When two chefs meet, it seems they always have something to teach each other. Even when Gordon Ramsay stops at a small roadside joint in Malaysia, the local auntie preparing a beef rendang has a trick or two to show him.
So, in an attempt to expand their horizons, Reddit user Freedfg made a post on the platform, asking everyone to share their best-kept family cooking secrets.
From scrambled eggs to chicken salad and beyond, here are some of the ways you can add a flavorful twist to your beloved dishes. Or at least trick others into believing it!
This made me think of this thing I read a long time ago.
A woman makes a ham for a holiday every year, and she always cuts the end off before baking it. Husband asks why, she says that's the way it's always been done, it's a recipe passed down in her family and she's never questioned it. She asks Mom, who asks Great Grandma, and turns out Great Grandma just couldn't fit the hams into her pan.
Idk the takeaway from this exactly but there it is lolMy family's cookbook is a thick scrapbook that was kept next to the family Bible that had the family tree in it.
Handwritten notes in German from the before WW I. Typed pages. Cutouts from magazines. Notes added from whoever felt a note was needed (Can't get suet? Don't make this).
It's a story book. Every recipe has a tale. One is literally, "Your omma and oppa won this recipe in a bridge game". Is it true? I like to think so, but it doesn't matter.
I don't have the book. I'm not really part of that family any more. But I have index cards of important recipes with instructions on the front, and stories on the back. Every card is a memory from when things seemed better. Christmas dinners. Potlucks. Nights making preserves. Laughter around a cutting board and a mixing bowl. Every card is a potential new memory. I've copied cards for friends, stories and all, and hope they're out in the world making new storiesReceived my grandmothers recipe box. I was so excited… it was almost exclusively the clippings from the back of quick-cook foods.In Romania we make a cake that's just fluffy cake batter dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut flakes/chopped walnuts, we call it tavalit. It's one of the dishes of my childhood and everybody made it because it's cheap, easy and finger licking delicious. I made it, brought it at a potluck at work in the Netherlands and a colleague from New Zealand jumped up "Lamingtons, oh my god I love these, do you have family in New Zealand?". Wat... I still don't know where the recipe originated, pretty sure neither in Romania nor in New Zealand, but it was so surprising to see a dish revered in countries so far apart by distance and culture and we both thought it was our own.I introduced a new 'secret' at an elderly care facility I used to work at as a cook while I was there. They got GFS (gordon food service) bulk items, which I actually really like to use, good quality. They would use cake mix for many deserts, but the cakes always came out very dry. When I came in, I noticed after the first couple times. Usually to make enough cake we used 4 bags of mix, so I dropped it to 3 bags of cake mix and 1 bag of pudding mix. Exact same cook time, no other changes, and the residents starting going nuts and complimenting us on the new cake recipe.
I got a small raise out of it.I was doing genealogy research and I was able to trace the exact village my ancestors came from by researching a family recipe.
I had always assumed it was a "back of the box" 1960s thing, but it had a funny name and nobody knew why it was called that. Turns out, it's a special holiday food in that region and each "village" has their own twist on it. I recognized a lot of other dishes my grandma would make too, and had no idea they were passed down in the family.Lol, my wife came back from Norway in love with this MAGIC spice and we searched everywhere, finally found some, had it shipped international.
It's MSG.The recipe on the back of the tollhouse chocolate chip bag, follow it to the letter. Everyone thinks I have the best of the best chocolate chip cookies.I begged my grandmother for her banana pudding recipe and 30 years later, people still beg me to make it. I've had drug dealers trade me drugs for it (back in the day lol). I discovered about 10 years in, its the f**king recipe off of the Nilla wafer box.My grandma's recipe has been passed down for generations and we have the original text to prove it! And it's just as sad and bland as it ever was.If I cook anything that requires breadcrumbs, I use chicken flavored StoveTop stuffing. I also use them as mini croutons in my salad.Your cake needs salt. So do your cookies. Stop leaving it out.When making banana bread, I use overripe bananas. Nothing unusual, right? Nope. But what takes it to the next level is I first freeze the bananas—for days, for weeks— and then thaw when it's time to bake. I read somewhere that freezing bananas make them sweeter. Try it. You'll be pleasantly surprisedMy secret fudge recipe that's been under lock and key for decades is literally just melting chocolate chips and dumping condensed sweetend milk in. Everyone in my fam thinks I'm this pro fudge makerAfter my grandmother passed, there was some fight back and forth over her pecan pie recipe. Turns out it was on the back of the Karo syrup bottle the whole time.My grandmother is from Italy. People are always like “you must make such great Italian fooooooddd!” And like yeah, I guess. But the “family” sauce recipe is super basic. Anyone could do it. What makes it good is just making it a billion times and letting it simmer all day.
People are amazed that I can make gnocchi, but it’s really not hard at all. There’s just some practice involved in getting the right texture to them.
These days with the internet, anyone can make super authentic food from any culture. We no longer have to rely on special handed down recipes, methods, and tools.And if you inherit your grandmas cookbooks you will learn that Betty Crocker and Fannie Farmer apparently were your ancestors because that’s where the family recipes are published!My amazing chocolate cake is from the recipe on the back of the hershey's cocoa mix box. People love it every time, though!I got my grandmother's cookbooks when she died (all handwritten recipes). That's when I learned that her famous baked beans start with a can of baked beans.Lol, I just found out this year the recipe for my husband's grandmother's FAMOUS fudge that he grew up eating and the whole family raves about comes straight off the Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk can. These people beg her to make it every Christmas and they gobble it up, but apparently none of them ever bothered to ask for the recipe. I emailed her to ask so I could bring it to my own family's Christmas dinner, and she was like "Oh, yeah, it's the one from the can label, it's not a secret. They just assumed and nobody asked." And you know what? I haven't told any of them, either.Authenticity is overrated. Food is like language, it’s dynamic, which means that recipes change over time under certain factors such as availability of needed ingredients. No recipe of the same food is better than the other because, after all, taste is subjective and food should be enjoyed by the one eating it.My “secret recipe” for green bean casserole is literally the recipe from the back of the fried onion box, with bacon and grilled onions added. It’s a hit every year.Stop.
Washing.
Chicken.
Purchased.
In.
Supermarkets/butcher shops.
I understand where my wife is from, because most of the meat comes from a wet market and had flies and who knows what else buzzing around them.. But when it's cleaned, packaged, sealed, and refrigerated... You're just spreading bacteriaI've never been the type to have a secret like this, but if people knew how much cinnamon I used they might have questions. I add it to a lot of dishes to add some earthiness and depth, but not in amounts where you can actually taste cinnamon.Only one I can really think of is adding pickle juice to tuna or chicken salad. Adds just the right amount of tartness. I do tell though. Spread the knowledge!If you want really good caramelized onions, you’re gonna have to spend the time to make really good caramelized onions. I swear that every attempt to rush the product results in (at least) a slightly subpar product. So I buckle in, pour a drink, and enjoy the long ride.My boyfriend is always amazed at how my scrambled eggs taste so good. He’s convinced I have magical scrambling powers because even when he tries to replicate, he can’t. I finally realized he doesn’t know I use butter, and I feel like I can’t reveal it now. I love being master egg scrambler.My grandma always showed up with her special cheese dip and said It was a special family recipe, two years ago my mom gave me the recipe, a few months later I found out it’s just rotel dip lmaosome woman posted a couple years ago about running a successful wedding cake business and being afraid someone would catch her buying carts full of cake mix at the grocery storeMy snickerdoodle recipe. Brother in law LOVES them, more than his mother's (from scratch).
Mine are chunks of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Stupid easy. I will never tell.My grandma’s “secret” fudge recipe is the one on the back of the marshmallow fluff jarCooking a chicken breast in Italian dressing. The dressing will reduce down to a glaze. Super simple and the taste is delicious. This is one of my favorite ways to cook chicken.I worked at Jimmy John's for a while and they had us use a little soy sauce in the tuna salad. I've been making it that way ever since (10 years).Jello vanilla pudding powder substitutes half of my sugar in cookies! It keeps them super soft for days and gives them almost a cake interior. ShhhhThe red Betty Crocker cookbook is all my “family” recipesPre crushed garlic in a jar is easier, but flavor is seriously lackingmy salsa
its just big can of whole toamotes, big sweet onion cut into fourths, one jalapeno with seeds cut up, cilantro and lime juice everyhting into a food processor for aobut 30ish secs add dash of salt at the end.
everyone thinks is so good which it is but i keep telling them its so easy but they dont think it is lolWorked In a very high end restaurant that locally became quite well known for its cheesecake. It was just cream cheese and marshmallow fluff blended together and put in store bought graham cracker crusts. They also playedSqueeze a lemon in your pot of chicken soup. Adds a nice brightnessIf the dish you prepared is not as tasty as last time you did it, you probably just need to add a bit more salt or oil.
Yeah being healthy is tough.I recently saw one of my great grandmothers EXACT recipes on one of those TikTok channels that cooks old school recipes. I always figured it was from a magazine or cookbook. Funny seeing it with my own eyes though.
As he cooking it, I’m like “wait, I’ve definitely made this before”. It was a 3-4 ingredient pie, so it wasn’t hard to remember.I would make chocolate chip cookies from scratch on deployment and at home. People always raved about them and asked for the recipe. Always seemed shocked when I handed them the chocolate chip bag and said to follow that recipe EXACTLYIt was like family lore when I was a kid. My first Thanksgiving away from the family, and I called my aunt for the recipe, pen and paper in hand, and she said "Take a box of stuffing and throw in a can of oysters!". Weirdly never tasted as good after thatNestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolat Chip bag. On the back. That's your mom's cookie recipe.
Even better... the premade dough you buy in the refrigerator section of your grocery store is the exact same thing. My mom stopped actually making cookie dough years ago, and no one ever knew.Man do I feel this.
Yeah used to be real hyped about my Grandmother’s Oyster Dressing that she would make every Thanksgiving. I would tell everyone about it. It’s not until she passed away and I started making it for other people that I found out how common it was.
It’s still good but damn.
Also learned that her mother was famous for potato bread. My Great Grandmother would pay people for things with her potato bread. My Grandmother refused to learn how to make it.Pancakes. Mix or from scratch, just use beer instead of water.when we have a work potluck or Friendsgiving, I buy some kind of salad at a fancy deli. usually some kind of cous cous salad or broccoli bacon. Then I put it in Tupperware and coat it in MSG. It’s always a hit.the best brownies are from mixes. even pro bakers know thisFor those us home cooks that cook for our families: efficiency, nutrition, and finances are more important than flavor in 80-90% of the food we cook. The vast majority of our cooking is boring.Mayo instead of butter on the outside of grilled sandwiches.
