I have been cooking with preserved lemon for years, using it left, right and centre, but I am still far from reaching my limit.
There are many miracles in the world to be celebrated and, for me, garlic is the most deserving.
People under-salt their food, and they think it's bland, but salt brings out flavor.
Garlic is divine. Few food items can taste so many distinct ways, handled correctly. Misuse of garlic is a crime...Please, treat your garlic with respect...Avoid at all costs that vile spew you see rotting in oil in screwtop jars. Too lazy to peel fresh? You don't deserve to eat garlic.
In sausage, fat is a source of both delightfully porky flavor and a springy texture. Without enough fat, sausage will be dry and tasteless.
I can't imagine Japanese food without dashi, a broth made with kelp and dried bonito flakes. It has the aroma of the sea, tinged with a subtle smokiness, and adds a very important, distinct flavor.
When I put some Tabasco on things, and there's really nothing in Tabasco, it's not bad for you in any way, so that's kind of become my substitute. Now you got to get used to a hot mouth, but that's okay.
When it comes to salt, what was really staggering to me is that the industry itself is totally hooked on salt. It is this miracle ingredient that solves all of their problems. There is the flavor burst to the salt itself, but it also serves as a preservative, so foods can stay on the shelves for months.
I like butter with my popcorn.
I put Tabasco sauce over everything. Or I put it on pretty much anything that wouldn't taste gross - I mean, I wouldn't put it on salad, but I like it on fried chicken, nachos... a lot of stuff.
I make amazing fried chicken. The secret is taco seasoning.
Horseradish is one of those perk-me-ups. You can use it in a cocktail sauce, you can bread fish with it - it loses its punch when cooked. It's a 'What is that?' flavor. It adds depth of flavor to things.
I have an obsession with hot sauce. I love Cholula. I put Cholula on everything.
I couldn't live without butter. Butter is probably my single favourite food.
It's hard to imagine a civilization without onions; in one form or another their flavor blends into almost everything in the meal except the desert.
Bacon is so good by itself that to put it in any other food is an admission of failure. You're basically saying, 'I can't make this other food taste good, so I'll throw in bacon.'
It's salt. Why don't you sprinkle some on me, honey? Aren't I just good enough to eat?
Salt's relationship to flavor is multidimensional: It has its own particular taste, and it both balances and enhances the flavor of other ingredients.
Salt is the only product that changes cuisine. There's a big difference between food that has salt and food without it. If you don't believe that, ask people who can't eat salt.
You can do almost anything with soup stock, it's like a strong foundation. When you have the right foundation, everything tastes good.
I love garlic, and I use it often.
I love my garlic press; in fact, it is probably my one true desert island gadget. But I'm happy to put it aside whenever the smell and sweet taste of slow-cooked garlic is called for.
Avocados are not just for guacamole! You can just about add it to anything for a little more flavor!
I think Tabasco brings me pure heat and Southern kind of familiarity, along with the vinegar and the barrel-aged spices.
Celery leaves are an underused ingredient, most likely because supermarkets sell mostly leafless stalks.
