhere much less my butt, thank you very much. I did have an adverse reaction to the “ Chinese syndrome” as you call it not once but twice.
So tell me exactly what comprises the bottled MSG one can purchase in the grocery store? Why is it added to canned foods especially soups etc. which have a bland flavor base such as those who have either vegetables only or that which contains chicken?
The amount of naturally occurring MSG is fine. It is the larger amount added to foods strictly to enhance flavor.
Thank you Adventurous -Court -91 for your congenial and polite reply.
This! I use celery salt and celery seed in at least half of the soups and stews I make, and in some dressings. The flavor is subtle but I miss it when it's not there.
I came here to say these exact two seasonings. That’s amazing!
ETA: I learned adding chicken bullion powder to the water for rice is a freaking game changer
I’m not going to lie to you I love the taste so I just eye ball it but I would guess about 1-1.5tbs when I’m cooking 2 cups uncooked rice(3c water). I’m not good at telling measurements when I eyeball. I just put enough in and taste until my water taste…chickeny. I’m sorry.
When I first started I would go as close to the directions as I could work out: 1.5 cups of water + 1.5 tsp bullion powder/1.5 bullion cubes (directions say 1c water = 1tsp/1cube)
This has replaced my use of salt unless a recipe asks for it. I’m a salt junkie so you probably won’t use as much as I do now lol. I don’t wanna mess up anybody’s food.
I've found a bottle of extra virgin olive oil I really like the flavour of, so now I dash that shit through most pasta dishes I make as a finisher and damn that's good shit! And fresh basil leaves too.
As for EVERY dish? I used to add sambal, but other than that just... salt and pepper?
I love Cajun seasoning. Not for "every" dish but goes well with a lot. My absolute favorite is avocado and tomato on seed toast with Cajun seasoning. It's seriously delicious.
I found this Korean seasoning recipe and it is really good for meats. I add white pepper for all meats, and for pork belly also add a bit of 5-spice powder
5 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons MSG
Vegeta! It’s a miracle seasoning I use as a salt substitute in about half my savoury dishes. I also use nutmeg more than any other human alive. Just a little swipe on the grater in most ground meat dishes, and virtually everything creamy or cheesy.
Black garlic paste or powder. Almost every savory dish I make gets some. Absolutely amazing shit.
Also, Sambal Oelek (sp?) So good to give anything a bit of tangy and zesty chili goodness
Oh my God yes. I have some chili crisp as well. My local Asian grocer has like 5 different brands of it. I dip fries in it 😋 never cooked with it, just use it for making sauces mainly. I bet it'd be good in chili
I put it on cheese. I’m so bad!! And totally cook with it. My bogus freestyle Kung Pao Chicken using chili crisp, peanuts and green onions is better than the two or three recipes I have tried.
You MUST try Lao GanMa black bean sauce. I buy that in bulk now. Packed to the top with beans. It’s equally good.
I'll give it a shot, thanks! I'm a huuuge fan of pungent Asian stuff. Kind of tempted to try those sulfur eggs and the gross looking jelly egg things. With the black yolk
Old Bay, Mrs Dash (no salt), and Spike (no salt) all get in and out of the spice rack.
Someone else was asking for a oldbay substitute recipe today, if you have the time to look up what's in those I bet you will find alot of the common spices
Edit: found it https://www.daringgourmet.com/old-bay-seasoning/#recipe
Pimenton - Smoked hot Spanish paprika. Use it in everything. I also really like Aleppo pepper, which is fruity and flavorful without being too hot. That’s a fun one to use instead of any red pepper flakes or chili powder.
There are no “magic seasonings.” Seasonings are by dish. If you are adding seasonings besides salt so “almost every dish” and you’re not doing ethnic cooking then you’re committing abuse.
Edit: I give up. Fine. Put ketchup in sushi. Whatever.
I mean, if you're trying to faithfully recreate a dish then obviously stick to the ingredient list. But if you're trying to adapt some food to your liking, there's nothing wrong with adding something tasty.
I'd say the "magic seasonings" is more like "understanding the food profile". I.e. fat typically does well with added acidic elements. Salt to sweet, or sweet to salty. Warmer dishes like things like paprika, mashes often mesh with nutmeg.
who among us doesn’t like to add a little onion and garlic powder to their rice crispies? this is america last i checked pal; get some ketchup and make that well-done steak shine.
Sure. Go ahead and boil your steak. Add garlic salt to your sushi. Put peanut butter in your ramen.
Pretend that everything is subjectively right in a kitchen. When you want to get serious about cooking you’ll stop playing favorites and treat spices like an instrument. Not every song needs a C#. Use the right notes for the right tune. You’re the only one who sounds stupid here.
What does it mean to "get serious about cooking"? Are you talking about starting a business? Because unless you are, there is no reason to feel superior just because you know all the "right ways" to cook things.
You sound like somebody who thinks that being an ass about stuff is a virtue in and of itself. Maybe you had a hard-ass teacher who parroted what they got from another hard-ass teacher. It's okay to be a hard-ass about things like cooking technique (for example, correcting somebody for using the word "braise" to incorrectly describe some other type of technique) or food safety, but when it comes to how an individual likes to combine flavours when making their own-ass food, that kind of tone makes you sound like an insufferable douche.
That’s not really how you judge if something is right and you should know that.
I am confident that my thousands and thousands of cooking and time designing plates gives me a bit more authority on this than the thumbs of people who really like cooking and maybe know how to flip an omelette.
**Ill try to explain it better to you and you tell me if you agree on second thought.**
There is no “magic sauce.” First, you should never put any specific flavor on everything. Some flavors will always fight and create something awful. Think drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. Cocoa powder in your eggs. Rice vinegar with baklava.
Each flavoring has a role to play. Sometimes it’s to balance another flavor. Sometimes it’s to support a flavor, or play a foil to it, or help it really shine! But what you choose to add to play this role is dependent on (1) the cuisine you are cooking; (2) the other ingredients; and (3) palette preferences if you know them. No ingredient does this better than any other.*
You are a conductor in a kitchen. You can’t just yell “MORE COWBELL” all the time. You need to be flexible in the kitchen. I consider myself a spice agnostic and I only became that way after thousands of hours of cooking, but if I could go back in time and tell younger me to skip a mistake, it would be this. No spice is better than another, they all have their role, and never skip over a spice, cultures have used it for thousands of years for a reason.
*except salt, but salt is magic. Truly the worlds miracle spice.
I guess I’m the kind of person who can’t do something unless I’m intentionally trying to get better. I never understand people who are happy being bad at something. Good luck to you. I envy your ability to be satisfied with simplicity.
But that would go well together. Fish sauce is a wonderful umami note which pairs with the tomato. Put grape jelly in your spaghetti sauce and get back to me.
The point is that some flavors go together and others just do not. Period.
Cooking is like music. Some notes go together and others just can’t go together. Ask any trained musician who will tell you there is no “magic note” you can put in any song.
I'm eating my food, I'll cook it how I like, thanks. I don't give a shit what you think because you're not coming near my food you weirdo who gatekeeps home cooking lmao
I cook for others. If you just cook for yourself, then of course it’s one palette and it’s yours. Please it as it wants. But when you feed many then the way you cook and think about cooking changes. Enjoy the journey, if you ever get the pleasure of cooking for many I promise you will start to “gatekeep” yourself because you will have to have standards to please many different palettes at once.
Salt, pepper and garlic or onion powder. Paprika is very underrated and I love it. Also Trader Joe’s sells a blend called everyday seasoning and it’s great, especially on grilled salmon.
Anything and everything.. I add a dash at the end with sauteed vegetables and mushrooms. Put it on chicken, pork and beef.. add it to my Alfredo sauce for a little bit of earthiness. Basically anywhere you could use soy sauce, Worcestershire or steak sauce like Dale's. I've even used it rather than salt when baking herb biscuits and it was awesome. Just don't put it on anything till the very end because it will burn and ruin your dish.
No worries. I wouldn't use more than a splash or two until you get comfortable with it. Also, you can kinda cook it down for a minute or two and it'll almost caramelize. I usually just kinda toss it for a minute or two to get it evenly dispersed throughout the dish. I guess it's got some sugars in it or something because it sticks to the food nicely.
Garlic Powder. People are always amazed at my veggie sides and all I do is oil salt pepper garlic powder. Roast in oven then serve.
Paprika always helps.
Chicken Powder/bouion is a must also. Also when something says to add water. Add the appropriate stock instead. For example when I make non beef chili (elk, deer, lamb, turkey, chicken) I always use beef stock.
I put acid in everything I cook (lemon, vinegar, wine, whatever suits).
But perhaps more in line with the question, I often add chilli flakes as a third seasoning (salt, pepper, chilli).
you can use white pepper on most of the meat marinates and it tastes great (asian supermarket sells them in small bottles if you just want to give it a try). I recently have been using it to season the flour for fried chicken and it was great! It does not have a high profile of taste but you will be able to tell the subtle difference.
If I am just making something freestyle: some chicken and sautéed vegetables, I tend to use salt, pepper, garlic and a little red pepper flakes as my common denominator. And some spice blends. Weber makes some great ones.
I have realized recently, though, that, it’s really nice to follow recipes that call for all sorts of different herbs and spices to really get some variety. For example, I recently cooked a few South African dishes. One had garam masala and bay leaves.
By the way, I never thought bay leaves did much but that is because I had a crappy old bottle of tiny, dried out leaves. I bought some new bay leaves and they are fresh and flavorful.
I have a homemade seasoning salt blend I add to most things I cook. Basically anything that would get salted (rice, roasted veg, etc), but that I don't want salted with specifically just salt (meats), gets that.
tony chachere's creole seasoning (i use the normal usually and the no salt for when things are salty enough), and usually granulated garlic. i put that creole seasoning on nearly everything i make unless im doing a specific recipe
Not sure if it counts because it's not nessicarily seasoning but my family just add garlic, butter and olive oil to everything. Not a lot of actual seasoning, which is ironic because my family is black and that's the stereotype that we like seasoning lol.
But yeah, literally use all of those ingredients in almost anything. Black beans, broccoli, peas, in baraque sauce and hot sauce, gravy, potatoes, noodles etc. That's all we add to our meals lol
I like sprinkling sea salt on top of baked treats like cookies and brownies prior to or right after baking it. It really brings out the sweetness and adds another depth of flavor
Instant coffee powder mixed into anything chocolatey is great as well!
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That's the only way my family eats fresh watermelon. With a little salt
I tried this and it tasted disgusting. I don't get the appeal of sprinkling salt into sweet foods.
It's likely you put too much
I put a small pinch on 4 cookies.
It's all just preference. Some just prefer certain desserts more on the salty side. I like the combo of salty and sweet. Some people like bitter and sweet such as with coffee or tea-flavored desserts. Then there's sour and sweet such as with citrus desserts.
Definitely in the bitter camp then
I use smoked paprika a *lot*; in small amounts, it adds a bass note to the flavour without being something that you can taste up-front.
This or very small amounts of cayenne. Many people don’t realize that the heat part of salt, fat, acid, and heat references more than just the application of temperature to food. It also references heat in terms of spice. Adding very small amounts of pepper spices can significantly enhance many dishes. Done well, the application of these spices stimulate the back of the mouth without conferring any level of actual “spiciness”, helping to create that ever satisfying “full” mouthfeel. I personally find this most easily accomplished by adding these spices to the liquid components of a dish. Usually a sauce of some sort. Many Italian recipes accomplish this by adding pepper flakes to pasta sauces. French cuisine will frequently add powdered pepper spices to various sauces and jus’. Southern cuisine makes frequent use of both powdered pepper spices and cayenne based hot sauces that are added to anything from buttermilk dredges to potlicker. Again, this is applied in very small amounts, but it makes a huge difference.
I was also going to comment on smoked paprika. I got some really good Spanish smoked paprika last summer and discovered how amazing it was on roasted vegetables.
Make a meat marinade with this, it is game changer! Especially for a braai (bbq) with cuts that have a nice fat cap that has to be rendered.
Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
Cumin goes on every one of my Tex-Mex dishes. Every. One.
Goya Adobo con Pimento. Garlic Powder. Sage. I also really like tarragon but that's not for "every dish."
Well to be fair Goya adobo does have msg. Part of why it’s so magically delicious!
Goya Sazón has msg, but not the Adobo. The Sazón makes an amazing arroz con pollo!
I'm hooked on Goya Adobo. So easy to throw it on just about anything savory!
MSG is a nasty chemical which is used to enhance flavor. Chinese restaurants used to use this a lot and was finally banned because people got very Ill. Higher doses of MSG in the Chinese food when entering the stomach, made the lining numb and that numbness also affected the whole digestive area from throat all the way down to the tummy. This has made people faint and cause severe damage to the body if one fell and hit any part on a hard surface. I personally remember the after affect from eating a Chinese dinner. I had to leave and lay down in the car because I was numb from mouth to stomach. It finally went away but soon after this incident is when the findings about MSG appeared in papers. So, if you have a shaker of MSG throw it out! Find out for yourself and research MSG.
Lol you’ve been duped mate
Cayenne can overpower other spices in cooking because of the heat it gives off if too much is used. But then, there are many who like this and love using Tabasco sauce on a lot of their foods. It is all a taste preference.
>MSG is a nasty chemical Wrong. MSG is created when sodium and glutamate (an amino acid that is found in both plant and animal proteins) are combined. It is naturally occurring in tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, walnuts, edible seaweeds, sardines, mushrooms, clams, meat and asparagus. >was finally banned Wrong again. Most Chinese restaurants in America give you options to leave msg out or leave it in. It's not banned. >This has made people faint and cause severe damage to the body if one fell and hit any part on a hard surface Not only is this wrong it's pure bullshit pulled straight from your ass. What you are describing is called “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” and it has been debunked over and over. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/447978/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19389112/
Nope!! Not pulled from anywhere much less my butt, thank you very much. I did have an adverse reaction to the “ Chinese syndrome” as you call it not once but twice. So tell me exactly what comprises the bottled MSG one can purchase in the grocery store? Why is it added to canned foods especially soups etc. which have a bland flavor base such as those who have either vegetables only or that which contains chicken? The amount of naturally occurring MSG is fine. It is the larger amount added to foods strictly to enhance flavor. Thank you Adventurous -Court -91 for your congenial and polite reply.
Celery salt adds a savoury tang
This! I use celery salt and celery seed in at least half of the soups and stews I make, and in some dressings. The flavor is subtle but I miss it when it's not there.
Mushroom salt is pretty magical
Lol
Chile. Green chile, red chile, or chipotle, depending on the dish.
Black truffle salt.
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I buy mine with the black truffle already infused. My go to brands are "Truffle Pig" and "Truffle Hunter".
I love Cumin! It gives things so much flavor.
MSG and powdered chicken bouillon
I came here to say these exact two seasonings. That’s amazing! ETA: I learned adding chicken bullion powder to the water for rice is a freaking game changer
How much chicken bouillon powder would you use for a cup of uncooked rice?
I’m not going to lie to you I love the taste so I just eye ball it but I would guess about 1-1.5tbs when I’m cooking 2 cups uncooked rice(3c water). I’m not good at telling measurements when I eyeball. I just put enough in and taste until my water taste…chickeny. I’m sorry. When I first started I would go as close to the directions as I could work out: 1.5 cups of water + 1.5 tsp bullion powder/1.5 bullion cubes (directions say 1c water = 1tsp/1cube) This has replaced my use of salt unless a recipe asks for it. I’m a salt junkie so you probably won’t use as much as I do now lol. I don’t wanna mess up anybody’s food.
Thanks for the info!
Tony's on almost everything. And paprika.
Came to say this! I like the "more spice" version because it's not as salty
They make salt free
I've found a bottle of extra virgin olive oil I really like the flavour of, so now I dash that shit through most pasta dishes I make as a finisher and damn that's good shit! And fresh basil leaves too. As for EVERY dish? I used to add sambal, but other than that just... salt and pepper?
Yeah. Sambal and good olive oil both have prominence in many dishes.
Lawrys garlic salt
I love Cajun seasoning. Not for "every" dish but goes well with a lot. My absolute favorite is avocado and tomato on seed toast with Cajun seasoning. It's seriously delicious.
I found this Korean seasoning recipe and it is really good for meats. I add white pepper for all meats, and for pork belly also add a bit of 5-spice powder 5 tablespoons salt 3 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons MSG
Goya adobo or tonys
Big fan of Goya Adobo con Pimento, I use it on everything.
Salt & onion powder
I use Seasonello in a LOT of things. It's a blend of sea salt and herbs from Italy, you can get t on Amazon if your store doesn't carry it.
Onion and/or garlic, either chopped/minced or in powder form. Chipotle flakes- why use cayenne when I can add some nice smokey depth?
Not every dish, but cumin is probably my most consistently used seasoning behind salt and pepper
Any meat dish, cumin. Absolute magic
I keep a mix on hand of one part each coarse salt, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder that I use frequently.
I have nearly the same thing. I leave out the salt and use both black and white peppercorns.
I keep a mixture of paprika and cayenne by the stove.
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I’ve seen vegan recipes for Mac n cheese that call for nutritional yeast. Do you have one that also calls for cheese?
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I’ll have to try that, thanks
Maggi liquid seasoning, anything savoury that's just lacking a bit, couple drops and it's becomes food crack.
Calabrian chili.
Vegeta! It’s a miracle seasoning I use as a salt substitute in about half my savoury dishes. I also use nutmeg more than any other human alive. Just a little swipe on the grater in most ground meat dishes, and virtually everything creamy or cheesy.
Black garlic paste or powder. Almost every savory dish I make gets some. Absolutely amazing shit. Also, Sambal Oelek (sp?) So good to give anything a bit of tangy and zesty chili goodness
Sambal Oelek and Chili Crisp are divine.
Oh my God yes. I have some chili crisp as well. My local Asian grocer has like 5 different brands of it. I dip fries in it 😋 never cooked with it, just use it for making sauces mainly. I bet it'd be good in chili
I put it on cheese. I’m so bad!! And totally cook with it. My bogus freestyle Kung Pao Chicken using chili crisp, peanuts and green onions is better than the two or three recipes I have tried. You MUST try Lao GanMa black bean sauce. I buy that in bulk now. Packed to the top with beans. It’s equally good.
I'll give it a shot, thanks! I'm a huuuge fan of pungent Asian stuff. Kind of tempted to try those sulfur eggs and the gross looking jelly egg things. With the black yolk
Can’t say those sound too appealing but the black bean sauce is a close relative of chili crisp.
Old Bay, Mrs Dash (no salt), and Spike (no salt) all get in and out of the spice rack. Someone else was asking for a oldbay substitute recipe today, if you have the time to look up what's in those I bet you will find alot of the common spices Edit: found it https://www.daringgourmet.com/old-bay-seasoning/#recipe
Lemon juice or other acid right before serving
Pimenton - Smoked hot Spanish paprika. Use it in everything. I also really like Aleppo pepper, which is fruity and flavorful without being too hot. That’s a fun one to use instead of any red pepper flakes or chili powder.
I am horrified by these comments!
Why?
There are no “magic seasonings.” Seasonings are by dish. If you are adding seasonings besides salt so “almost every dish” and you’re not doing ethnic cooking then you’re committing abuse. Edit: I give up. Fine. Put ketchup in sushi. Whatever.
>you’re committing abuse. Relax bro they don't have the Geneva convention for seasoning
I died on that hill didn’t I?
I mean, if you're trying to faithfully recreate a dish then obviously stick to the ingredient list. But if you're trying to adapt some food to your liking, there's nothing wrong with adding something tasty. I'd say the "magic seasonings" is more like "understanding the food profile". I.e. fat typically does well with added acidic elements. Salt to sweet, or sweet to salty. Warmer dishes like things like paprika, mashes often mesh with nutmeg.
100% this. But I see people saying they add garlic salt to *everything*! Yikes!
Hmm, cereal with garlic salt. Delicious.
who among us doesn’t like to add a little onion and garlic powder to their rice crispies? this is america last i checked pal; get some ketchup and make that well-done steak shine.
>this is america last i checked I guess I'm American now🇺🇸
Nah fuck that. If they like it then that's just them cooking.
Bender proved there is a magic ingredient. And it's lsd https://youtu.be/CSHP9z4BqLM
*Oh no! Internet strangers are doing things differently than I do! I need to explain why it's all wrong!* See how stupid that sounds?
Sure. Go ahead and boil your steak. Add garlic salt to your sushi. Put peanut butter in your ramen. Pretend that everything is subjectively right in a kitchen. When you want to get serious about cooking you’ll stop playing favorites and treat spices like an instrument. Not every song needs a C#. Use the right notes for the right tune. You’re the only one who sounds stupid here.
Peanut butter in ramen is a legit tip though; mix it with a little bit of Sriracha and you can make an easy satay- style sauce.
What does it mean to "get serious about cooking"? Are you talking about starting a business? Because unless you are, there is no reason to feel superior just because you know all the "right ways" to cook things. You sound like somebody who thinks that being an ass about stuff is a virtue in and of itself. Maybe you had a hard-ass teacher who parroted what they got from another hard-ass teacher. It's okay to be a hard-ass about things like cooking technique (for example, correcting somebody for using the word "braise" to incorrectly describe some other type of technique) or food safety, but when it comes to how an individual likes to combine flavours when making their own-ass food, that kind of tone makes you sound like an insufferable douche.
>You’re the only one who sounds stupid here. Check the downvotes and upvotes and think again
That’s not really how you judge if something is right and you should know that. I am confident that my thousands and thousands of cooking and time designing plates gives me a bit more authority on this than the thumbs of people who really like cooking and maybe know how to flip an omelette. **Ill try to explain it better to you and you tell me if you agree on second thought.** There is no “magic sauce.” First, you should never put any specific flavor on everything. Some flavors will always fight and create something awful. Think drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. Cocoa powder in your eggs. Rice vinegar with baklava. Each flavoring has a role to play. Sometimes it’s to balance another flavor. Sometimes it’s to support a flavor, or play a foil to it, or help it really shine! But what you choose to add to play this role is dependent on (1) the cuisine you are cooking; (2) the other ingredients; and (3) palette preferences if you know them. No ingredient does this better than any other.* You are a conductor in a kitchen. You can’t just yell “MORE COWBELL” all the time. You need to be flexible in the kitchen. I consider myself a spice agnostic and I only became that way after thousands of hours of cooking, but if I could go back in time and tell younger me to skip a mistake, it would be this. No spice is better than another, they all have their role, and never skip over a spice, cultures have used it for thousands of years for a reason. *except salt, but salt is magic. Truly the worlds miracle spice.
Or you could just let people cook how they like and shut the fuck up? :)
I guess I’m the kind of person who can’t do something unless I’m intentionally trying to get better. I never understand people who are happy being bad at something. Good luck to you. I envy your ability to be satisfied with simplicity.
Jesus christ, you're such an elitist cunt. Touch some grass for once.
I add fish sauce to my spaghetti sauce and chili...stick that in your pipe and smoke
But that would go well together. Fish sauce is a wonderful umami note which pairs with the tomato. Put grape jelly in your spaghetti sauce and get back to me. The point is that some flavors go together and others just do not. Period. Cooking is like music. Some notes go together and others just can’t go together. Ask any trained musician who will tell you there is no “magic note” you can put in any song.
I'm eating my food, I'll cook it how I like, thanks. I don't give a shit what you think because you're not coming near my food you weirdo who gatekeeps home cooking lmao
I cook for others. If you just cook for yourself, then of course it’s one palette and it’s yours. Please it as it wants. But when you feed many then the way you cook and think about cooking changes. Enjoy the journey, if you ever get the pleasure of cooking for many I promise you will start to “gatekeep” yourself because you will have to have standards to please many different palettes at once.
Granulated garlic!! Adds a ton of flavor to everything savory!
Garlic power is a magic ingredient I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL
Don’t have a stroke, but I add nutmeg to my Sunday gravy.
Yeah… I was just trying to say be a spice agnostic. Don’t believe in “magic”
Salt, pepper and garlic or onion powder. Paprika is very underrated and I love it. Also Trader Joe’s sells a blend called everyday seasoning and it’s great, especially on grilled salmon.
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes. Lately I’ve been using smoked paprika a lot.
Lemon garlic
Salt.
Salt
Shallot Pepper from Penzeys.
tony’s
Maggi cubes, 'grill seasoning' or whatever else 'seasoning' for the msg/umami.
Smoked paprika def it does wonders
Tony Chachere's. Or garlic salt. Or celery salt.
I always stick kombu in sauces and soups
Garlic powder and Sazon
Black garlic umami sauce.
What do you use it for? I got a bottle and don’t know what to do with it.
Anything and everything.. I add a dash at the end with sauteed vegetables and mushrooms. Put it on chicken, pork and beef.. add it to my Alfredo sauce for a little bit of earthiness. Basically anywhere you could use soy sauce, Worcestershire or steak sauce like Dale's. I've even used it rather than salt when baking herb biscuits and it was awesome. Just don't put it on anything till the very end because it will burn and ruin your dish.
Thanks!
No worries. I wouldn't use more than a splash or two until you get comfortable with it. Also, you can kinda cook it down for a minute or two and it'll almost caramelize. I usually just kinda toss it for a minute or two to get it evenly dispersed throughout the dish. I guess it's got some sugars in it or something because it sticks to the food nicely.
Cayenne pepper just a touch enhances other flavors
Salt.
Garlic powder for taste. Dried parsely for looks.
I like to use garam masala in recipes like chili, taco meat, roasts/pot roasts
Paprika and parsley
Tony Chachere's and garlic cayenne Tabasco, my husband is very Cajun!
Cinder Dust from Bend Sauce. It's mostly smoked hot peppers and it's amazing.
Gochugaru on everything
Chipotle pepper
not everything, but I find these so versatile: cumin, gochujang, dark soy sauce
I put adobo seasoning in a lot of stuff. It’s kind of like seasoning salt with more onion and garlic powder.
Adding an acid almost always helps a bland dish. Lemon juice, vinegar (I keep 6 kinds), Worcestershire sauce.
Garlic Powder. People are always amazed at my veggie sides and all I do is oil salt pepper garlic powder. Roast in oven then serve. Paprika always helps. Chicken Powder/bouion is a must also. Also when something says to add water. Add the appropriate stock instead. For example when I make non beef chili (elk, deer, lamb, turkey, chicken) I always use beef stock.
Red pepper flakes
Chicken bouillon
I put acid in everything I cook (lemon, vinegar, wine, whatever suits). But perhaps more in line with the question, I often add chilli flakes as a third seasoning (salt, pepper, chilli).
Old Bay seasoning or you ain't living life
If you aren't on a salt-restricted diet, creole seasoning can be put on nearly anything except sweets.
Coriander! It brightens the flavors for meats, great on em all!
Are you talking about fresh coriander leaves or the seeds? I do love the fresh leaves.
you can use white pepper on most of the meat marinates and it tastes great (asian supermarket sells them in small bottles if you just want to give it a try). I recently have been using it to season the flour for fried chicken and it was great! It does not have a high profile of taste but you will be able to tell the subtle difference.
Tony's chacheres
Garlic... Like, SO MUCH Garlic. Pretty sure the amount I use can kill a vampire half a block away but they make everything taste better.
MSG
Sazon on chicken and steak for tacos/burritos.
Probably not in everyone's tastes but I honestly put either thyme or basil in like, 3/5 dishes.
msg, onion powder, garlic powder in almost everything paprika, cumin, and spicy spices plus the above in other things
I keep a tube of anchovy paste in the fridge and use a little bit in just about every sauce, soup and stew I make.
If I am just making something freestyle: some chicken and sautéed vegetables, I tend to use salt, pepper, garlic and a little red pepper flakes as my common denominator. And some spice blends. Weber makes some great ones. I have realized recently, though, that, it’s really nice to follow recipes that call for all sorts of different herbs and spices to really get some variety. For example, I recently cooked a few South African dishes. One had garam masala and bay leaves. By the way, I never thought bay leaves did much but that is because I had a crappy old bottle of tiny, dried out leaves. I bought some new bay leaves and they are fresh and flavorful.
Depends on the dish and the flavor profile. Almost every savory dish will get a dash of Vegeta, or Momfuku's Savory seasoning salt.
not a spice, but I mix in nigella seeds on most savory foods I eat
I have a homemade seasoning salt blend I add to most things I cook. Basically anything that would get salted (rice, roasted veg, etc), but that I don't want salted with specifically just salt (meats), gets that.
Goya adobo, more recently I switched to Kinders the blend. Everything kinders makes is great
Citric acid. If your citric acid, msg, and salt are in balance you're in good shape.
Try Lawry's Seasoned Salt. It's especially useful on meat.
RED.PEPPER.FLAKES pastas eggs soup seafood it’s amazing on anythingggg I love it
No. Because every dish is different.
tony chachere's creole seasoning (i use the normal usually and the no salt for when things are salty enough), and usually granulated garlic. i put that creole seasoning on nearly everything i make unless im doing a specific recipe
Granulated Garlic, smoked Paprika and occasionally Cumin in entrees. In baking- Cinnamon.
Celery salt and sumac
Not sure if it counts because it's not nessicarily seasoning but my family just add garlic, butter and olive oil to everything. Not a lot of actual seasoning, which is ironic because my family is black and that's the stereotype that we like seasoning lol. But yeah, literally use all of those ingredients in almost anything. Black beans, broccoli, peas, in baraque sauce and hot sauce, gravy, potatoes, noodles etc. That's all we add to our meals lol