Share with me you culinary secrets!

[Notasbigasithink]

I'm currently making spagbol and everyone whoever tries it always comments on how tasty it is! They can never put their finger on it but my secret ingredient is adding about a teaspoon (heaped!) of brown sugar!
I wait until nobody is around to witness this and have been doing it for years without being rumbled!
What do you add to standard, everyday meals to help liven them up?

I don't understand why it saves any time, or tastes better. So it's a no from me.

Not a secret but a few dashes of Tabssco sauce peps up tomato ketchup

I'd judge. A lot!

Don't knock it until you've tried it! 😂

The mashed potato and mince is still served on one plate on the table. I skip the bit where a cottage pie is supposed to go in the oven.

Found out recently how to make a delicious Balsamic dressing for salads. It is just Balsamic vinegar plus teaspoon of sugar or honey and then simmer until thick and caramelised. Delicious!

If you made a YouTube video perhaps we could understand better.

I agree about the lemon juice. It makes most savoury dishes taste better

A dollop of tomato salsa in chilli (during the cooking not after!). Or tomato ketchup if I haven’t got salsa. It brings a bit of sweetness to complement the spice.

King Edwards potatoes and goose fat for the best roasties…

I would probably confuse people even more if I tried to do a YouTube video!

A tea spoon of honey in homemade pesto, makes it delicious.

Probably well known by many but anyhow -

I don't whisk eggs before making scrambled eggs. I just crack them into the pan and use a spatula to move them around. No butter, no milk, on and off the heat, I like it soft and creamy, so it's off the heat well before the "rubber lumps stage lol". Top with fresh grated parmesan, that's it.

Eggs again. I am not mad about egg white so I put hard boiled eggs through the potato ricer when making egg mayo. No big lumps of rubbery white then!

I don't understand how that is any quicker than assembling the cottage pie in a dish and then crisping it under the grill.which is what I have done if I don't want to use the oven.
Your version sounds as though it would take longer!

It means I don't have to transfer mince to another dish - I can just serve it from frying pan to plate. Mashed potato is still crisped under grill.

Mulled wine in Moussaka. It has the usual spices required for moussaka but easier to add into the dish.

I add a largeish spoonful of yoghurt to a sponge mixture. Really elevates it.

So the minced meat stays separate from the mash in the pan it's cooked in until it's dished up? And you crisp the mash by putting it on a plate and under the grill? This seems very odd to me! If you're using an extra plate for the grill, why not an oven dish it could all go in as usual?

I have pans that go on the hob and in the oven/grill so things like this can be assembled in one of the cooking pans.

Tomato sauce in lots of things and a traspoon of miso makes everythingvtadte better

So it’s just mash and potato then it’s not a pie. You could call it deconstructed maybe but it’s not really a secret.

best pasta sauce is : Mutti passata, a big table spoon of butter and whole onion with the skin off into the sauce. Let it simmer for a while. No other ingredients. Take the onion out before you put it into the pasta. Amazing.

How is that quicker or easier?

I had a birthday cake made by my sister a mango and lime sponge that had been made with yeo Valley Greek yogurt and it was truly lovely

I get it OP. It is fiddly topping mince with the mash - piling it up carefully so that the mash doesn't sink! However - I love topping it with cheese and putting it in the oven so you get all the crispy bits round the edges!

I had a recipe somewhere for honey lemon and yoghurt cake. Made it GF for my friend and she said it was the best GF cake she had ever tasted

DH always puts a little black pepper on strawberries and it does make them tastier, it sounds most unlikely but it does work. DH was a chef in years gone by.

Nothing wrong with adding a bit of sugar to anything containing tomatoes, it neutralises the acidity.

A splash of balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of granulated sweetener makes my chilli amazing