Often, the most unexpected ingredients make the most delicious meals (think chutney in chilli , baking powder in tomato sauce , and even tea with chocolate ).

In fact, some of these off-sounding combinations have become so well-recognised that they’re ubiquitous. I reckon most of us have added sugar to our pasta sauce or put a dash of salt on our chocolate chip cookies .

But what about the lesser-known guest stars of the culinary world? Writing to Reddit’s r/Cooking , site user u/kath- asked: “What’s your surprising ‘secret ingredient’ that sets your dish apart?”

Here are some of the most-upvoted replies:

1) “For sweet baked goods, I typically buy a few pouches of nonfat dehydrated milk powder. I then toast them carefully in the oven until rich and chocolate brown.”

“I a

See Full Page