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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 post may include affiliate links.
#1
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 lol
majandess 10 months ago (edited)
Literally the ham butt problem from a TED talk by Erin McKean (I'm sure it's elsewhere, too). My family uses this as a model for talking about things that we've always done a certain way without knowing why, only to find out that there's no real reason to keep doing it because circumstances have changed.
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#2
My 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 stories
#3
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.
#4
Received my grandmothers recipe box. I was so excited… it was almost exclusively the clippings from the back of quick-cook foods.
#5
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.
#6
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.
#7
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.
Display Name 10 months ago
i cab just imagine it "yo. bro, I ain't got no money but I got that nanna pudddin for some of that good good you know I like" wtf bwaaa hahaha.
#8
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.
#9
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.
#10
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.
#11
If I cook anything that requires breadcrumbs, I use chicken flavored StoveTop stuffing. I also use them as mini croutons in my salad.
Jill Rhodry 10 months ago
Yep, everyone loves my mini chicken meatballs- my secret is also stuffing instead of breadcrumbs.
#12
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 surprised
Yettichild 10 months ago
I always freeze bananas that go past the eating stage to the banana bread stage, but that's just because I'm lazy and don't want to make the bread right away.
#14
After 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.
#15
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.
#16
My 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 maker
Huddo's sister 10 months ago
I love condensed milk fudge! Last time I made it it didn't work though. Maybe because I used coconut condensed milk instead, because I can't have milk anymore.
#17
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!
Phoenix 10 months ago
My family had to start using Betty Crocker cookbooks because my great grandmothers never had recipes. They just knew what they were doing and how much of everything to add. My grandmother was the first one to have a recipe book (yes it was a Betty Crocker recipe book) and now it's mine. I'm sure one of my sisters will get my mother's.
#18
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.
Lunaofthenest (She/they) 10 months ago
A lot of nanas, grandma's, abuelas, etc got their "secret" recipes this way. My grandmother made these amazing, delicate cut out sugar cookies for every holiday. Yeah, those are Betty Crocker but after trying it, there's still an art form involved in getting the consistency *just right* that cannot be mastered overnight. R.I.P grandma Elise 🥲
#19
My amazing chocolate cake is from the recipe on the back of the hershey's cocoa mix box. People love it every time, though!
#20
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.
#21
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.
#22
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 bacteria
Amanda Young 10 months ago
First time I was ever asked if I washed my chicken I was like w*t*f are you talking about and why the he11 would you even do that?!
#23
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.
#24
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!
Display Name 10 months ago
believe it or not a little wasabi in tuna salad makes it mind blowing, also chopping up canned peaches and fresh celery will kick up tuna a bunch of notches. Sounds weird but peaches and tuna salad is a Belgian thing and it's bangin
#25
I'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.
Melissa Harris 10 months ago
Cinnamon is used in lots of savory cookery. It's only modern Western European inspired cooking that reserves is for desserts and sweeter dishes.
#26
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.
Jane No Dough 10 months ago
Butter is the magic ingredient in all my family's favorite recipes!
#27
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.
#28
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 lmao
#29
My grandma’s “secret” fudge recipe is the one on the back of the marshmallow fluff jar
#30
some 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 store
#31
My 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.
TheBlueBitterfly 10 months ago
But.. snickerdoodles are as easy as peanut butter cookies! It's pretty much the easiest cookie to make! (I make some bomb a$$ weedbutter snickerdoodles, too.)
#32
Cooking 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.
#33
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. Shhhh
#34
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).
#35
my 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 lol
Ace 10 months ago (edited)
Don't underestimate yourself. Just because it's simple for you doesn't man other people wouldn't get it wrong. The 'secret' is how much lime, how much seasoning, how much coriander you use, and how much you blend it down. It may not be rocket science but it's not nothing either.
#36
The red Betty Crocker cookbook is all my “family” recipes
#37
Pre crushed garlic in a jar is easier, but flavor is seriously lacking
Jill Rhodry 10 months ago
I find adding an extra pinch of salt and a little ginger brings out the flavour of jarred garlic.
#38
Worked 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 played
#39
Squeeze a lemon in your pot of chicken soup. Adds a nice brightness
#40
If 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.
#41
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.
3 Otters 🦦 10 months ago
The ones on Pinterest that originally were Betty Crocker and were passed hand written and now are Grandmas secret recipe. I smile and think Betty was pretty good for a woman who never existed.
#42
It 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 that
The Other Guest 10 months ago
Hey, they stole my mom's recipe!! Actually mom's version also has celery & onion sauteed in butter, and some chicken broth so it's nice & moist. But yes, gotta have me some oysters in Thanksgiving stuffing.
#43
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 EXACTLY
#44
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.
#45
Nestle 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.
Dorothy Reiser 10 months ago
I've tried so many chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years and the Toll House recipe is the best.
#46
Pancakes. Mix or from scratch, just use beer instead of water.
#47
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.
#48
the best brownies are from mixes. even pro bakers know this
PeepPeep the duck 10 months ago
Nope I disagree, I got a killer recipe from a country women’s association book. They are amazing
#49
For 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.
Jill Rhodry 10 months ago
Nah-uh - I wholeheartedly disagree. Tasty food doesn't need to be expensive or lack nutrition. Herbs and spices are cheap - you can even grow, dry/freeze your own herbs - and they're not bad for you.
#50
Mayo instead of butter on the outside of grilled sandwiches.
Rebekah Krause 10 months ago (edited)
I hate this supposed “hack” the best thing about grilled cheese sandwiches is the buttery flavor. If you need it to be extra crispy so much just use a little cooking spray/oil in addition to butter or cook it a little longer at a lower temperature until it reaches the crispness desired. There is no depth of flavor with mayo- you get greasy crispy bread. Yuck.
What do you think ?
Huddo's sister 10 months ago
I don't really believe in 'secret recipes' and it is perfectly understandable people use recipes from food packets, that's what they are there for. Do people feel ashamed because those recipes are considered duds?
Yettichild 10 months ago
My 'famous' pumpkin pie is just the recipe on the Libby's canned pumpkin except I don't actually used canned pumpkin, I roast and puree the pumpkins myself. Makes a world of difference.
Trillian 10 months ago
I find this "secret recipe" idea really weird. I have never heard of anyone (especially not within the family) not giving out the recipe of something they made if they were asked? And how rude to not give out a recipe when someone asks you, especially if it's just something you found on a box yourself?
Auntriarch 10 months ago
Guessing that people were too embarrassed to confess to it being a box recipe. Some people are like that
Load More Replies... Huddo's sister 10 months ago
I don't really believe in 'secret recipes' and it is perfectly understandable people use recipes from food packets, that's what they are there for. Do people feel ashamed because those recipes are considered duds?
Yettichild 10 months ago
My 'famous' pumpkin pie is just the recipe on the Libby's canned pumpkin except I don't actually used canned pumpkin, I roast and puree the pumpkins myself. Makes a world of difference.
Trillian 10 months ago
I find this "secret recipe" idea really weird. I have never heard of anyone (especially not within the family) not giving out the recipe of something they made if they were asked? And how rude to not give out a recipe when someone asks you, especially if it's just something you found on a box yourself?
Auntriarch 10 months ago
Guessing that people were too embarrassed to confess to it being a box recipe. Some people are like that
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