What’s your secret? 3 ingredients you might not know about that are going to take your cooking through the roof

Cooking is about formulae. If you have the right types of ingredients in the right ratios, your food is going to taste great.

Once I figured that out, everything seemed a lot easier. Savoury foods, especially, can be broken down into their flavour components. Pizza tastes so good because it combines sweet, pillowy bread with acidic tomato sauce, creamy cheese, and the umami flavour of meat.

Now, when I put together a new meal, I think about components. Have I ticked all the boxes? If a box remains unticked, what shall I put there? In some cases, I find myself asking, what do I need to bring out the flavour of this other ingredient?
These might answer some of those questions.

 

1. Gochujang – I keep a tub of this in my fridge at all times. It doesn’t really go off – it’s already fermented chilli paste. It makes an excellent flavour base for pretty much any Asian dish. It’s phenomenally strong on those umami flavours.
I’ve also found that it goes really well with other dishes from other cuisines. For example, this pumpkin soup became totally slammin’ with the addition of a tablespoon of the magical chilli paste. And check out the ideas in the comments of this article on thekitchn.com.

2. Coffee – but not as you know it.

What do you do with coffee? Apart from drink it, I mean.
I propose that you should try adding it to your cooking. It’s got the bitterness and the roasty depths that you need for stocks and sauces, and it’s also totally next level when added to anything chocolatey (it brings out chocolate flavour, big time). Play around with it, and you’ll find that a wee bit of strongly brewed coffee can add another layer to your cooking. I also frequently use it in powder form.

Try out: this coffee barbecue sauce (beware – it’s pretty spicy). Or this skillet brownie – if you’ve never had skillet brownie, which is essentially a giant cookie that you slice and eat with ice cream, you’re missing out. What about this chocolate coffee cake? Or a coffee based marinade for your steak?

3. Coconut – in all its conformations.
I love coconut dearly. It took me a while to come around to the idea of coconut, but I can’t deny it’s versatility and flavour. One of the reasons coconut is so brilliant is that it lends itself to either savoury or sweet dishes – that can of coconut cream in your cupboard can be used in about a million different ways.

Coconut comes in a range of forms: dessicated, chipped, cream, milk, water, raw. Each has its own potential for ramping up your cooking. While I used to think coconut was primarily for Asian cuisines, I’ve seen the error of my ways. The subtle, creamy flavour of coconut is good for so much more. I promise.

Give these a shot: coconut chocolate chip pancakes – the most delicate, melt in your mouth pancakes ever. This chicken and sweet potato curry from the BBC. Or this strawberry chocolate chai coconut tiramisu, which remains the best dessert I have ever made in my entire life.

 

My cooking is frequently laden with ‘secret’ ingredients that level up the flavour of whatever it is I’m serving. They’re kind of like unsung food heroes – nobody ever knows they’re in there until I tell them what my secret is. Though critical to the flavour of the dish as a whole, they’re not immediately apparent.

What are your secret ingredients?