I noticed that David Chang likes to add a bit of agave nectar to his fried rice. I never thought about adding something sweet to this, so I started adding a small amount of brown sugar (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 tsp) to my fried rice, and it really seems to make it tastier. It doesn’t read as “sweet” - it just gives it a tiny bit of an additional flavor boost. Since then I’ve also tried playing around with adding a tiny amount of sugar to other things, and it’s usually pretty good.
My brother and I were trying to replicate my grandmother’s curry recipe after she passed and got close but something was off. We couldn’t pin it down for years until one day my mother mistook the sugar for salt and added a tablespoon of it to the curry. We were amazed cause it now tasted exactly like grandma’s. You couldn’t taste the sugar, but it just rounded out all the other flavors. So now when there’s a thing that’s missing and I’m stumped, I try a bit of sugar and it’s usually the answer.
It’s funny how it’s hard to tell what isn’t there sometimes, right? I left salt out of a dessert a few times and it just didn’t taste right. I had to go back through my steps to realize that I’d forgotten the salt.
Sugar and butter is also the secret to making vegetables taste better.
TBF, butter makes just about everything taste better.
I’ll have to try a little sugar on mine next time!
Doing this tonight with a pasta sauce we are building. Will let you know how it goes!
Please do! I often add a bit of sugar to pasta sauce! Or grated carrot, which can also add sweetness.
Sugar tastes good. So does salt, maybe some fat, some acidity, and a little MSG. Just don’t overdo it, or you’ll get too much of one flavor and it won’t be palatable.
Yes, for sure. You want it all to be in balance.
It’s pretty common in Thailand and Cambodia for fried rice to be made with a spoonful of white sugar.
deleted by creator
Palm sugar is delicious. Jaggery, too!
Love Thai fried rice!
Sugar is basically a drug. Restaurants have been adding small amounts of sugar to everything for years because it’s addictive. It doesn’t have to change the flavor at all to make food “better” because your body wants the sugar.
Yep. That’s why everyone loves McDonald’s fries.
I googled and every answer says there’s a very small amount of sugar in McDonald’s fries (less than a 5th of a gram for a medium fry). Is that really enough sugar to make a difference?
Yep. Junk food, too. A lot of flavors of potato chips have sugar added.
I’m like this with soy sauce. I almost always add at least a splash of soy sauce in just about everything. Or sometimes fish sauce or worcestershire.
Oh yes! That umami!
My dad told me about a guy he knew in the army who would put a drop of soy sauce in his coffee… Sounded weird but I tried it and it’s actually pretty decent.
OMG, I’m going to have to try this. I mean it’s basically salt and salt bring out the flavor. I wonder how it compares to the recent butter in coffee trend.
I love soy sauce so much. I’m a bit embarrased but sometimes I open my pantry and just take a tiny swig of the soy sauce straight from the bottle. I just love it, lmao.
Lol! No I get it, it’s delicious.
Stir-fry in general often contains a little bit of sugar, fried rice is just stir-fried rice.
Good point! I can’t think of a time when I didn’t add something sweet to a stir fry, even if it was just a touch of something.
deleted by creator
Oh yeah. MSG is like using cheat codes. I use that or stock cubes (which contain MSG, lol).
Tomatoes too. Have a good bit of natural MSG. Probably why I love them so much.
deleted by creator
Oh nice! I’ll check this out. Mushroom powder is great, too.
deleted by creator
It does! Sounds like it would be great in a BBQ rub or spice blend.
deleted by creator
Oh, yes! And sugar, and acid. So good when cooked down and concentrated.
Oh I put MSG in almost everything. Especially if it’s some kind of sauce or broth/soup.
I once added a spoonful of sugar to Maggi (Indian instant noodles) and it boosted the flavor so much that it’s a crucial ingredient for me now. That and butter.
