Boring to Exceptional Cooking

Updated 13 July 2020; Original 29 March 2019

All Chefs and good Cooks have little tricks they use to up the flavor of their favorite dishes. I have done an informal quest to find out the tricks Chefs I work with and friends who I consider Cooks, use in their own kitchens. Here are those ingredients and collected comments.

What Makes a Boring Dish Exceptional?

Wine:

Cheeky Cook Chrissie responded, “The glass of red wine I drink while cooking! Essential.”

Seasoning (Salt and Pepper):

Chef Olive has stated numerous times that home cooks tend to under-salt. Cook Lynn writes, “I don’t know if I would call it secret, but salt. I put some form in just about every dish — savory and sweet.” Cook Jason writes, “… a little bit of salt goes in everything – from pasta water to cookies – as it brings forward and wakes up lots of flavors.” Cook Rob agrees, and on the other side of seasoning, recommends single-origin, volcanic soil grown Black Penja Pepper that his son turned him onto.

• At Cook Rob’s suggestion, I went to Oaktown Spice Shop last weekend to taste this peppercorn and WOW it is good. Starts off like any other black peppercorn but then there is a burst of flavor and heat that lingers. This is not your ordinary pepper corn and I look forward to making a pepper dish, like Peppercorn Cream Sauce, with it.

Broth:

Cook Patty mentioned broth as a secret ingredient.

• I feel that from cooking rice, grains, or quinoa to making sauces, soups, stews, or gravy the key ingredient is the broth or stock that is used. It is a basic staple in my kitchen and is critical to most of my dishes. I always have frozen homemade chicken and beef stock, dashi, and veggie broth on hand. I will make pork or turkey but they are only occasionally used.

Umami:

“Whatever its source, having umami enhancers at hand is important,” said Chef S, “It could be MSG in powder form, or from kelp, mushrooms or other sources. It enhances flavor and increases satisfaction with savory dishes.” In the same vein, Chef Olive has said to me that anchovies add umami, as it is both salty and provides an undercurrent of depth to the food. Another Cook Jeff said bacon is his secret ingredient, either the actual meat or fat, he uses it for its flavor.

Sweet (sugars):

Chef S also said, besides umami, various sugars makes her food stand out from others. She adds sugars to salad dressing, stir fry sauces, and other acidic foods to temper taste.

Acid (vinegars):

Chef Lev has told me that many Chefs know that just a splash of acidity is often needed to up the flavor and brightness of a dish, and he went on to describe that there are various vinegar’s that can play this role. Cook Chrissie writes, “I’d say almost everything I cook gets a squeeze of lemon from my backyard tree.” Cook Jason agrees, ” … lemon juice – always fresh squeezed – is essential to everything, from marmalade to beans. It provides the hint of acidity that everything needs to be “three dimensional” if you know what I mean.” 

• I know that many Chefs have their own favorite vinegar, often it is by type of vinegar, sometimes by region (such as Basque vinegar which I like), or by color. Also, Citrus foods — lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit, bitter oranges, blood orange, mandrins, kumquats, Buddha’s hands etc — add great splashes of flavor.

Heat:

Cook Alex indicated he likes to use Frank’s RedHot sauce, while others specified Cholula, Tabasco, or Sriracha.

• I personally will use any of those sauces, but favor either a good Korean Garlic Chile or Harissa sauce to up flavors in mixed veggie bowls and stews.
• Cholula is used on Mexican dishes, Tabasco on southern dishes, and Sriracha on nearly anything from pork buns to broccoli rice.

Veggie powder:

I have heard Chef Mat speak highly about his mushroom powder to a cooking class I assisted, he said he makes it himself. He was explaining that adding it to risotto makes the flavor more pronounced and pushes the dish to the next level. Cook Jen writes, “I think onion powder. There are times when I taste my dish and feel like something is missing. Putting some onion powder often gives it the boost of flavor it needs without over seasoning with salt.”

• There are lots of variations of veggie powders from tomatoes to seaweed to peas. I use a variety of powders when I want to push a flavor without adding any more liquid or food to the dish. Key is that it is a fine powder, if it is too gritty the texture of the food will be gritty too.

Garlic:

Cook Elana writes that her ingredient is fresh garlic; you can add so many different flavors to a dish depending on how it’s prepared (roasted with olive oil, lightly sauteed, infused in oil or vinegar). Cook Rob agrees and indicated he likes dried granulated garlic. His comment reminded me of once hearing that everything savory tastes better with garlic.

• Critical here is knowing how to cook garlic and most cooks use it incorrectly. I think this topic may be another article.

Spice Mixes:

Everyone seemed to have a favorite mix. Cooks tended to buy the mix and Chefs tended to make them. The spice mixes are used in meat or chicken rubs, in ethnic dishes (zaatar, chinese five spice, garam masala, curry powders, berbere, harissa, etc.) and for everyday cooking.

• Chef Gabby told me that to whip up a dry meat rub is easy, just take some spices you like to combine, and there you go, you have a rub. So as we were cooking some meat for a big group he asked me to create the rub. Without knowing what I was doing, I grabbed some reddish spice, some heat, a flavor, with a touch sweet. It tasted great, although it was a very good cut of meat too and it was cooked over a flame. (I will be adding how to make your own spice mixtures and rubs in the DIY section. )

Coffee:

Cook Lynn writes, “For chocolate dishes, it is coffee (either in liquid or dry form).”

• In a variety of countries they cook with coffee and tea or tea leaves. Both can be great hidden flavor enhancers. I heard Ina Garten say on TV that she does not cook chocolate without coffee.

A Kitchen Goddess:

Finally, Cook Jen sends this picture as her very important cooking companion that helps make everything timely.

So that is the list, pretty comprehensive I think. If you think this list is missing something let me know and it will be added.

–Patty

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News: 3/19/2019 CNN reports that daily drinking of 2 or more large cups of very hot tea (140F or higher) increases the likelihood of esophageal  cancer by 90%. It is not understood why this apparent correlation exists, and if it is true for ALL hots drinks, so further study is still required. What to do? Until more is learned, I am not going to drink something that burns my throat, and will let my tea cool down a bit before I drink it. As a reference, boiling water is 212F, and to cool down to 140F will take a bit. I figure if the tea is too hot to hold in my mouth comfortably, it is too hot to swallow. (I feel a science experiment is in my future.)

I did the experiment on friday just before this went out. After boiling water (212F), I poured it into a tea pot, steeped 2 minutes (temp down to 196F) and then poured into a ceremic cup. It took 10 minutes to get to 141F and 15 minutes to get to 132F. I also poured some tea into a Stanley thermos mug and at 15 minutes it was at 146F. Lesson? Steep black tea for 2-3 minutes, pour into ceramic mug, and if no milk is added wait 10-15 minutes before you drink. OR do not start with boiling water, if you water is 190F it should get down to 140F quicker.

Recipes: Vegan Baked Apples, and Chocolate Toasted Almonds. Turning to German food, I added a Spaetzle recipe.

Articles: One on Asparagus.