Epoisse ground right into a burger patty to make a cheeseburger with invisible cheese, which we learned from Heirloom Cafe in SF
Vietnamese fish sauce / marmite in all sorts of things one wouldn’t normally associate with it (e.g. boeuf bourguignon); thanks SeriousEats!
Sprinkling sodium acetate onto dry dishes to make them pop (see https://www.instructables.com/id/Sodium-Acetate/)
You must have a very large refrigerator.
I’ve come to the conclusion that acid and salt go together in a way that is complimentary meaning sometimes they need to balance each other. Where I use that is generally fresh dishes like salsas, salads (keep in mind this covers many raw veg cooked meat combos as well as veg only), crudos, ceviche, gazpacho. But it works on some roasted vegetable dishes as well, particularly the brassicas like brusselsprouts where the savory of veg and abundance of oils can require a splash of acid and salt to cut through the fat. Fried foods in general really. Look at fish and chips, they give you a whole bottle of malt vinegar. Then maybe breakfast dishes. Those combos of fat meat eggs beg for a foil, it’s just that people usually suck at it.
I agree. Umami ingredients are underrated. In dishes that require depth, one should always be thinking about boosting umami.
totally agree and leads me to another hack. I make Brussels sprouts with bacon quite often and the hack is I halve and then par boil the sprouts in water with a good amount of cider vinegar. Fry cubed bacon, get rid of a little of the fat (depending on how much fat is released by the bacon) and add the sprouts to the bacon and fat, tossing them to finish cooking (so you don’t want the bacon crispy before you add the sprouts). It’s a little heavy without acid but the sprouts having been in the vinegar makes it really work.
Speaking of acid, I’ve learned that for a lot of soups and stews, the standard recipe doesn’t call for ingredients with enough acid. The flavors tend to flatten out
with prolonged cooking, so I’ll add vinegar or something similar to the start. Then, when it’s close to being done, I’ll taste and see if it needs a little more acid
brightening.
Bruce
I do this frequently but drizzle Momofuku Ssam sauce on top. Chase with a beer, even at Breakfast 