September 22, 2025 • 17 mins
Did you know there are simple additions to recipes that can take your favorite dishes over the top? We've got a list of single ingredients that up the game for all sorts of foods (or even take-out fare).
We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of thirty-seven cookbooks and over twenty thousand original recipes. We've made a career out of food and cooking. This podcast is about our passion.
We've also got a one-minute cooking tip about farm stands. And we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week!
If you'd like to check out our latest cookbook, COLD CANNING, please click this link.
Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:
[00:43] Our one-minute cooking tip: Beware of farm stands or farmers' markets with out-of-season produce.
[03:12] What's a single ingredients than can improve a recipe? We've got a list of ingredients you can add to individual recipes to make them much better.
[14:50] What’s making us happy in food this week? Farm-stand tomatoes and Claire's Cornercopia in New Haven, Connecticut.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
mark (00:01):
Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is the Podcast
Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
And I'm Mark Scarborough, and togetherwith Bruce, we have written 37 cookbooks,
including the latest cold scanning that'llcome up maybe once in this episode.
This is our podcast.
I can bring it up more.
Oh, sure.
This is our podcast about food andcooking, the passions in our life, the
things that drive us to do what we do.
(00:21):
As always, you've got a one minute.
Cooking tip, we're gonna talkabout one ingredient that can
take a dish up over the top.
So what could you add one ingredientto things where you might not expect to
add it, and it will push that dish wayover the top and we'll tell you what's
making us happy in food this week.
So let's get started.
bruce (00:43):
Our one minute cooking tip.
Be wary of farm stands andfarmer's markets that have
a big, beautiful display.
Mm-hmm.
Of melons and peaches and plums.
Because if it's not in seasonwhere you are, then those
produce items are not local.
mark (01:00):
That's right.
We have a, uh, listen, we are bigadvocates for farm stands and farmer's
Markets wrote a huge article foreating well back in the day on the top
10 farmer's markets in the country.
I mean, we are big advocatesfor this kind of thing, and we
do have a farm stand near us.
That is a really nice farm stand.
However, you do have to watchwhat they have because when they
have their raspberries in andwhen they have their apples in and
(01:23):
when they have their chestnuts in,those are in fact from that farm.
Mm-hmm.
We know the trees, weknow where they come from.
When they have certain other things inlike apricots in April, that's impossible.
bruce (01:36):
And bananas, which don't grow here anytime of year,
mark (01:39):
right?
So they have gone elsewhere to aproduce supply company and they have
bought these things and they've putthem out in nice wicker baskets or
nice, you know, um, uh, wooden baskets.
And it all looks great for apricots.
But if you think about it, you can think,wait a minute, it's New England and April.
There are no apricots.
Apricots don't come in here till July.
So
bruce (01:58):
also.
Add that I have never been toa farm stand in New England.
That doesn't say either theseare our own homegrown or gives
you the name of the local farm.
Oh yeah, true.
So if they're not, then chances arethey just got it at a produce warehouse.
mark (02:15):
Yeah.
But what kills me about New England, andmaybe this is going on too long, what
kills me about New England is no matterwhere you drive in New England, you can
go to pharmacy and you'll find a displayfor quote unquote fresh maple syrup.
And it doesn't matter.
When you look at it.
So I'm like, uh, you did notmake fresh maple syrup in July.
I know you did not.
bruce (02:35):
Mm.
People don't realize that it'smade in February and March.
Right.
mark (02:38):
And even January in lower New England at this point with climate change.
So I mean, it it, it's always a funnything that they're always haw there,
maple syrup and it's like, hmm, okay.
It's probably not exactly of the moment.
Alright, before we get to our oneingredient question about how to
take a dish over the top or you say.
We would love for you to subscribe tothis podcast and if you can rate it,
(03:01):
that would be great, or write a review.
That would be the best of allbecause as I always say, we are not
otherwise supported, so this is theway that in fact, you can support us.
Alright, up next, what is oneingredient you can add to a common
dish or cooking to take it completely?
Over the top.
bruce (03:22):
So we have a list of ingredients that we like to add one of these
to whatever it is we're cooking.
And it really justmakes a huge difference.
So we're gonna tell you whatthey are, and then we wanna
know what your ingredients are.
And I wanna start withWorcestershire sauce.
Mm-hmm.
Or Chesters Shire sauce.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
It's not just for your bloody Mary's.
(03:44):
You can use it as getthis a steak marinade you.
I love to take hanger steaks and putsome Worcester shear and Okay, if you
can get it, a little smoked olive oil.
Oh wow.
And that is like the mostamazing marinade on any steak.
But I like it on a hanger steak.
Now here's the real trick.
Make your own Worcester shearand it gets even better.
(04:06):
That's the bit cold my husband makes me.
Worcester shear sauce.
mark (04:09):
I do.
And the recipe in cold counting ismy recipe for Worcester shear sauce.
If you wanna see us actually makethat, or excuse me, make it, there's
a YouTube video on our YouTubechannel cooking producing mark of me
making that Worcester shear sauce.
Oh, it's so good.
I make a vat of it in cold canning.
It makes a small batch, but usuallyI make a whole vat of what's the key
bruce (04:28):
to wor shoe sauce?
What do you think is like the anchovies.
Anchovies are, yeah.
They're really important to it.
And I think the other thing thatwould surprise people is that you
burn sugar, you caramelize sugar.
You don't just add sugar as what you, no.
You actually burn it and caramelize it.
So it adds a complex,you know, when you flavor
mark (04:47):
turn sugar into liquid and let it get dark brown, and then you
pour it and it roils up like crazy.
Mm-hmm.
That's added to the pot forthat deep caramel flavor.
It's.
Going against anchovies andonly about 5 billion spices.
Mm-hmm.
Oh
bruce (04:59):
and tamarind paste and tamarind, which gives you sourness.
It is such a great condiment.
It is so good for takingyour steaks up over the top.
And if you want to put any ofthat wass your on your steak.
After you've cooked it, don't use thesame wishes you're left in the bowl.
That was for the marinade.
'cause that has touched your raw meat.
Yeah.
Okay.
So use
mark (05:19):
fresh.
Great.
I'm moving on, I'm pushingon enough with that.
Um, so, uh, I think one of the thingsthat, I'm a big pie baker and I think
one of the things that you may notknow is if you have an apple, a pear.
A blueberry, a blackberry,a raspberry pie, berry pies,
as well as apples and pears.
If you add just a little gratedorange zest to the filling, you
(05:44):
will take that pie up over the top.
Trust me, blueberry pies witha little orange zest in them.
That is a revelation.
Mm-hmm.
It changes the whole dynamic of the pie.
It's so
bruce (05:55):
delicious and you can look.
Back through lots and lots of cookbooksand a lot of people call for lemon and
they say, well, the lemon brightensthe flavor and lemon is expected.
But Mark was always puttinga little orange in it.
I did.
In fact, we put the orange zestin our blueberry pie recipe in a
book we wrote called The UltimateCookbook, and that's 20 years ago.
That's how long you'vebeen doing this for us.
(06:16):
Oh, I've been doing itforever and it's amazing.
And people eat thesepies and they're like.
There's something in here that'sso special and you can't put much.
No.
Let me just say you can overdo it.
Right.
So,
mark (06:25):
you know, I, I take it an orange and I run it a few times over
a box grater to get just the zest on.
Mm-hmm.
And then I mint up that zest so Idon't put it in whole strips in there.
I mince it up.
Mm-hmm.
And not much.
We're talking like a quarter teaspoon,maybe a little more than that.
If you wanna go crazy and if you have
bruce (06:42):
a microplane, you can use a microplane.
Just a couple of, justa couple of runs on it.
And no, it really is a.
Fabulous edition.
Now we're talking about fabulous editions.
I grew up in, you know,Jewish House where.
Pot roast, which in a lot of families,a lot of American households meant
chuck in our house that meant brisket.
Most people just say, let's have brisket.
(07:03):
But my grandmother only called it potroast and she put lots of carrots and lots
of onions and paprika and salt and pepper.
Now you're out of all the spices'cause that's what she knew.
She knew salt, she knewpepper, and she knew paprika.
So I introduced her tosomething called allspice.
And if you don't know allspice, you knowit's one of those wintry spices that
often goes with cinnamon and nutmeg intosweet potato pies and pumpkin stuff.
(07:28):
But I happen to love.
Allspice in beef stews and in beef dishes.
It's used commonly that way inSoutheast Asia, by the way, and I
introduced her to Allspice and she,this old Jewish woman from Thele fell
in love with it, and so she startedputting allspice in everything.
So a little bit of allspice inyour next pot roast, your next
(07:48):
beef stew, your next brisket.
It'll really make it better.
mark (07:51):
Along the same lines, I would say that for me, cardamom.
Is the secret spice to everything.
I put cardamom in any baking recipethat calls for cinnamon or nutmeg.
I always add a little cardamom to it.
Cardamom has a slightlymusky but sweet flavor to it.
It's very aromatic.
(08:12):
A little bit goes along, it does long way.
You can find, as they call them,dec corticated, cardamom seeds.
Those are the little blackseeds out of the pod.
Mm-hmm.
And you can also find ground.
Yep.
Cardimum out there and a littlejust a, I mean, and we're
talking here sweet baked goods.
Yeah.
Although cardamom is prettyfine in a beef stew too.
bruce (08:34):
It is.
It's interesting 'cause you have usedboth the decor dicated seeds and the
ground in cookies and they give youa completely different experience.
'cause if you put some groundcardamom in a chocolate chip cookie,
every bite of that cookie is gonnahave this mild essence of cardamom.
But if you put the seeds,you're not putting many.
So you might get.
A cookie that has two seeds in it.
(08:56):
And so one bite is anormal cookie and one bite.
You get this just explosion of cardamon.
It's true.
Which is really kind of
mark (09:03):
nice.
So I'm gonna, I, I know I didcardamon, but I'm going to
the next one 'cause it's mine.
Um, because it's from my, uh,my upbringing, it's my thing.
So if you have creamy soups, let'ssay you have a creamy tomato soup,
or you have a creamy chicken soup,and you know, this is not gonna
be a typical root vegetable stew.
This is, you want a more.
Creamy finish to it.
Yeah.
Right.
And you wanna thicken it at the end.
(09:24):
If you wanna thicken it and skip thecream, you can put a little bit of Yes.
Instant mashed potatoes.
Brilliant into the pot.
You stir them in.
It will thicken the stew and also turnit nice and creamy colored, and even in
its texture, we're not talking a lot.
(09:45):
You know, you might have toexperiment a little bit with this,
but just a little bit of instantmashed potatoes, a quarter cup,
bruce (09:52):
maybe half a cup, and a a father stew.
But you might find youneed to up the salt.
There's even though thatmyth that if something's too
salty, you put a potato in it.
That's a myth, right?
Potatoes don't absorb the salt out.
No, it's not right.
But potatoes do.
Eat salt in a way that you're shIt's shocking that potato dishes
require mal more salt than others.
So if you're thickening a creamysoup with instant mashed potatoes,
(10:15):
you want to add a little more salt.
And if you don't want to have potatoes,you can also thicken soups with masina.
Well, okay, so instead ofexplain what Masa Arena is.
So masina is basically cornflour, ground slated corn.
It's the kind of cornflour used to make tamales.
It is not corn meal.
No, it is a corn.
Flour that you would use for tamales,that you would use for tortillas, it will
(10:39):
give you a soup, a slight corn flavor,and it will remind you of Mexican food.
So best to do it on flavors thatwork well with Mexican food.
mark (10:48):
Yeah, I suppose so.
And here's another thing that I think mostpeople in the United States don't know
about, and that is when you're sauteingvegetables for the bottom of a brown.
Stew, so we're talking here.
Beef buffalo pork, you know,we're talking brown stews.
Well probably with a lot of rootvegetables in it, anything like that.
Once you add the garlic, if youwould just add a half a teaspoon up
(11:12):
to a teaspoon of anchovy paste toit, the whole thing will be seen.
So.
Sophisticated, and you don't have to tellanybody that there's any anchovies in it.
Mm-hmm.
But anchovy paste makes allthose kind of savory soups.
Just it's like, it'slike adding this umami.
It is explosion to the soup.
It is.
bruce (11:31):
And you could put a minced up anchovy if you
want, but it's so much easier.
The paste comes in the tubeand it doesn't taste fishy.
It doesn't make your stewor your soup taste fishy.
No, no, not at all.
As Mark says, it just gives it anumami punch that can't be viewed.
I put it at the bottom of.
Everything I make with tomatoes,and that can be just from a ing, a
basic bolognese or a marinara sauce,even paella, anything that's got
(11:56):
tomatoes in it, Ingo and anchovy.
mark (11:59):
Yeah, I, it's, that's an interesting thing, I suppose.
And I, I, I, again, peoplekind of gross out at anchovies.
In anchovies.
Some people do, but it is this like secretingredient that you can slip into things.
Uh, tomato sauce is kind ofbrilliant, but slip in and it.
Adds all of this savory flavorand it calms down the sweetness.
Particularly like if you do, um,as I did a chicken stew with a lot
(12:21):
of root vegetables, which are supersweet, you can pull that sweetness
down with just a little anchovies.
I suppose it would make it fishyif you added the two Oh of ancho.
Oh yeah.
Well then you're
bruce (12:31):
making anchovy stew you don't wanna do, yeah, that's disgusting.
And it's also
mark (12:35):
super salty you,
bruce (12:36):
I say.
Here's another ingredient youmight not have thought to use
in baking, and that's coffee.
If you have a recipe, and I'm evengonna say, I'm going to go crazy
and say you're using box cake mix.
Yeah, no.
This is box cake mix, Andreusing using box brownie mixes
and they usually call for water
mark (12:53):
this.
And by the way, this what you're about,Bruce, I say works with chocolate, not.
Vanilla necessarily?
No.
And not strawberry cake and No.
No, it is not.
It's chocolate.
So you use
bruce (13:04):
coffee instead of the water as the liquid because why use a
liquid water that has no flavor?
Use coffee.
It's so funny, I was watchingTikTok this morning over my
coffee and there was somebody.
Who opened a box brownie mix, and insteadof the water, they put a can of Coke.
Oh.
And I'm like, well, it'sa similar thing, right?
Sure.
It's a very similar thing.
So Coke adds so much sweetness.
(13:26):
It adds sweet.
The coffee's not gonna add any sweetness.
It's just gonna add flavor and aslightly bitter edge, which will
balance the sweetness area in the box.
So I like your idea of using coffee alot better than what I saw of using Coke,
but don't use a flavorless liquid and
mark (13:40):
any of those, you know, any of those nut butters.
Including peanut butter.
Peanuts are in a nut, a legume, but still.
Okay, we'll count them with almondbutter, pecan butter, peanut butter.
All those butters are excellentthickeners in soups and stews.
Hmm.
bruce (13:55):
Yeah, you may not think of that, but next time you even make tomato soup,
I'm going to put to you that you shouldadd some hot chili pepper to it and
thicken it at the end with a heaping.
Tablespoon of smooth peanut butter andyou'll have that chili Peanut butter
and tomato flavor is so incredible.
And peanut butter thickens soups.
(14:17):
It thickens stews.
It's the secret ingredient to add.
It does salt and flavorthat you will not believe
mark (14:23):
and protein.
And protein two.
So there you go.
There's our list of singleingredients that can take various
dishes up and over the top.
We would love to know if you haveany tricks of the trade that you
use to take a dish up over the top.
You can find us on Facebook on cookingwith Bruce and Mark and you can drop the
comment there and we would be glad torespond and I'm sure other people will
(14:44):
be glad to hear your tips and tricks.
Okay, let's move on to thetraditional last part of this podcast.
What's making us happy?
And food this week
bruce (14:55):
fall tomatoes that you could pick up at your local
farmer's market in giant boxes.
They call them seconds andthey're cheapest dirt and
you can make tomato sauce.
And I did that.
I was visiting my sister down insouthern Connecticut and on my
drive home I stopped by a localfarm stand and they had 50 pound.
(15:16):
Boxes of seconds of theirtomatoes for $20 20.
So I have two giant stock pots on thestove going as we record this, making
my homemade marinara, which will becold canned in the freezer all winter.
mark (15:31):
Yeah, that's the best you can keep it in the freezer all winter and pull
out a container of marinara and either.
Use it on its own or add it tosomething that you're making.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
What's making you happy?
So we were down to New Haven,as Bruce says, and his sisters
moved to Southern Connecticut.
We were down there, and thisis, shout out to a restaurant, a
legendary restaurant in New Haven.
(15:51):
Uh, I think you say it, new Haven.
I've been corrected a million times.
Sorry.
I say New Haven.
And it's New Haven.
But anyway.
We were in New Haven and wentto Claire's Corner Copia.
It's right next to the Yale campus.
It's a vegetarian, vegan restaurant.
And they make vegan.
Yes, totally vegan cinnamon rolls.
(16:12):
Oh, they're so good.
And those vegan cinnamon rollsare worth the trip to New
Haven so that you can try them.
They are un.
Believable.
And uh, we bought one and I had half ofit and Bruce had half of it and I had
half of it with my coffee this morning.
Mm-hmm.
And they were, yeah, as those cinnamonrolls down there, they're so good.
I don't even know how they'revegan because they don't taste no
bruce (16:34):
eggs, no butter, no cream, no milk, but they're
mark (16:36):
light as air.
They're really good wound allaround the cinnamon sugar.
They're delicious.
And he's
bruce (16:42):
had chunks of apple in it too.
These are these
mark (16:44):
apple cinnamon bites.
Fabulous.
Claire's, they corner Copia inNew Haven is the best place to go.
Okay, that's the podcast for this week.
Thanks for being a part of this journey.
We appreciate your spendingtime with us every week,
bruce (16:57):
and we hope you'll find us as Mark said on Facebook and our group cooking.
Bruce and Mark, and look for us onsocial media, on Instagram and on TikTok.
Our feed is.
Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
They're lots of great videos there,and as you check out TikTok and
all the videos that are there,notice how many are not real.
They're ai.
You will never find AI here oncooking with Bruce and Mark.
(17:19):
It's always us.
It's always real.
We're always cooking here oncooking with Bruce and Mark.
Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is the Podcast
Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
And I'm Mark Scarborough, and togetherwith Bruce, we have written 37 cookbooks,
including the latest cold scanning that'llcome up maybe once in this episode.
This is our podcast.
I can bring it up more.
Oh, sure.
This is our podcast about food andcooking, the passions in our life, the
things that drive us to do what we do.
(00:21):
As always, you've got a one minute.
Cooking tip, we're gonna talkabout one ingredient that can
take a dish up over the top.
So what could you add one ingredientto things where you might not expect to
add it, and it will push that dish wayover the top and we'll tell you what's
making us happy in food this week.
So let's get started.
bruce (00:43):
Our one minute cooking tip.
Be wary of farm stands andfarmer's markets that have
a big, beautiful display.
Mm-hmm.
Of melons and peaches and plums.
Because if it's not in seasonwhere you are, then those
produce items are not local.
mark (01:00):
That's right.
We have a, uh, listen, we are bigadvocates for farm stands and farmer's
Markets wrote a huge article foreating well back in the day on the top
10 farmer's markets in the country.
I mean, we are big advocatesfor this kind of thing, and we
do have a farm stand near us.
That is a really nice farm stand.
However, you do have to watchwhat they have because when they
have their raspberries in andwhen they have their apples in and
(01:23):
when they have their chestnuts in,those are in fact from that farm.
Mm-hmm.
We know the trees, weknow where they come from.
When they have certain other things inlike apricots in April, that's impossible.
bruce (01:36):
And bananas, which don't grow here anytime of year,
mark (01:39):
right?
So they have gone elsewhere to aproduce supply company and they have
bought these things and they've putthem out in nice wicker baskets or
nice, you know, um, uh, wooden baskets.
And it all looks great for apricots.
But if you think about it, you can think,wait a minute, it's New England and April.
There are no apricots.
Apricots don't come in here till July.
So
bruce (01:58):
also.
Add that I have never been toa farm stand in New England.
That doesn't say either theseare our own homegrown or gives
you the name of the local farm.
Oh yeah, true.
So if they're not, then chances arethey just got it at a produce warehouse.
mark (02:15):
Yeah.
But what kills me about New England, andmaybe this is going on too long, what
kills me about New England is no matterwhere you drive in New England, you can
go to pharmacy and you'll find a displayfor quote unquote fresh maple syrup.
And it doesn't matter.
When you look at it.
So I'm like, uh, you did notmake fresh maple syrup in July.
I know you did not.
bruce (02:35):
Mm.
People don't realize that it'smade in February and March.
Right.
mark (02:38):
And even January in lower New England at this point with climate change.
So I mean, it it, it's always a funnything that they're always haw there,
maple syrup and it's like, hmm, okay.
It's probably not exactly of the moment.
Alright, before we get to our oneingredient question about how to
take a dish over the top or you say.
We would love for you to subscribe tothis podcast and if you can rate it,
(03:01):
that would be great, or write a review.
That would be the best of allbecause as I always say, we are not
otherwise supported, so this is theway that in fact, you can support us.
Alright, up next, what is oneingredient you can add to a common
dish or cooking to take it completely?
Over the top.
bruce (03:22):
So we have a list of ingredients that we like to add one of these
to whatever it is we're cooking.
And it really justmakes a huge difference.
So we're gonna tell you whatthey are, and then we wanna
know what your ingredients are.
And I wanna start withWorcestershire sauce.
Mm-hmm.
Or Chesters Shire sauce.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
It's not just for your bloody Mary's.
(03:44):
You can use it as getthis a steak marinade you.
I love to take hanger steaks and putsome Worcester shear and Okay, if you
can get it, a little smoked olive oil.
Oh wow.
And that is like the mostamazing marinade on any steak.
But I like it on a hanger steak.
Now here's the real trick.
Make your own Worcester shearand it gets even better.
(04:06):
That's the bit cold my husband makes me.
Worcester shear sauce.
mark (04:09):
I do.
And the recipe in cold counting ismy recipe for Worcester shear sauce.
If you wanna see us actually makethat, or excuse me, make it, there's
a YouTube video on our YouTubechannel cooking producing mark of me
making that Worcester shear sauce.
Oh, it's so good.
I make a vat of it in cold canning.
It makes a small batch, but usuallyI make a whole vat of what's the key
bruce (04:28):
to wor shoe sauce?
What do you think is like the anchovies.
Anchovies are, yeah.
They're really important to it.
And I think the other thing thatwould surprise people is that you
burn sugar, you caramelize sugar.
You don't just add sugar as what you, no.
You actually burn it and caramelize it.
So it adds a complex,you know, when you flavor
mark (04:47):
turn sugar into liquid and let it get dark brown, and then you
pour it and it roils up like crazy.
Mm-hmm.
That's added to the pot forthat deep caramel flavor.
It's.
Going against anchovies andonly about 5 billion spices.
Mm-hmm.
Oh
bruce (04:59):
and tamarind paste and tamarind, which gives you sourness.
It is such a great condiment.
It is so good for takingyour steaks up over the top.
And if you want to put any ofthat wass your on your steak.
After you've cooked it, don't use thesame wishes you're left in the bowl.
That was for the marinade.
'cause that has touched your raw meat.
Yeah.
Okay.
So use
mark (05:19):
fresh.
Great.
I'm moving on, I'm pushingon enough with that.
Um, so, uh, I think one of the thingsthat, I'm a big pie baker and I think
one of the things that you may notknow is if you have an apple, a pear.
A blueberry, a blackberry,a raspberry pie, berry pies,
as well as apples and pears.
If you add just a little gratedorange zest to the filling, you
(05:44):
will take that pie up over the top.
Trust me, blueberry pies witha little orange zest in them.
That is a revelation.
Mm-hmm.
It changes the whole dynamic of the pie.
It's so
bruce (05:55):
delicious and you can look.
Back through lots and lots of cookbooksand a lot of people call for lemon and
they say, well, the lemon brightensthe flavor and lemon is expected.
But Mark was always puttinga little orange in it.
I did.
In fact, we put the orange zestin our blueberry pie recipe in a
book we wrote called The UltimateCookbook, and that's 20 years ago.
That's how long you'vebeen doing this for us.
(06:16):
Oh, I've been doing itforever and it's amazing.
And people eat thesepies and they're like.
There's something in here that'sso special and you can't put much.
No.
Let me just say you can overdo it.
Right.
So,
mark (06:25):
you know, I, I take it an orange and I run it a few times over
a box grater to get just the zest on.
Mm-hmm.
And then I mint up that zest so Idon't put it in whole strips in there.
I mince it up.
Mm-hmm.
And not much.
We're talking like a quarter teaspoon,maybe a little more than that.
If you wanna go crazy and if you have
bruce (06:42):
a microplane, you can use a microplane.
Just a couple of, justa couple of runs on it.
And no, it really is a.
Fabulous edition.
Now we're talking about fabulous editions.
I grew up in, you know,Jewish House where.
Pot roast, which in a lot of families,a lot of American households meant
chuck in our house that meant brisket.
Most people just say, let's have brisket.
(07:03):
But my grandmother only called it potroast and she put lots of carrots and lots
of onions and paprika and salt and pepper.
Now you're out of all the spices'cause that's what she knew.
She knew salt, she knewpepper, and she knew paprika.
So I introduced her tosomething called allspice.
And if you don't know allspice, you knowit's one of those wintry spices that
often goes with cinnamon and nutmeg intosweet potato pies and pumpkin stuff.
(07:28):
But I happen to love.
Allspice in beef stews and in beef dishes.
It's used commonly that way inSoutheast Asia, by the way, and I
introduced her to Allspice and she,this old Jewish woman from Thele fell
in love with it, and so she startedputting allspice in everything.
So a little bit of allspice inyour next pot roast, your next
(07:48):
beef stew, your next brisket.
It'll really make it better.
mark (07:51):
Along the same lines, I would say that for me, cardamom.
Is the secret spice to everything.
I put cardamom in any baking recipethat calls for cinnamon or nutmeg.
I always add a little cardamom to it.
Cardamom has a slightlymusky but sweet flavor to it.
It's very aromatic.
(08:12):
A little bit goes along, it does long way.
You can find, as they call them,dec corticated, cardamom seeds.
Those are the little blackseeds out of the pod.
Mm-hmm.
And you can also find ground.
Yep.
Cardimum out there and a littlejust a, I mean, and we're
talking here sweet baked goods.
Yeah.
Although cardamom is prettyfine in a beef stew too.
bruce (08:34):
It is.
It's interesting 'cause you have usedboth the decor dicated seeds and the
ground in cookies and they give youa completely different experience.
'cause if you put some groundcardamom in a chocolate chip cookie,
every bite of that cookie is gonnahave this mild essence of cardamom.
But if you put the seeds,you're not putting many.
So you might get.
A cookie that has two seeds in it.
(08:56):
And so one bite is anormal cookie and one bite.
You get this just explosion of cardamon.
It's true.
Which is really kind of
mark (09:03):
nice.
So I'm gonna, I, I know I didcardamon, but I'm going to
the next one 'cause it's mine.
Um, because it's from my, uh,my upbringing, it's my thing.
So if you have creamy soups, let'ssay you have a creamy tomato soup,
or you have a creamy chicken soup,and you know, this is not gonna
be a typical root vegetable stew.
This is, you want a more.
Creamy finish to it.
Yeah.
Right.
And you wanna thicken it at the end.
(09:24):
If you wanna thicken it and skip thecream, you can put a little bit of Yes.
Instant mashed potatoes.
Brilliant into the pot.
You stir them in.
It will thicken the stew and also turnit nice and creamy colored, and even in
its texture, we're not talking a lot.
(09:45):
You know, you might have toexperiment a little bit with this,
but just a little bit of instantmashed potatoes, a quarter cup,
bruce (09:52):
maybe half a cup, and a a father stew.
But you might find youneed to up the salt.
There's even though thatmyth that if something's too
salty, you put a potato in it.
That's a myth, right?
Potatoes don't absorb the salt out.
No, it's not right.
But potatoes do.
Eat salt in a way that you're shIt's shocking that potato dishes
require mal more salt than others.
So if you're thickening a creamysoup with instant mashed potatoes,
(10:15):
you want to add a little more salt.
And if you don't want to have potatoes,you can also thicken soups with masina.
Well, okay, so instead ofexplain what Masa Arena is.
So masina is basically cornflour, ground slated corn.
It's the kind of cornflour used to make tamales.
It is not corn meal.
No, it is a corn.
Flour that you would use for tamales,that you would use for tortillas, it will
(10:39):
give you a soup, a slight corn flavor,and it will remind you of Mexican food.
So best to do it on flavors thatwork well with Mexican food.
mark (10:48):
Yeah, I suppose so.
And here's another thing that I think mostpeople in the United States don't know
about, and that is when you're sauteingvegetables for the bottom of a brown.
Stew, so we're talking here.
Beef buffalo pork, you know,we're talking brown stews.
Well probably with a lot of rootvegetables in it, anything like that.
Once you add the garlic, if youwould just add a half a teaspoon up
(11:12):
to a teaspoon of anchovy paste toit, the whole thing will be seen.
So.
Sophisticated, and you don't have to tellanybody that there's any anchovies in it.
Mm-hmm.
But anchovy paste makes allthose kind of savory soups.
Just it's like, it'slike adding this umami.
It is explosion to the soup.
It is.
bruce (11:31):
And you could put a minced up anchovy if you
want, but it's so much easier.
The paste comes in the tubeand it doesn't taste fishy.
It doesn't make your stewor your soup taste fishy.
No, no, not at all.
As Mark says, it just gives it anumami punch that can't be viewed.
I put it at the bottom of.
Everything I make with tomatoes,and that can be just from a ing, a
basic bolognese or a marinara sauce,even paella, anything that's got
(11:56):
tomatoes in it, Ingo and anchovy.
mark (11:59):
Yeah, I, it's, that's an interesting thing, I suppose.
And I, I, I, again, peoplekind of gross out at anchovies.
In anchovies.
Some people do, but it is this like secretingredient that you can slip into things.
Uh, tomato sauce is kind ofbrilliant, but slip in and it.
Adds all of this savory flavorand it calms down the sweetness.
Particularly like if you do, um,as I did a chicken stew with a lot
(12:21):
of root vegetables, which are supersweet, you can pull that sweetness
down with just a little anchovies.
I suppose it would make it fishyif you added the two Oh of ancho.
Oh yeah.
Well then you're
bruce (12:31):
making anchovy stew you don't wanna do, yeah, that's disgusting.
And it's also
mark (12:35):
super salty you,
bruce (12:36):
I say.
Here's another ingredient youmight not have thought to use
in baking, and that's coffee.
If you have a recipe, and I'm evengonna say, I'm going to go crazy
and say you're using box cake mix.
Yeah, no.
This is box cake mix, Andreusing using box brownie mixes
and they usually call for water
mark (12:53):
this.
And by the way, this what you're about,Bruce, I say works with chocolate, not.
Vanilla necessarily?
No.
And not strawberry cake and No.
No, it is not.
It's chocolate.
So you use
bruce (13:04):
coffee instead of the water as the liquid because why use a
liquid water that has no flavor?
Use coffee.
It's so funny, I was watchingTikTok this morning over my
coffee and there was somebody.
Who opened a box brownie mix, and insteadof the water, they put a can of Coke.
Oh.
And I'm like, well, it'sa similar thing, right?
Sure.
It's a very similar thing.
So Coke adds so much sweetness.
(13:26):
It adds sweet.
The coffee's not gonna add any sweetness.
It's just gonna add flavor and aslightly bitter edge, which will
balance the sweetness area in the box.
So I like your idea of using coffee alot better than what I saw of using Coke,
but don't use a flavorless liquid and
mark (13:40):
any of those, you know, any of those nut butters.
Including peanut butter.
Peanuts are in a nut, a legume, but still.
Okay, we'll count them with almondbutter, pecan butter, peanut butter.
All those butters are excellentthickeners in soups and stews.
Hmm.
bruce (13:55):
Yeah, you may not think of that, but next time you even make tomato soup,
I'm going to put to you that you shouldadd some hot chili pepper to it and
thicken it at the end with a heaping.
Tablespoon of smooth peanut butter andyou'll have that chili Peanut butter
and tomato flavor is so incredible.
And peanut butter thickens soups.
(14:17):
It thickens stews.
It's the secret ingredient to add.
It does salt and flavorthat you will not believe
mark (14:23):
and protein.
And protein two.
So there you go.
There's our list of singleingredients that can take various
dishes up and over the top.
We would love to know if you haveany tricks of the trade that you
use to take a dish up over the top.
You can find us on Facebook on cookingwith Bruce and Mark and you can drop the
comment there and we would be glad torespond and I'm sure other people will
(14:44):
be glad to hear your tips and tricks.
Okay, let's move on to thetraditional last part of this podcast.
What's making us happy?
And food this week
bruce (14:55):
fall tomatoes that you could pick up at your local
farmer's market in giant boxes.
They call them seconds andthey're cheapest dirt and
you can make tomato sauce.
And I did that.
I was visiting my sister down insouthern Connecticut and on my
drive home I stopped by a localfarm stand and they had 50 pound.
(15:16):
Boxes of seconds of theirtomatoes for $20 20.
So I have two giant stock pots on thestove going as we record this, making
my homemade marinara, which will becold canned in the freezer all winter.
mark (15:31):
Yeah, that's the best you can keep it in the freezer all winter and pull
out a container of marinara and either.
Use it on its own or add it tosomething that you're making.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
What's making you happy?
So we were down to New Haven,as Bruce says, and his sisters
moved to Southern Connecticut.
We were down there, and thisis, shout out to a restaurant, a
legendary restaurant in New Haven.
(15:51):
Uh, I think you say it, new Haven.
I've been corrected a million times.
Sorry.
I say New Haven.
And it's New Haven.
But anyway.
We were in New Haven and wentto Claire's Corner Copia.
It's right next to the Yale campus.
It's a vegetarian, vegan restaurant.
And they make vegan.
Yes, totally vegan cinnamon rolls.
(16:12):
Oh, they're so good.
And those vegan cinnamon rollsare worth the trip to New
Haven so that you can try them.
They are un.
Believable.
And uh, we bought one and I had half ofit and Bruce had half of it and I had
half of it with my coffee this morning.
Mm-hmm.
And they were, yeah, as those cinnamonrolls down there, they're so good.
I don't even know how they'revegan because they don't taste no
bruce (16:34):
eggs, no butter, no cream, no milk, but they're
mark (16:36):
light as air.
They're really good wound allaround the cinnamon sugar.
They're delicious.
And he's
bruce (16:42):
had chunks of apple in it too.
These are these
mark (16:44):
apple cinnamon bites.
Fabulous.
Claire's, they corner Copia inNew Haven is the best place to go.
Okay, that's the podcast for this week.
Thanks for being a part of this journey.
We appreciate your spendingtime with us every week,
bruce (16:57):
and we hope you'll find us as Mark said on Facebook and our group cooking.
Bruce and Mark, and look for us onsocial media, on Instagram and on TikTok.
Our feed is.
Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
They're lots of great videos there,and as you check out TikTok and
all the videos that are there,notice how many are not real.
They're ai.
You will never find AI here oncooking with Bruce and Mark.
(17:19):
It's always us.
It's always real.
We're always cooking here oncooking with Bruce and Mark.
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