The Secret Sauce
A newsletter devoted to sauces and condiments in all their glory.
Welcome to my condiments shelf.
It’s about 80% mustard and 100% useful. There’s also barbecue sauce, soy sauce, gochujang, tamarind chutney, coriander chutney, Kewpie mayo, jams, and more! (And this is not including the things that don’t need to be refrigerated that are sitting in my pantry!)
I’ve come to realize that condiments are (quite literally) the secret sauce for a lot of my recipes! I don’t just mean putting them on top of things—I mean using them IN recipes, as an integral part of the flavor-building process.
The great thing about condiments, like mustard, tamarind sauce, gochujang, spicy mayo, soy sauce, rice vinegar, etc., is how they pack tons of flavor in a tiny bottle. I know that’s a simple enough statement. But once you start incorporating condiments into your cooking process, you’ll see how that small addition can bring your dish up to an 11.
Below is a list of my recipes that use condiments and sauces to elevate them! They include a tomato sauce that comes together perfectly with a squeeze of yellow mustard (ketchup and mustard? get it?), a simple fried rice method that relies on the perfect timing of adding spices and sauces, and mushrooms that find their flavor balance in a blanket of tamarind-soy sauce.
If you start to treat condiments the same way you treat spices, adding them here and there for flavor and texture, you’ll open up a whole new world of cooking creativity!
Spicy Tomato Pasta Sauce
Time: 30 mins | Difficulty: 2/5 | Recommendation: Lunch
This pasta sauce is SO GOOD. The secret ingredients that bring it all together are mustard and gochujang! Sounds weird, but think about it—ketchup and mustard go well together, so why not heirloom tomatoes and mustard? The other key thing here is to blend the sauce in an immersion blender, to get a really smooth, creamy consistency. If you’re hesitant about getting an immersion blender, get over that fear! It’s so much easier to use, store, and clean than a normal blender, and for one person, it’s usually the perfect size too. Lastly, you can skip the goat cheese here if you’re not a cheese fan, and substitute with heavy cream!
Fried rice
Time: 20 mins | Difficulty: 1/5 | Recommendation: Weeknight dinner
There are of course MANY methods for fried rice. This one is my go-to, and it makes for a really delicious and simple one-pan meal, where you can use up anything in your fridge and also use up leftover rice! The key here is to add the major seasonings and condiments BEFORE you add the rice to the pan, so that the veggies soak up the flavor and the rice is more of a tasty complement. Use any vegetables you have in your fridge! I recommend mushrooms, scallions, carrots, or bell peppers to start!
Honey mustard-glazed paneer
Time: 30 mins | Difficulty: 2/5 | Recommendation: Weeknight dinner
I love finding new ways to prepare paneer, and I love finding ways to incorporate my favorite condiment (mustard) into recipes! This dish combines both those joys. I got the idea from a recipe from Maille, the French mustard company, but I’ve adapted it to use a few more ingredients and be fit for one person. I recommend serving this with yogurt or rice (or yogurt AND rice) on the side, and scallions on top!!
Honey mustard potatoes
Time: 45 mins | Difficulty: 2/5 | Recommendation: Breakfast or a side dish
As I mentioned in my recipe for honey-mustard glazed paneer, I love finding new ways to cook with my favorite condiment, MUSTARD! I have a recipe for savory mustardy potatoes, but these potatoes use scallions and honey mustard to add a slightly different flavor profile. Because of the lack of graininess in the mustard, I also find it’s better to roast these in the oven rather than on the pan like I suggest in my other recipe.
Mustardy potatoes
Time: 45 mins | Difficulty: 1/5 | Recommendation: Weeknight dinner
These potatoes are heightened by some jammy onions and a big dollop of dijon mustard added right at the end. You can use any type of potato you want, but I like to use fingerling potatoes when I can find them—they don’t have too much starch, so they hold their shape really well and have a lovely buttery flavor. I also recommend using a flavored mustard like basil, herbes de Provence, or sun-dried tomato! If you do, I think it’s best to still add some classic country-style Dijon as well. You can also add leeks, mushrooms, or bacon to this! It’s just a great base for anything, really.
Peanut noodles with soy-marinated ground beef
Time: 30 mins | Difficulty: 1/5 | Yield: 1 serving + some beef & noodle leftovers
These peanut noodles are a big go-to in my kitchen. I usually keep individually wrapped packages of ground beef and chicken in my freezer, so that I can defrost them at will and there’s less pressure when I’m making meat for one person. So this is a great way to use that ground beef in a stress-free, reliable meal! I topped it with cucumbers and scallions, because that’s what I had in my fridge—you can add anything you have on top, like crushed peanuts, bok choi, thinly sliced veggies like carrots or peppers…the noodles themselves are a great base for a lot of creativity!
Ginger-miso noodles with crispy mushrooms and cabbage
Time: 45 mins | Difficulty: 2/5 | Recommendation: Weeknight dinner
These noodles are so delicious! They’re coated in a gingery, miso sauce, and topped with some sesame cabbage and scallions, and some suuuuuper crispy mushrooms. The mushrooms are key here! You achieve it by really pressing down on them in the pan until they SCREAM! Make sure you let the noodles cool down well before plating everything together, too—the texture differences are really well complemented by the temperature differences, and it all creates a big symphony in your mouth!
Tamarind-glazed trumpet mushrooms
Time: 30 mins | Difficulty: 1/5 | Recommendation: Weeknight meal
I love figuring out new ways to cook mushrooms. Trumpet mushrooms are amazing because they’re really big, and really meaty, so they can be used as a substitute for things like chicken or even thin strips of beef. But you can also embrace them as the perfect mushrooms they are, and highlight their unique texture and their ability to really soak up flavors! This recipe includes some crunchy, cumin-spiced cabbage to the noodles for a balance of sticky flavors and lighter greens. The whole thing is delicious—go try this now!!
Soy-glazed sheet pan carrots and mushrooms
Time: 45 mins | Difficulty: 1/5 | Recommendation: Mid-week dinner
One of the easiest ways to use up produce in your fridge, and have an almost no-fuss dinner, is to utilize your sheet pan to its fullest. A simple roasted dinner can have a ton of flavor and variation, and all you really have to do is chop and wait! You can throw pretty much anything on a sheet pan as long as you time it right—it’s like the hail Mary of weeknight dinners! This recipe combines earthy carrots with squishy mushrooms and has some green onions to brighten it all up. It’s warm and salty and sticky and full of veggie flavors, and so so easy!