What is your secret ingredient?

kittens

boston market..

and on the rare occasions when i cook cilantro does some magic

Garlic.

To EVERYTHING.

a tiny bit of soy sauce too- if the dish allows.

Google+wikipedia+fluther

I’m the most well informed person I know. :]

Garlic salt.
mmm sodium

No
It’s called a secret ingredient for a reason, people.

spotted owl.

mojo

Cinnamon for when I’m baking anything.

Veggies always taste better with some EVOO and coarse salt + pepper.

Secret: you can get a lot of knitting done while you’re watching tv. Great for Christmas presents!

Secret 2: Simple, inexpensive, well thought-out gifts are better than extravagant gifts that miss their mark by a mile.

Beer!

@evegrimm im going to pretend you didn’t use a rachael ray-ism.

I love lavender, rosemary, and basil. They smell SO wonderful, and I often cook with them too! well maybe not so much with the lavender
And I love a great Barbara, Zinfandel, or Cabernet! :-) Now I’m happy!

I’ve only told one other soul.. and he’s not talkin.

love

@eponymoushipster: sorry! it’s easier to type “EVOO” than extra-virgin olive oil. I don’t actually like her. Her recipes are very “eh” for me.

This is a great question. I’m not going to answer it. It’s a secret.

@chicadelplaya: lavender lemonade.

My wife.

Milk & Honey

A dash of chili powder in hot cocoa. Simply delicious.

@evegrimm i’ll allow it…but i’m watching you… ;)

@evegrimm Beautiful suggestion! Thank you!!

a big, cheery, disarming smile.

@evegrimm & @chicadelplaya That does sound good. I need to be careful with the lavender that I grow though because it happens to be the hot spot for my cat’s urine.

@jca That’s what I’m talking about! :)

@rabbitheart I definitely need to try that.

Soy sauce… I put that thing on EVERYTHING lol. I swear.. try it on chicken while your frying it… or a steak… just pour some on top… put it in the soup.. put it in the lasagna.. seriously.. anywhere… but not too much just a dab. =)

Even my fancy French black coffee?
no thank you

my super hetero girlfriend. like waaay hetero.

she won’t even eat tacos

@jonsblond Sounds like no lavender lemonade for you. ;)

@eponymoushipster NO TACOS!?! What does she eat??? dare I ask

@chicadelplaya Probably just hotdogs and wurst.

Pixie dust.

@chicadelplaya she’s polish. she eats sausage.

@eponymoushipster . . .the little vienna sausages?

trying to not laugh out loud

@Blondesjon they don’t eat that shit in Poland. They eat the big red hot kielbasa

@eponymoushipster . . .my bad. did you know that kielbasa, loosely translated, means “the basa”?

@benjaminlevi Would that be fresh or dried?

@Blondesjon it actually just means “sausage”

Well, garlic, yeah, and…

Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute
Sorted.

Actually, for your greens, a little mustard powder. Not too much. A couple of dashes goes a long way.

Cumin – I put it in my potato salad, and on cooked carrots along with butter. It makes both of them delicious.

As for my other secret ingredients…..

A quarter teaspoon of coconut flavor in chocolate chip cookies, yum, yum, yum!

@SuperMouse I love coconut!! Great idea! Love it!

semen, but I’m not telling you which dish I put it in.

@evelyns_pet_zebra Which or whose?

@evelyns_pet_zebra did you write this cookbook?

Wow, nothin’ says lovin’ like something from the oven!

A great secret ingredient for moms with kids that hate vegetables is spinach in brownies! You can add almost a whole package of frozen spinach to a batch and the kids won’t notice the difference.

@SuperMouse That is amazing.
Luckily, my mom hates spinach so I feel safe in assuming she never put it in brownies.

@eponymoushipster I was just being a smartass, who knew that there is actually a cookbook based on that particular substance? I did NOT write that book, but it might make a great Christmas present.

@evelyns_pet_zebra seriously, i’m surprised that you never saw that before.

My secret ingredient REALLY is: Ground Coriander seed. I add it to almost every meat dish I make. It just adds a certain flavor to bison, beef, pork, chicken and most wild game.

@eponymoushipster well, the internet is pretty big, and I do get easily distracted.

….Sriracha ......... a few drops in anything brightens your day !

the most beautiful babies in the world

@evelyns_pet_zebra i suppose. i know im never eating flan at your house ever, though.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir they taste better if you squeeze the oil out first.

@eponymoushipster they taste fine to me the way they are

@Simone_De_Beauvoir baby oil is high in cholesterol.

@eponymoushipster well my diet is otherwise very low in it

@Simone_De_Beauvoir a little baby now and then won’t hurt you, then. just watch out for those little bones.

Being true to myself. Good beef jerky.
And, Mrs. Dash

I always blow on solder connections to cool off tge top layer, so it solidifies and holds the wire as the rest hardens so I can work faster.but shhh!

@eponymoushipster I don’t eat the bones – I collect them for my special feminazi rituals

A fantastic waist to hip ratio. I use it for everything.

Alcohol and variety (it’s the spice of life, don’tcha know?!)

And a variety of alcohol…

@eponymoushipster well of course you wouldn’t I don’t prepare things like that. I am a simple person that prefers meat and potato dishes. My idea of sauce is BBQ sauce with lots of habanero pepper sauce mixed in to give it a ‘bite’.

@evelyns_pet_zebra nothing involving a “sauce” is going in my mouth if you prepared it. lol

I cook my pierogies with cumin- I fry them in olive oil.

Its a toss up between a wild imagination, creativity, and possibly un-medicated bi-polar disorder. I can be hard to live with at times, but i’m never boring!

I like to add quality fresh cumin, heated over a hot skillet until it becomes aromatic, then ground. I have been in love with it for a few years now, and unfortunately, introducing it into way too many dishes, so I am told-still a great spice. Another great ingredient I use with discretion, is ground roasted coffee as a hidden component in a dry rubs-steak and ribs, it adds a whole nother dimension.

(meant “the”)

@Garebo that coffee/steak combo, I’m going to have to try that!

@Garebo That does sound good.(coffee) Thanks for the secret!

Port Townsend, WA restaurant, I begged it out of them.

Everyone raves about my lasagna and makes a fuss about how much time and energy it must’ve taken. It’s easy, and here’s the recipe (let me know if you’ve tried it):

Fry (or saute, if you’re a fancypants) an onion and a few chopped garlic cloves in olive oil. Turn on the oven to about 180.

Add a tin of crushed tomatoes and a a little tom. puree

When it boils, add some mushrooms and spices to taste (I add salt, pepper, oregano, a bay leaf and a little sugar) and lower heat to miminum.

Let it cook for 10 minutes while you grease up a lasagna tray with olive oil.

Start with leaves on the bottom, then add sauce. Should be three layers.

Top off with mozzarella or any other blend of cheese.

25–30 minutes in the oven – keep your eye on it the first time – every oven is dif.

Enjoy.

I have a basil plant in a pot just outside the back door. I love fresh basil in salads, pasta, Vietnamese chicken rice noodle soup. It goes with just about everything!

The juice of freshly grated ginger root into spaghetti sauce.

Da Juice!

Some powdered mustard stirred in some garlic juice.

Marjoram in the masa for tamales. Explosion of interestingness.

@Zen – What leaves? Do you mean the lasagna noodles? And no ricotta in the layers?

@susanc good to see you! =)

love.

clove, coffee, or vaseline. One of those will work for just about anything. Oh, wait. Add peanut butter, WD40, and duct tape. Now we have most things covered.

Food: Sriracha sauce, yay!

Certain scents when combined with certain music are often a very effective recipe when introduced at the right time.

@Garebo Interesting. :) What is your favorite combination?

@jonsblond—It might be that a specific answer to your comment won’t be “universal”, since I suspect that scents + music are very subjective. I associate the scent of the ocean with the Beach Boys concert where I met my second husband. That is the most pleasant combination for me.

We put fish sauce in a lot of our stir fry and thai dishes (even when it’s not called for)

@jonsblond :I can’t tell you, it’s my top secret weapon.

I put a hunk of mozzarella in my meat loaf..it gets so ooey, gooey and delicious.

Oh and I top it with a sauce made of ketchup and brown sugar.

magic seafood mix.

IT IS A SECRET! WHY WOULD I TELL YOU?

Soya sauce for saltiness, Oyster sauce for sweetness. I add them to almost all my savoury dishes. I couldn’t decide just one secret ingredient, it’s too hard to choose.