In the “Add a pinch of sugar” thread, many of you mentioned other things you like to add to boost the flavor in your dishes - MSG, tomato powder, soy sauce, etc. What’s an ingredient you find that you love to add to dishes to improve the flavor (or aroma, texture, or maybe even the way it looks)?
I am a big fan of mushroom powder. It adds a nice boost of umami with some additional flavor that comes along for the ride. Just throw some dried mushrooms into a spice grinder and grind until powder.
Kimchi/ferments/pickles
Gochujang
Chinese 5 spice
Balsamic, Chinese vinegar
Seasoned rice wine
Furikake
Chili oil
Hot sauce - especially a smoked habanero/chipotle
Better than bouillon but used like a flavor concentrate rather than stock
Some of my other favorites like berbere were already mentioned, periperi is in a similar vein
Splash of beer in a stew or bread recipe, also diastatic malt.
Gochujang is good in chili! Like not enough to read as gochujang, but it gives it a little “what is that flavor?” kind of deal.
Furikake is awesome. Buttered noodles with furikake is pretty tasty.
I’ve not tried peri peri. What’s it good in?
I could see that! I’ve never had it in chili. I found some at the international market near me recently with lemon that was nice for marinating.
Furikake and mayo on rice is my go to lol. I’ll have to try it with noodles some time. I just love the crunch.
I like using peri peri seasoning for meats but I imagine it’d good with roasted veggies as well. It’s salty, smoky, tangy. Although some of the better blends seem to have aromatics. The one I tried seemed like mostly chili and salt similar to soondae salt.
I’ll try peri peri out sometime! Salty and smokey sounds great.
Oh also I forgot I went through a brief salt cured egg yolk phase. It was fun to play around with as a topping.