It's not a single thing for me. It's kind of cuisine dependent... but if I'm picking one, it's peppers. Dried chiles of various varieties to make purees and powders. Sichuan peppercorns to bring that hot+numbing sensation. Fresh chilies for salsas and, again, purees.
To the original point of the post, as was said by several it has to be salt. Without that electrolytic action and penetration into our meat proteins where would we be? I'll tell you where...a tasteless wasteland.
That said I would have to say next on the list are the umami flavor profiles; fish sauces, celery seed, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and even good old MSG that really ramp up the flavor profile of food. As the Japanese are fond of saying of this 5th flavor sense, it's "the essence of deliciousness". You know it's there, you just can't quite say why.
Dad use to always add a shake or 2 of washyersister sauce to hamburger and it just took it to a different level. For whatever reason I never took up that habit, but I have been making a point of it lately. Not only does it make hamburgers better, it never fails to conjure fond memories of my father.
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