Secret Ingredients – Kitchen Tips, Tricks & Hacks

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This weeks kitchen hack is all about secret ingredients. Yes we can all agree with Po from KungFo Panda when he realized that all along the secret ingredient is YOU. It’s what you bring to the table (so to speak). And this is definitely true – but there are also quite a few other secret ingredients that take many traditional recipes to the next level – even when they seem a little out there.

1. Whenever you use a tomato base for a sauce or soup, always add Honey or Sugar (white or brown). The sugars works to cut the acidity of tomatoes, especially if they are canned. I personally prefer honey, but some have an aversion to honey, so sugar it is. This holds true across many different types of cuisines, from Italian to Asian to American
2. Add a pinch of salt to your sweet treats at the finish. If you are making chocolate chip cookies – add a sprinkle of flake salt right when they come out of the oven. The salt enhances the flavors of the chocolate to make the cookie more flavor balances.
3. Using the fresh zest of citrus when you really want to taste the flavor of the citrus. Whether it is orange, lemon, or lime,the zest has more of the actual flavor you are looking to impart on a recipe than just the juice. The juice usually only provides the acid and less of the flavor itself. A microplane is essential for getting nicely shaved zest. And always stop at the white part- the pith is very bitter.
4. Adding Coffee to BBQ rubs, BBQ Sauces and Chili is how you get that deep roasted flavor without the need to smoke things. Whether you add ground coffee, instant coffee or brewed coffee, you can impart amazing flavor. If doing a rub – I strongly encourage ground coffee. **Bonus note – want Mocha Brownies? Use brewed coffee instead of water
5. Don’t come for me… but Instant Mashed Potatoes flakes are an excellent soup thickener for creamy soups. It doesn’t give a potato flavor but gives a beautiful silkiness like this Clam Chowder recipe.
6. The ultimate sauce emulsifier is MUSTARD! If you want to make sure that the oil and vinegar and water of a sauce stays together, your best emulsifier is Mustard – specifically dijon. Adding just a tablespoon of mustard will help sauce or dressing really hold together.
7. Want that extra crispy fried goodness? Add cornstarch to your flour mixture, and your crisp factor will be off the charts.

A lot of the process of cooking a meal is in the techniques used to do different things. Sometimes it is about having the right tools and gadgets to achieving different things. But other times it is simply about having the knowledge of how to do different things – like how to roll a burrito up, or how peel, seed and dice a cucumber. Obviously there are some things that are purely logical and other things you would never have thought of if someone else didn’t show you. So I wanted to create a series of Kitchen Tips, Tricks & Hacks that I have picked up along the way to make my cooking experience more efficient, easier and even sometimes more fun! Obviously as the old adage goes – “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” – which is 10000% true – so if you have another way to do one of these things – please tell us in the comments.

Do you have any kitchen tips, tricks or hacks that you want to share? Do you have any ideas on other tips, ticks or hack you want to see?

I love to link up my posts to lots of blogs around the internet – check out this Ultimate Handy Linky Party List to find some of the places I share to!

Estelle Forrest self-published this cookbook after a lot of playing around in the kitchen. You can purchase your own copy here:

AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS

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