What culinary ingredient do you use on a daily basis, that others would recoil in shock from if they learned that you do?

Nutmeg.
A teaspoon.

Butter

strawberries

Eggs.

^^^^ I want a meal prepared by all these people. I use all of that stuff.

The only thing I find mysel using that others don’t is curry powder. We had a whole discussion in an unrelated thread a few weeks back in which I expressed my love of curry.

@zenvelo I use curry powder too but not every day! Real Indian food, which is not made with curry powder, is my favorite cuisine.

@loli, you disappoint me. I expected you to say something like “human brains.”

I don’t think I use anything weird, at least not daily, but until I gave up coffee I started every day with a delicate, carefully measured blend of instant freeze-dried Taster’s Choice coffee (half regular, half decaf) plus three flavors of Coffeemate in careful proportions: regular “lite”, sugar-free French vanilla, and sugar-free chocolate creme.

I did not call this coffee. I called it a coffee-flavored beverage, out of consideration for the Real Coffee drinkers in my household, who were horrified by my travesty of the sacred morning ritual.

Lots of salt.

Crushed bay leaves and black pepper mix.

Butter. I also drink while milk.

…...ing my cows.

Red pepper flakes. It goes in almost every savory dish I make.

That’s autocorrect for you. Whole milk.

Milk.

How about what I don’t eat? Coffee. I hate coffee.

Well, you are supposed to drink it.

@Dutchess_III But coffee is good fer what ails ya. Good to the last drop! Best part of waking up is black coffee in a cup!

I can’t think of anything on a daily basis.

I do use margarine sometimes, which I guess a lot of people have sworn off as evil.

I put dill in several dishes. I’m not sure if that is unusual? Not anywhere close to daily, but maybe more often than most people.

Some people surprised by how much butter and garlic I use.

Salt here. In spite of my high blood pressure. I’m gonna die anyway.

WIGR – Whatever Is Getting Rotten
When I find a spice in the cupboard that is years out of date I will try using it on as many things as possible.
Lately I have been putting Tarragon on everything. You can guess why.

Is it common in German cooking to use MSG in everything?

I don’t really use anything on a daily basis. But everything is pretty fair game (except maybe MSG).

I’ve used a Taiwanese ginger drink cube thingie to a stir-fry. It’s supposed to be a drink. But it’s basically just ginger and fancy sugar.

I use mayo almost daily.

I can think of at least one person, who might gag or reverse trick-or-treat at the thought of that. ;-)

Red pepper flakes, some kind of salsa (on all sorts of things other than Mexican food) and instant coffee, and at least 2 quarts of decaf tea (with no sugar).

@Brian1946 Ha! Depends on the brand! Blerghhh

@raum

DOH- you’re right!
I forgot about the Kensington’s exception. :p

@Brian1946 Tsk.

I appreciate the compassion you’ve shown in not double tsking me. ;)

There’s a vegan Thai place down here, that actually uses vegan mayo with mint, as one of the sauces that accompany their cauliflower buffalo “wings”.

@Brian what is so horrible about mayo? I use it everyday.

@Mimishu1995

I basically love mayo, but most brands have traumatized the taste buds of at least one participant in this thread.

For what do you use mayo?
What brands are available near the coast of the South China Sea?

I mix a table spoon of Spirulina powder in my morning breakfast cereal each morning. Makes it green is revolting to some other people.

@Brian1946 Ajinomoto, Kewpie to name a few. Kewpie has sweet mayo too.

I use mayo in a lot of things: seafood, chicken, French fries, some fried food. My family looks at me like I’m some kind of alien for using so much mayo, but I love it.

BTW you aren’t allowed to use “South China Sea” in Vietnam. You have to say “East Sea”, or else don’t cry when you see a mob knocking on your door wanting to tear you apart ~

Wait a minute. Mayonnaise and mayo aren’t the same thing?

@Mimishu1995

“You have to say “East Sea”, or else don’t cry when you see a mob knocking on your door wanting to tear you apart.”

If I see someone wearing a brown suit and holding a Tommy gun in that mob, I’ll cry if I want to! ;-(

▲ Enough with the histrionics. I’ll just start calling it the East Ho Chi Minh Sea. :p

Mayo is the US abbreviation of mayonnaise.
However, there is a Mayo clinic in Minnesota. In that context Mayo is a proper noun, and the M is upper case.

@raum….msg is salt.

MSG is Accent or Monosodium Glutamate. It is a salt but not NaCl, table salt.

https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/questions-and-answers-monosodium-glutamate-msg

It is also the king of flavour, fuiyoh!

But I also eat msg daily!

@Brian1946 Haha…I felt like it didn’t warrant a second tsk. I lean conservative with my tsk-age.

@Mimishu1995 I use kewpie too. Although I get that it’s a mayo, I kind of think of it as being in its own category.

@Dutchess_III I eat a bunch of stuff with MSG in it. I just don’t cook with it. I think it’s a flavor enhancer?

@raum

Then I won’t beat around the Bush- when it comes to tskage, you’re a compassionate conservative. :p

@raum it ensures things like a Big Mac tastes the same in Kansas as it does in New York.

@Dutchess_III Oh, that’s more than just MSG. I think they literally flavor their beef with beef flavoring!

@Mimishu1995

“BTW you aren’t allowed to use ‘South China Sea’ in Vietnam. You have to say ‘East Sea”.

I can understand that, given your history with China.

In my geographical case, I’d have 0 problem with naming the water body to our west, the South Canada Sea. :p

Sounds like a plan @raum!

I use a lot of ketchup. Like, a lot.

@raum I’m really bad at those things. I call every juicy white sauce that tastes of egg mayo :P

@bob_ Have you seen those shirts that say “I put ketchup on my ketchup.”? :D

@Mimishu1995 I think Kewpie is legitimately mayo. I just think of it that way, since it’s so different than most American mayonnaise. :)