Kitchen Secret Weapons

There's nothing secret about it, but butter.

>>8746986

Homemade stock.

Chicken, beef, seafood, whatever. Stock is the "secret" to good food.

>>8746986
>I love pic related, I like to bring out a little umami in my dishes.

fish sauce + msg

You probably way overpaid for that tube of white people marketing.

Fish sauce is GOAT secret ingredient that gets put in everything.

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*psst*
>spices

>>8747061
>Stock is the "secret" to good food.

Amen.

Sardines. Add them to anything in a small amount.

>>8747096
>MSG
i hope op didn't pay for msg, the main reason you'd get something like that is to avoid having to use MSG and just go straight glutamate that isnt bound to sodium.

Sherry vinegar
Lemon
Fish sauce
Dijon
Salt

In the right quantities these are all flavor enhancers.

>>8746986
just add monosodium glutamate crystals to everything. pure umami flavor.

Garlic.
There's never enough garlic.
Trying to figure out if I should add garlic to my desserts as well.

>>8747061
Agreed

>>8747232
I like these. Lemon zest and anchovy, and Smoked salts are fun too.

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>>8747096
It was $1. No MSG. Recommended.

>Better Than Bouillon

Yes, that. I use chicken, vegetable and beef in about that order.

garlic powder

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>>8746986
Secret ingredients are nice, just research a few recipes and see what pops up. Cooking wines are a great place to start. I love Shaoxing wine (see pic) but youll only find it at the asian store. Sherry is a great substitute but at 3-4x the price. Shaoxing is like $3.19 for 750ml
For me the secret ingredient isnt secret at all, i simply use all fresh produce, fresh meat, fresh spices and make everything from scratch. No processed shit ever. i have no less than 5 oils at any time, and at least 6-10 vinegars.

Better than boullion is breat but its fucking overpriced shit. i get Major Select chicken base at my local deli, its $4 a jar.

>>8747096
>Trader Meme's
Fuck that place and the hipster douches that go there. It's fucking overpriced cringe.
Want some umami? theres only 100 ways to add it. shrooms, meat, oyster sauce, soy sauce etc; are all available at any grocer.

>>8747332
pretty good, but theres a lot of shit in there that isnt needed, like sugar, really?

>>8747332

>>8747232
here. Thanks for posting this.I forgot tomato paste is also awesome to have on hand. cheap too.
Cut the top and bottom off of the can
use the top lid to push out the contents and knife off about 2 TBL spoons onto a parchment/wax paper lined baking sheet. Freeze in the freezer. They should be disk shaped. they go great in beef stews/roasts.

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>>8747416
That's such a minuscule amount of sugar, lol. 1g per serving. Keep in mind that 1g is a quarter of a tsp. It's not sweet, trust me.

>>8747335
I use lobster base for seafood soups. Also, beef base is my secret ingredient in my crockpot beef brisket.

Oystersauce. Brown sugar. Homemade vegetable stock (frozen down in cubes). Cumin. Star anise.

I always brine my chicken, does that count?

Bay leaves for anything that needs to simmer and has a very rich taste.

>>8748493
I put bay leaf in everything.

stock, soybean paste, fatty thick yogurt, maple syrup, various nuts and seeds, quality over quantity cheese

>>8747226
I mean it's an ionic bond with sodium ions, so it completely disassociates in water. Glutamate will never be more "straight glutamate" than msg.

>>8747593
Exactly. Hence unnecessary.

>>8746986

I own a tube of that trader joes.... i literally thought it was a leave in hair conditioner at first when I bought it.

Someone had played a practical joke putting it on the beauty isle...

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Laoganma chili crisp
goat condiment

Garlic fried in hazelnut oil. The smell has made people fucking DANCE around me going "what IS that what is THAT oh man woo"
Neat feeling, great flavor.

>>8747332
im going to have to give it a try.

>>8748715
by that logic, most secret ingredients are unnecessary too, considering they are generally used in small amounts.

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>>8746986
Pretty much replaced table salt with this years ago.

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>>8746986
It's a secret. Shhh...

>>8748894
Decently funny

Soy sauce in everything, especially meat. I roast that shit up, brown it some more, then deglaze usually with sour cream.
Garlic goes almost everywhere too.

>>8748878
I like the low-sodium

>>8749888
>deglaze with sour cream

what

>>8746986
For my traditional foods, I like to add an egg in soups when they cool, stir it in. It thickens, adds protein, fat, flavour, it's quite good. For stew, since most where I am from are tomato based, I add some red pepper paste, which I make myself.

>>8747061 is a good one

Homemade clarified butter over normal butter

Bay leaf and peppercorns in anything you boil

>>8749893
>cook pork or chicken in pan
>have a nice brown fond
>add sour cream and black pepper to the fond then scrape
>put on pasta or rice because brokefag
I actually use crème fraîche because it's so cheap here but it always brings up South Park memepost and you American fellows have a harder time finding any.

>>8747332
> made in france
> japanese sauce add je ne sais quoi
Truly an multicultural product

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I don't care what people say, I would rather used already minced garlic then spending time peeling and mincing garlic by hand.

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>>8747007
I'll give you some of my butt butter.

>>8747332

>INGREDIENTS: We basically took every savoury thing we could think off and put it in a tube

>>8749945
I make my own pickled, minced garlic. It's not hard. Shit lasts damn near forever, too.

Love.

Also quality ingredients seriously get to your farmers markets etc, learn to eat with seasons, learn to forage. Grow your own. Nothing beats home grown tomatoes and lettuce on fresh homemade bread with some country ham I made.

>>8749982
>Love
Ooh yeah, Mrs. Foreman. There's a whole big bag of love in these brownies!

>>8749945
this shit sucks

>>8749982
I have a bunch of farms around that sell their stuff directly to people.
I've been wanting to check it out, but the last time I went to one, i didn't notice much differences beside the price range.
Plus, i don't have a car, so getting it home can be quite cumbersome.
> inb4 im a little bitch

>>8749945
You have no real friends.

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Vinegars, just a little dab will do the job. I stick with balsamic, white rice wine, apple cider, and occasionally worcestershire sauce or red wine vinegar. If not, lemon or lime juice. Acids just add so much flavours and complexities to everything.

>>8747061
Cheers. This, so hard.

>>8750787
>Vinegars

This.

I read through the whole thread waiting to say this, but found you at the bottom already.

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Lucky fish sauce

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>>8751516

I grabbed Lucky without looking closely last time I was at the grocery store thinking it was Tiparos.

It's not the same.

>>8749985
I laughed.

>>8747332
MSG occurs naturally in parm, olives, tomatoes, and mushrooms.

>>8747332
>no MSG
>Contains ingredients naturally high on MSG.
http://www.msgfacts.com/nutrition/food-and-nutrition.aspx

Also, 1.7% of the contents is pure sodium and 10% pure sugar, so be careful how much you add there, buddy.

>>8747593
how do you measure a serving from a tube?

>>8747593
its 1g per 10g so 10% of that tube is sugar dude

>>8751516
Is this the best fish sauce?

>>8751690
>>8751751
American labels do not differentiate between natural and added sugars.

>>8751754
I like it more than the squid and shark sauce. It has amami and umami. I add it to things like Japanese kare sausu, pomodoro sausu, and boronesu sausu desu.

>>8747332
>>8746986
I own this shit, I bought it because I was making some ramen stock and thought a bit of this would help. It's way too sweet and acidic. Kind of like ketchup + fish sauce. But idk what I expected from something that called it's self "Umami" sauce from trader joes. This is the kind of shit people buy who just watched an episode of chopped and hear of umami from one of the faggot judges so when they're buying their cookie butter at trader joes they pick this up too.

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>>8751938
I think it's good. It doesn't come across as overbearing as you say. I use umami a lot with my cooking. I keep a jar of porcini mushroom powder for stews, so when I saw the Umami paste I gave it a shot. It made the most wonderful gravy with my stew. Agree to disagree I guess.

>>8746986
Anyone have experience with Liquid Amminos from Bragg?

Also what am I missing from my umami list: anchovies, tomato paste, fish sauce, soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, and demi glace.

>>8752208
I like Liquid Aminos, yes. I use them in my baked beans along with Liquid Smoke.

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Umami in a jar. The secret is out.

>>8752229
I bet it's got porcini mushroom powder in it.

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you might as well put dirt on your food if you don't use this

>>8752335
What is it?

>>8752208
Aonori.

>>8752350
Onions, Garlic, Sea Salt, California Chili Pepper Powder, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder, Paprika, Black Pepper, Basil Leaves, Parsley Flakes

>>8752208
I forgot to mention parmesan and mushrooms

>>8747332
It contains a shit load of MSG fyi, just no "added" MSG.

And MSG is delicious, advertising a lack of it is an instant turn off.

>>8746986
truffle oil

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>>8750787
This.

>>8752592
What do you use it in?

>>8751690
>>8751609
>>8752373
No it doesn't. Glutamate does occur naturally in mushrooms, meats, etc, but it's NOT in the MSG form, which contains unbound free glutamate, which of stripped of the proteins it's normally bound to via an acid bath (hydrolization)

Our body can rid itself of naturally occurring glutamate (it's the most common neurotransmitter in our body!), but these same pathways do NOT work on the free glutamate that is contained in hydrolized MSG. If you eat lots of MSG over time it can lead to excitotoxicity, literally exciting the neurons to death. This can lead to degenerative neural diseases

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Instant good. Rub it on your steaks before you stick them on the barbeque.

Also I stick some paprika in almost everything. Pumpkin soup? Add some paprika. Butter Chicken? Add some paprika. Boiled silverbeets fresh from the garden? Well actually you need paprika to make the zafrig that's added to it anyway.

>>8753108
#rekt

>>8746986
>bottle of umami
what will they think up next a bottle of sweet?
Sweet
By: Trader Joes

>>8753108
Maybe if you eat literal fist fulls of the stuff every day for your whole life.

You really can't eat enough MSG to cause any thing that severe.

>>8753108
How does our body get rid of the stuff, does it filter out over time or does it just sit there for our whole lives?

>>8748894
t.Ratatouille

Cayenne pepper always makes something taste good, thanks chef John

Until recently I never realized what a difference zest of an orange or lemon can do but I'm a believer

>>8749962
How do you pickle it, and how's the flavor differ from fresh? Garlic's sold in pretty large bunches where I live and I can never use it up.

>>8750787
Try chinkiang vinegar if you haven't already

>>8753108
4/10 because people actually fell for you (lol falling for the MSG kook in 20-fucking-17)

>>8753312
I dont believe you can "overdose" on MSG, but some people do claim it makes them sick. And he's right about natural glutamate vs monosodium glutamate.