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.

Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein and this is the Podcast

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Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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And I'm Mark Scarborough, and together

with Bruce, we have written 37 cookbooks,

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including the latest cold scanning that'll

come up maybe once in this episode.

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This is our podcast.

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I can bring it up more.

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Oh, sure.

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This is our podcast about food and

cooking, the passions in our life, the

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things that drive us to do what we do.

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As always, you've got a one minute.

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Cooking tip, we're gonna talk

about one ingredient that can

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take a dish up over the top.

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So what could you add one ingredient

to things where you might not expect to

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add it, and it will push that dish way

over the top and we'll tell you what's

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making us happy in food this week.

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So let's get started.

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bruce: Our one minute cooking tip.

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Be wary of farm stands and

farmer's markets that have

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a big, beautiful display.

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Mm-hmm.

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Of melons and peaches and plums.

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Because if it's not in season

where you are, then those

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produce items are not local.

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mark: That's right.

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We have a, uh, listen, we are big

advocates for farm stands and farmer's

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Markets wrote a huge article for

eating well back in the day on the top

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10 farmer's markets in the country.

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I mean, we are big advocates

for this kind of thing, and we

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do have a farm stand near us.

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That is a really nice farm stand.

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However, you do have to watch

what they have because when they

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have their raspberries in and

when they have their apples in and

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when they have their chestnuts in,

those are in fact from that farm.

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Mm-hmm.

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We know the trees, we

know where they come from.

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When they have certain other things in

like apricots in April, that's impossible.

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bruce: And bananas, which don't

grow here anytime of year,

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mark: right?

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So they have gone elsewhere to a

produce supply company and they have

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bought these things and they've put

them out in nice wicker baskets or

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nice, you know, um, uh, wooden baskets.

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And it all looks great for apricots.

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But if you think about it, you can think,

wait a minute, it's New England and April.

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There are no apricots.

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Apricots don't come in here till July.

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So

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bruce: also.

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Add that I have never been to

a farm stand in New England.

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That doesn't say either these

are our own homegrown or gives

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you the name of the local farm.

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Oh yeah, true.

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So if they're not, then chances are

they just got it at a produce warehouse.

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mark: Yeah.

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But what kills me about New England, and

maybe this is going on too long, what

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kills me about New England is no matter

where you drive in New England, you can

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go to pharmacy and you'll find a display

for quote unquote fresh maple syrup.

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And it doesn't matter.

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When you look at it.

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So I'm like, uh, you did not

make fresh maple syrup in July.

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I know you did not.

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bruce: Mm.

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People don't realize that it's

made in February and March.

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Right.

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mark: And even January in lower New

England at this point with climate change.

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So I mean, it it, it's always a funny

thing that they're always haw there,

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maple syrup and it's like, hmm, okay.

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It's probably not exactly of the moment.

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Alright, before we get to our one

ingredient question about how to

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take a dish over the top or you say.

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We would love for you to subscribe to

this podcast and if you can rate it,

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that would be great, or write a review.

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That would be the best of all

because as I always say, we are not

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otherwise supported, so this is the

way that in fact, you can support us.

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Alright, up next, what is one

ingredient you can add to a common

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dish or cooking to take it completely?

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Over the top.

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bruce: So we have a list of ingredients

that we like to add one of these

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to whatever it is we're cooking.

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And it really just

makes a huge difference.

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So we're gonna tell you what

they are, and then we wanna

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know what your ingredients are.

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And I wanna start with

Worcestershire sauce.

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Mm-hmm.

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Or Chesters Shire sauce.

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah.

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It's not just for your bloody Mary's.

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You can use it as get

this a steak marinade you.

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I love to take hanger steaks and put

some Worcester shear and Okay, if you

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can get it, a little smoked olive oil.

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Oh wow.

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And that is like the most

amazing marinade on any steak.

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But I like it on a hanger steak.

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Now here's the real trick.

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Make your own Worcester shear

and it gets even better.

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That's the bit cold my husband makes me.

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Worcester shear sauce.

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mark: I do.

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And the recipe in cold counting is

my recipe for Worcester shear sauce.

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If you wanna see us actually make

that, or excuse me, make it, there's

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a YouTube video on our YouTube

channel cooking producing mark of me

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making that Worcester shear sauce.

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Oh, it's so good.

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I make a vat of it in cold canning.

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It makes a small batch, but usually

I make a whole vat of what's the key

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bruce: to wor shoe sauce?

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What do you think is like the anchovies.

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Anchovies are, yeah.

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They're really important to it.

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And I think the other thing that

would surprise people is that you

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burn sugar, you caramelize sugar.

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You don't just add sugar as what you, no.

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You actually burn it and caramelize it.

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So it adds a complex,

you know, when you flavor

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mark: turn sugar into liquid and

let it get dark brown, and then you

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pour it and it roils up like crazy.

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Mm-hmm.

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That's added to the pot for

that deep caramel flavor.

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It's.

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Going against anchovies and

only about 5 billion spices.

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Mm-hmm.

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Oh

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bruce: and tamarind paste and

tamarind, which gives you sourness.

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It is such a great condiment.

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It is so good for taking

your steaks up over the top.

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And if you want to put any of

that wass your on your steak.

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After you've cooked it, don't use the

same wishes you're left in the bowl.

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That was for the marinade.

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'cause that has touched your raw meat.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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So use

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mark: fresh.

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Great.

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I'm moving on, I'm pushing

on enough with that.

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Um, so, uh, I think one of the things

that, I'm a big pie baker and I think

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one of the things that you may not

know is if you have an apple, a pear.

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A blueberry, a blackberry,

a raspberry pie, berry pies,

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as well as apples and pears.

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If you add just a little grated

orange zest to the filling, you

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will take that pie up over the top.

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Trust me, blueberry pies with

a little orange zest in them.

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That is a revelation.

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Mm-hmm.

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It changes the whole dynamic of the pie.

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It's so

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bruce: delicious and you can look.

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Back through lots and lots of cookbooks

and a lot of people call for lemon and

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they say, well, the lemon brightens

the flavor and lemon is expected.

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But Mark was always putting

a little orange in it.

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I did.

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In fact, we put the orange zest

in our blueberry pie recipe in a

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book we wrote called The Ultimate

Cookbook, and that's 20 years ago.

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That's how long you've

been doing this for us.

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Oh, I've been doing it

forever and it's amazing.

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And people eat these

pies and they're like.

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There's something in here that's

so special and you can't put much.

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No.

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Let me just say you can overdo it.

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Right.

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So,

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mark: you know, I, I take it an

orange and I run it a few times over

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a box grater to get just the zest on.

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Mm-hmm.

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And then I mint up that zest so I

don't put it in whole strips in there.

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I mince it up.

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Mm-hmm.

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And not much.

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We're talking like a quarter teaspoon,

maybe a little more than that.

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If you wanna go crazy and if you have

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bruce: a microplane, you

can use a microplane.

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Just a couple of, just

a couple of runs on it.

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And no, it really is a.

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Fabulous edition.

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Now we're talking about fabulous editions.

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I grew up in, you know,

Jewish House where.

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Pot roast, which in a lot of families,

a lot of American households meant

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chuck in our house that meant brisket.

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Most people just say, let's have brisket.

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But my grandmother only called it pot

roast and she put lots of carrots and lots

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of onions and paprika and salt and pepper.

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Now you're out of all the spices

'cause that's what she knew.

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She knew salt, she knew

pepper, and she knew paprika.

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So I introduced her to

something called allspice.

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And if you don't know allspice, you know

it's one of those wintry spices that

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often goes with cinnamon and nutmeg into

sweet potato pies and pumpkin stuff.

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But I happen to love.

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Allspice in beef stews and in beef dishes.

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It's used commonly that way in

Southeast Asia, by the way, and I

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introduced her to Allspice and she,

this old Jewish woman from Thele fell

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in love with it, and so she started

putting allspice in everything.

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So a little bit of allspice in

your next pot roast, your next

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beef stew, your next brisket.

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It'll really make it better.

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mark: Along the same lines, I

would say that for me, cardamom.

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Is the secret spice to everything.

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I put cardamom in any baking recipe

that calls for cinnamon or nutmeg.

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I always add a little cardamom to it.

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Cardamom has a slightly

musky but sweet flavor to it.

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It's very aromatic.

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A little bit goes a

long, it does long way.

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You can find, as they call them,

dec corticated, cardamom seeds.

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Those are the little black

seeds out of the pod.

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Mm-hmm.

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And you can also find ground.

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Yep.

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Cardimum out there and a little

just a, I mean, and we're

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talking here sweet baked goods.

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Yeah.

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Although cardamom is pretty

fine in a beef stew too.

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bruce: It is.

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It's interesting 'cause you have used

both the decor dicated seeds and the

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ground in cookies and they give you

a completely different experience.

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'cause if you put some ground

cardamom in a chocolate chip cookie,

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every bite of that cookie is gonna

have this mild essence of cardamom.

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But if you put the seeds,

you're not putting many.

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So you might get.

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A cookie that has two seeds in it.

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And so one bite is a

normal cookie and one bite.

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You get this just explosion of cardamon.

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It's true.

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Which is really kind of

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mark: nice.

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So I'm gonna, I, I know I did

cardamon, but I'm going to

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the next one 'cause it's mine.

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Um, because it's from my, uh,

my upbringing, it's my thing.

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So if you have creamy soups, let's

say you have a creamy tomato soup,

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or you have a creamy chicken soup,

and you know, this is not gonna

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be a typical root vegetable stew.

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This is, you want a more.

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Creamy finish to it.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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And you wanna thicken it at the end.

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If you wanna thicken it and skip the

cream, you can put a little bit of Yes.

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Instant mashed potatoes.

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Brilliant into the pot.

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You stir them in.

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It will thicken the stew and also turn

it nice and creamy colored, and even in

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its texture, we're not talking a lot.

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You know, you might have to

experiment a little bit with this,

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but just a little bit of instant

mashed potatoes, a quarter cup,

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bruce: maybe half a cup,

and a a father stew.

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But you might find you

need to up the salt.

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There's even though that

myth that if something's too

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salty, you put a potato in it.

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That's a myth, right?

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Potatoes don't absorb the salt out.

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No, it's not right.

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But potatoes do.

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Eat salt in a way that you're sh

It's shocking that potato dishes

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require mal more salt than others.

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So if you're thickening a creamy

soup with instant mashed potatoes,

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you want to add a little more salt.

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And if you don't want to have potatoes,

you can also thicken soups with masina.

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Well, okay, so instead of

explain what Masa Arena is.

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So masina is basically corn

flour, ground slated corn.

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It's the kind of corn

flour used to make tamales.

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It is not corn meal.

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No, it is a corn.

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Flour that you would use for tamales,

that you would use for tortillas, it will

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give you a soup, a slight corn flavor,

and it will remind you of Mexican food.

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So best to do it on flavors that

work well with Mexican food.

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mark: Yeah, I suppose so.

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And here's another thing that I think most

people in the United States don't know

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about, and that is when you're sauteing

vegetables for the bottom of a brown.

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Stew, so we're talking here.

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Beef buffalo pork, you know,

we're talking brown stews.

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Well probably with a lot of root

vegetables in it, anything like that.

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Once you add the garlic, if you

would just add a half a teaspoon up

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to a teaspoon of anchovy paste to

it, the whole thing will be seen.

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So.

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Sophisticated, and you don't have to tell

anybody that there's any anchovies in it.

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Mm-hmm.

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But anchovy paste makes all

those kind of savory soups.

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Just it's like, it's

like adding this umami.

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It is explosion to the soup.

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It is.

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bruce: And you could put

a minced up anchovy if you

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want, but it's so much easier.

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The paste comes in the tube

and it doesn't taste fishy.

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It doesn't make your stew

or your soup taste fishy.

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No, no, not at all.

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As Mark says, it just gives it an

umami punch that can't be viewed.

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I put it at the bottom of.

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Everything I make with tomatoes,

and that can be just from a ing, a

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basic bolognese or a marinara sauce,

even paella, anything that's got

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tomatoes in it, Ingo and anchovy.

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mark: Yeah, I, it's, that's an

interesting thing, I suppose.

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And I, I, I, again, people

kind of gross out at anchovies.

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In anchovies.

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Some people do, but it is this like secret

ingredient that you can slip into things.

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Uh, tomato sauce is kind of

brilliant, but slip in and it.

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Adds all of this savory flavor

and it calms down the sweetness.

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Particularly like if you do, um,

as I did a chicken stew with a lot

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of root vegetables, which are super

sweet, you can pull that sweetness

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down with just a little anchovies.

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I suppose it would make it fishy

if you added the two Oh of ancho.

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Oh yeah.

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Well then you're

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bruce: making anchovy stew you don't

wanna do, yeah, that's disgusting.

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And it's also

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mark: super salty you,

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bruce: I say.

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Here's another ingredient you

might not have thought to use

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in baking, and that's coffee.

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If you have a recipe, and I'm even

gonna say, I'm going to go crazy

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and say you're using box cake mix.

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Yeah, no.

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This is box cake mix, Andre

using using box brownie mixes

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and they usually call for water

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mark: this.

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And by the way, this what you're about,

Bruce, I say works with chocolate, not.

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Vanilla necessarily?

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No.

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And not strawberry cake and No.

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No, it is not.

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It's chocolate.

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So you use

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bruce: coffee instead of the water

as the liquid because why use a

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liquid water that has no flavor?

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Use coffee.

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It's so funny, I was watching

TikTok this morning over my

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coffee and there was somebody.

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Who opened a box brownie mix, and instead

of the water, they put a can of Coke.

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Oh.

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And I'm like, well, it's

a similar thing, right?

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Sure.

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It's a very similar thing.

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So Coke adds so much sweetness.

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It adds sweet.

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The coffee's not gonna add any sweetness.

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It's just gonna add flavor and a

slightly bitter edge, which will

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balance the sweetness area in the box.

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So I like your idea of using coffee a

lot better than what I saw of using Coke,

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but don't use a flavorless liquid and

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mark: any of those, you know,

any of those nut butters.

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Including peanut butter.

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Peanuts are in a nut, a legume, but still.

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Okay, we'll count them with almond

butter, pecan butter, peanut butter.

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All those butters are excellent

thickeners in soups and stews.

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Hmm.

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bruce: Yeah, you may not think of that,

but next time you even make tomato soup,

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I'm going to put to you that you should

add some hot chili pepper to it and

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thicken it at the end with a heaping.

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Tablespoon of smooth peanut butter and

you'll have that chili Peanut butter

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and tomato flavor is so incredible.

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And peanut butter thickens soups.

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It thickens stews.

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It's the secret ingredient to add.

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It does salt and flavor

that you will not believe

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mark: and protein.

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And protein two.

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So there you go.

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There's our list of single

ingredients that can take various

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dishes up and over the top.

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We would love to know if you have

any tricks of the trade that you

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use to take a dish up over the top.

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You can find us on Facebook on cooking

with Bruce and Mark and you can drop the

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comment there and we would be glad to

respond and I'm sure other people will

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be glad to hear your tips and tricks.

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Okay, let's move on to the

traditional last part of this podcast.

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What's making us happy?

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And food this week

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bruce: fall tomatoes that you

could pick up at your local

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farmer's market in giant boxes.

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They call them seconds and

they're cheapest dirt and

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you can make tomato sauce.

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And I did that.

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I was visiting my sister down in

southern Connecticut and on my

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drive home I stopped by a local

farm stand and they had 50 pound.

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Boxes of seconds of their

tomatoes for $20 20.

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So I have two giant stock pots on the

stove going as we record this, making

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my homemade marinara, which will be

cold canned in the freezer all winter.

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mark: Yeah, that's the best you can keep

it in the freezer all winter and pull

376

out a container of marinara and either.

377

Use it on its own or add it to

something that you're making.

378

Mm-hmm.

379

Right.

380

What's making you happy?

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So we were down to New Haven,

as Bruce says, and his sisters

382

moved to Southern Connecticut.

383

We were down there, and this

is, shout out to a restaurant, a

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legendary restaurant in New Haven.

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Uh, I think you say it, new Haven.

386

I've been corrected a million times.

387

Sorry.

388

I say New Haven.

389

And it's New Haven.

390

But anyway.

391

We were in New Haven and went

to Claire's Corner Copia.

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It's right next to the Yale campus.

393

It's a vegetarian, vegan restaurant.

394

And they make vegan.

395

Yes, totally vegan cinnamon rolls.

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Oh, they're so good.

397

And those vegan cinnamon rolls

are worth the trip to New

398

Haven so that you can try them.

399

They are un.

400

Believable.

401

And uh, we bought one and I had half of

it and Bruce had half of it and I had

402

half of it with my coffee this morning.

403

Mm-hmm.

404

And they were, yeah, as those cinnamon

rolls down there, they're so good.

405

I don't even know how they're

vegan because they don't taste no

406

bruce: eggs, no butter, no

cream, no milk, but they're

407

mark: light as air.

408

They're really good wound all

around the cinnamon sugar.

409

They're delicious.

410

And he's

411

bruce: had chunks of apple in it too.

412

These are these

413

mark: apple cinnamon bites.

414

Fabulous.

415

Claire's, they corner Copia in

New Haven is the best place to go.

416

Okay, that's the podcast for this week.

417

Thanks for being a part of this journey.

418

We appreciate your spending

time with us every week,

419

bruce: and we hope you'll find us as Mark

said on Facebook and our group cooking.

420

Bruce and Mark, and look for us on

social media, on Instagram and on TikTok.

421

Our feed is.

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Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

423

They're lots of great videos there,

and as you check out TikTok and

424

all the videos that are there,

notice how many are not real.

425

They're ai.

426

You will never find AI here on

cooking with Bruce and Mark.

427

It's always us.

428

It's always real.

429

We're always cooking here on

cooking with Bruce and Mark.