Cooking

Often, the most unexpected ingredients make the most delicious meals (think chutney in chilli, baking powder in tomato sauce, and even tea with chocolate).

In fact, some of these off-sounding combinations have become so well-recognised that they’re ubiquitous. I reckon most of us have added sugar to our pasta sauce or put a dash of salt on our chocolate chip cookies.

But what about the lesser-known guest stars of the culinary world? Writing to Reddit’s r/Cooking, site user u/kath- asked: “What’s your surprising ‘secret ingredient’ that sets your dish apart?”

Here are some of the most-upvoted replies:

1) “For sweet baked goods, I typically buy a few pouches of nonfat dehydrated milk powder. I then toast them carefully in the oven until rich and chocolate brown.”

“I add a tablespoon or so to various recipes to give a browned butter flavour without browning any butter.........

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