Common Ingredients That Cooks Swear Make Any Meal Better

A lot of people have the skill of cooking, but not many have mastered it. They learn the basics of preparing food, but they never take advantage of using simple ingredients to their advantage.

A few experienced cooks have taken to Reddit to share some of their favorite ingredients that are surprisingly simple, yet they add a lot to every dish. Let’s take a look at some of the best few!

Salt And Pepper

Salt and pepper are so stupidly simple, but they are so vital and important. I agree with salt in that it’s vital in literally every flavorful dish.

Black pepper is more just a sign of people needing to season their food. It’s not a mandatory spice for even half of the foods, but it can be helpful.

Story credit – Reddit/metalshoes

Smoked Paprika

Smoked paprika in anything tex-mex. I mean, smoked paprika in anything can be really good if you know what you’re doing. Don’t be too overzealous with the spice, though. Too much can easily ruin your meal.

In Poland, smoked paprika is a big thing. Look up a polish recipe, and you’d be surprised how many dishes you can find with smoked paprika in them.

Story credit – Reddit/MasQuesoPorFavor

Vanilla Beans

The difference between using vanilla extract and vanilla beans in a baking project is astounding! Beans are expensive, so I tend to save them for special occasions, but it really does add extra flavor.

I like to leave the bean that I’ve scraped in my sugar jar. It can tend to clump up, but it’s a small problem to have vanilla sugar.

Story credit – Reddit/Lucky_Asian

Turmeric And Cumin

Turmeric and cumin. They’re the secret touch to a lot of the things I do. I do this with just a little yellow curry (even in pasta marinara sauce) goes well. Ginger goes well with these ingredients too.

But by far, the best ingredient to use is fresh turmeric. It’s so much better than powdered, but it’s a little harder to work with.

Story credit – Reddit/madkeepz