this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
57 points (100.0% liked)

Food and Cooking

6444 readers
1 users here now

All things culinary and cooking related. Share food! Share recipes! Share stuff about food, etc.

Subcommunity of Humanities.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
Gaywallet@beehaw.org
SoaringFox@beehaw.org
remington@beehaw.org
57
The ingredient that changed your life (www.beehaw.org)
submitted 1 year ago by newtraditionalists@beehaw.org to c/food@beehaw.org
57 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Tell me about that one ingredient, that when discovered, it opened your mind to a whole new world of flavor possibilities!

For me, the first to come to mind is Worcestershire sauce. I'm talking about way back in my youth. It was my first introduction to what we now call umami. When I noticed my mom put it in her meatloaf I began experimenting. At the time I was just blown away by how much it changed things. I even used to put it in my Top Ramen I was so obsessed lol. More recently, dukkah. Trader Joe's is correct when they say to take bread, dip it in olive oil, and then dukkah. So tasty!!

What about you?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] BarryZuckerkorn@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago

Not an ingredient, per se, but for me the game changer was the flavor compounds from the Maillard reaction. Good browning is what makes some soups and sauces and meats and vegetables taste better than others. Regular supermarket cauliflower or broccoli or zucchini or ground beef or roast chicken taste way better just from proper temperature and moisture control (boiling water tops out at 212°F/100°C so the presence of liquid water tends to keep temperatures too low for Maillard reaction to happen). It's why grilling tends to taste better than, like, boiling, for many dishes.