What is your favorite go-to secret ingredient?

Ketchup or Coconut milk.

by dwatk

Love.

by jonaja

These days I've been using coconut milk. I'd never used it until about a year ago, and now I put it into everything...soups, casseroles, sweets and even white sauces. It's so much lighter than dairy milk and gives a delicious subtly nutty taste.

by Carolyn Hopping

Depends on the dish.

Tomato Ketchup, brown sauce, or soy sauce, depending on the dish.

by Bryony Harrison

msg - a tiny, tiny pinch. No I don't, I use a teaspoon full into stews and the very prosaic bolognese sauce.

by fran.

Yep MSG for me too. Plain vegetable soup with no stock base and a hall teaspoon of MSG and it improves or rather gives the soup some flavour.
As for the side problems of MSG, I have never had a problem and nor has my family. In fact MSG is in so many prepared foods anyway. I don't know what the problem with MSG is supposed to be, but would welcome any info anyone else out there has about it.

A pinch of fresh rosemary

by Lucy

Tabasco Sauce! Love it in minuscule amounts; makes a BIG difference!
Try in your next Mince Recipe!

by donjo

Ketchup manis use this in many Asian dishes, add to stir fries, in shepherds pies and anything you would like to spice up.
Use 50grms of smoked salmon with my scrambled eggs for breakfast. That with a glass of sparkling wine is the bees knees!

by tiny5

Anchovies.
Half a tiny jar of anchovies, 1 chilli, 2 cloves garlic and fry them all off until the anchovies disappear.
Now you have perfect base for seafood sauce for pasta or linguine. now add some baby spinach leave, a few tiny tom tomatoes a few prawns, a fillet of whatever fish is cheap and plentiful, a ladle full of past water and a good dollop of olive oil. Pour that over you linguine and people will think you are a master chef.

by fran.