Tell me your secret ingredient or things your mother used to make that other people don't

[ettieb]

What do you add to your recipes that make them great. Thinking about this as I was looking at people's recipes for cottage pie.... mine is HP sauce... sure other people use it too but wasn't in any of the recipes that people shared... my mother used to make a pudding which I think was called milk jelly....a packet of jelly made up with 1/2 a pint of boiling water.. cool a bit and then fill up to a pint with evaporated milk.. blooming lovely!

Was talking about this today. Decided to do a coronation party for family, friends and neighbours. Everyone dressed up and coronation chicken a must

Ah, the evap and jelly fluff. Mum used orange jelly and put it in a (ready made) sponge flan case along with a tin of mandarin segments (well-drained) stirred through it. I'm not sure I would want to go back there. On the other hand, her lemon meringue pie (from Mrs Beeton's recipe) was just perfect.

My mum did an amazing baked apple. Take a big cooking apple and core out the middle so it has a big hole straight through. Put into a baking dish with the hole stuffed with raisins and covered in a syrup apple juice. It was such a favourite!

I like putting a dash of soy sauce in my mince based dishes.

Oh, my mum used to make this too. It was called just ‘flan’ and I thought it was revolting. I used to peel off the jelly and just eat the flan case and whipped cream.
Mum’s trifle was amazing though. Just jam Swiss roll, sherry, custard, whipped cream and flaked almonds.

@Thighdentitycrisis wow! I’m going to do this for my dd tomorrow. Thanks

Any frying was done in bacon fat saved in a chipped old cup at the back of the fridge. Fried bread in bacon fat - mmm! fried bread in cooking oil - nope.

I’d forgotten about the mug of dripping in the fridge.

And she made great pastry with no fuss, I think it was the lard.

My dad still puts sultanas in a curry 🤣

I've seen something similar to your cornflour cakes pop up on FB. I keep meaning to try them.

My mum went through a phase of putting marmite in everything. It was fine but siince she'd indoctrinated me to putting soy sauceon spaghetti bol I had to ask her to stop.

I remember my nan putting currants in her Yorkshire Pudding batter to have with beef stew. I loved it but don't have the guts to try it.

My "secret ingredients" are:

fresh turmeric root (for curries and spicy soups) which adds a gorgeous woody, velvety element I haven't found in any other ingredient

onion and celery salt instead of table salt (in pretty much everything)

I use shitloads of garlic and ginger because I love it.

My mother was a dreadful cook. Her secret ingredient was a tin of beans. Every stew/casserole/pie had a tin of fucking beans in it. And Bisto.

Ketchup and butter in baked beans.

still do the ketchup. It’s amazing.

Is this like the Birds Eye lemon pudding.
I LOVED that

Large frozen sausage rolls, baked in the oven and covered with oxtail soup. We loved it as kids but I've never had it since!

My Mum puts a golden delicious apple in her cottage pie. Works really well.

My mum's like that! She thinks it's haute cuisine. When I cook for her now I send her out of the room for look for something and then tell her I've added the mixed herbs to the pan. She gives an approving nod and has never noticed the lack of it when eating it.

I use chicken or veg stock cubes to flavour everything- chicken pies, pasta bake, baked chicken breast for salads/sandwiches, tortelloni, rice, etc.

Onion granules on chips

My mum made sausage casserole with beef stock, pearl barley, a couple of carrots and sausages browned in a pan and then cooked in the stocky barley. It looked like slop but was cheap, filling and comfort food.

Blancmange isn’t the same thing as milk jelly, it’s based on cornflour and you have to cook it like custard. You can still buy blancmange powder in a few places.
One of my parents’ favourite puddings was jelly and blancmange. They’d make a pint of jelly and a pint of blancmange in fluted metal moulds. You had a portion of each together. My favourite was orange jelly and chocolate blancmange.
Mum had loads of jelly moulds, including a plastic one in the shape of a rabbit lying down. Turning them out onto a plate was always a moment of anxiety!

This is a great thread @CornishGem1975 @ThisNameIsNotAvailable I grew up in South Africa so curries were often what we called Malay curries - serving them with dried fruit, chopped bananas, dessicated coconut and chutney was pretty normal. In fact, Bobotie is a classic south african curried mince dish that has dried fruit mixed into the mince and you often serve it with chutney.

Our family one is onion sauce. Learnt from my paternal grandmother but I have yet to see this made anywhere else. I assume it's a regional UK recipe from who knows how long ago - she grew up in London so she must have got it from her mother or grandmother? You cook onions in milk then use the milk to make a thick white sauce and re-add the onions. Served usually with roast beef.

My mum did a lemon pudding that was originally a souffle or something. It got messed up but was so delicious it became a firm family favourite. Grown men have been known to get into scuffles over the last piece!! Unfortunately, while I technically have the recipe it's a) very complicated and b) my mother wasn't known for writing down recipes well so it's incomprehensible!

@moonlight1705 my mum did the same with apples. Also used to fill them with mincemeat around Christmas time and double cream poured over them to serve.

My family does onion sauce too. It's far superior to onion gravy with sausage and mash. My ultimate hangover food actually.

@StoneColdAlibi oh yes. The next day with leftovers all mushed up together!? Heaven!

My mother always added some anchor butter and a little sugar to her bolognaise sauce.

I also like adding fish sauce and marmite to sauces!

My friend's mum (American) taught me to use lots of vanilla essence in desserts and to use tinned chicken in soups

My mum makes sure that everything is adequately browned/caramelised to get the deepest flavour naturally.

I'm so glad my DM never taught me to cook, she was the world's worst.

Ingredients ? What ingredients ?

Salt & pepper, and ketchup on chips; who needs anything more ?

I reckon my mum had just given it a posh name then 😃 I was definitely what everyone else here calls milk jelly .