I’m no Top Chef.

I absolutely love good food, but I only have the patience and skill for dishes that are fairly simple to prepare.  Lacking culinary skill or training (and having been raised by a mother who couldn’t cook), I’ve had to learn by trial and error how to make food taste good without too much fuss or expense.  (Did I mention that I've also lived on a modest food budget for much of my adult life?) 

Simple as they are, I’ve found that these seven ingredients (used either alone or in various combinations) will make almost any dish taste significantly better. 

When you look at this list, they probably seem dead obvious, but I find many people avoid using at least some of these -- sometimes because they needlessly fear the health consequences, even when used in moderation.  Others only use them in a form that dulls their impact or even creates a nasty flavor.

None of these ingredients are expensive or hard to find and most keep for quite a while, so you can have them on hand for whenever you need them.

Sea Salt

Americans tend to go one of two ways with salt:  The majority ingest far too much, and the minority avoid it like the plague, for health reasons.  But not only is some salt essential for health, it’s a make or break ingredient in many dishes. 

Years ago, I had to go on a low sodium diet for 6 months, during which I learned 2 things:  

1. Processed foods derive their flavor almost entirely from salt (and/or some other form of sodium or some type of sweetener).  If you don’t believe me, try eating the low sodium version of a product like canned soup – it’s utterly flavorless.  Most Americans consume way too much sodium, but that’s because they rely on packaged, processed foods as well as restaurant/take-out food, all of which are loaded with sodium.

2. By contrast, if you do your own cooking, especially using fresh ingredients, it only takes a very small amount of salt to make a big difference in how a dish tastes. Over-salting kills the taste of food (and may kill you), but avoiding salt altogether results in very flat-tasting food.  I’m a big fan of Top Chef, and have been fascinated by how often the chefs have gotten criticized for making elaborate dishes that fail because they forgot to do basic salting.  

I come from a family of hypertensive people, so I try to limit my sodium intake, but I do it by avoiding most processed foods, and using the other ingredients on this list to add flavor to food so I can use less salt.  But I still use it.

When cooking, I add only a little at a time, repeatedly tasting the food at intervals (as foods cook, salt tends to concentrate and other flavors intensify as well).  When in doubt, I bring food to the table under-salted, as more can always be added.  I never salt food automatically, but always taste it first.  If I do add some, I keep my use light by first shaking the salt into my hand to visualize and control the amount, then using my other hand to sprinkle it on in small amounts.

Reasonably priced sea salt is now widely available, and a container will last you a long time.  The difference in taste vs. your old Morton's salt is considerable.

Pepper is one of my favorite ingredients.  It’s also a great aid to avoiding over-salting, as the combination of salt and pepper is greater than the sum of its parts.  (If you tend to use too much salt on food, try cutting way back and adding more pepper.) 

For me, there’s just one criteria for pepper:  It has to be freshly-ground.  

Throw out your tin of ground pepper (which has a bite but lacks flavor), get a grinder and buy some peppercorns (they don’t need to be fancy).  I use some pepper at the stove (especially in slow cooking stuff like soup or stew), but I also often grind pepper onto food after it’s on the plate.  Besides the predictable use on eggs, potatoes, meat and fish, it's great on salads, all veggies and many pasta/noodle dishes.  A baked potato is nothing without a good helping of freshly ground pepper.  And try a bit on fresh popped popcorn some time – you can use less butter or salt!

Lemon Juice

If you want to limit your use of salt or fats, lemon juice is your secret weapon.  It adds both flavor and moisture and its acidity can substitute for salt to a remarkable degree.  Again, fresh is the only way to go, as bottled lemon juice tends to have a harsh almost chemical taste.  Buy lemons by the bag to save money and keep them in the fridge to have handy.  

Essential for almost any seafood dish, lemons are also great for poultry and marinades.  Squeeze lemon juice on fresh steamed veggies to add loads of flavor without salt or fats.  On green salads, instead of using lots of dressing (fattening as well as expensive), put on a very small amount of an Italian dressing, vinaigrette or plain olive oil, toss on a bit of Parmesan cheese if you have it (and like it), then liberally squeeze fresh lemon juice all over.  Toss and enjoy.  (Don’t forget the fresh-ground pepper!)

Garlic

I've been known to joke that all food should be cooked until it smells like garlic.  Garlic adds intensely delicious flavor to meat, vegetable, potato and pasta dishes, with few calories and a variety of health benefits.  

The world’s tastiest food testifies to garlic’s greatness:  Many Asian cuisines employ garlic extensively, including to make all-veggie dishes flavorful without the use of meat, fish or dairy – garlic being a vegan’s delight.  And the Italians and the French use garlic to make arguably the world’s finest food.

The key is to use real, fresh garlic.  Not garlic powder or garlic salt, not that ghastly garlic-in-a-jar that is the consistency and flavor of the devil’s baby poop, not pre-peeled cloves, but fresh cloves broken off the head just before using.

Hate to peel and/or chop it and don’t like to get garlic smell on your hands?  Get a metal garlic press and pop whole cloves into it with their papery skin still on.  Squeeze the press while holding it over the dish you want to season.  The press will “pop” the skin and the garlic “meat” will ooze out of the holes.   Use a knife to scrape any shreds that are hanging off the press into your dish.  Then open the press, stick the tip of the knife inside and pop the emptied skin right out and into the garbage.  Repeat with as many cloves as you need.

Onion

I live with someone who likes a little scrambled egg with his breakfast onion, so I know that there can be too much of a good thing.  But even more than garlic (which can be a bit of a specialty player), onion is essential to flavoring a lot of standard dishes.  Most soups and stews are unthinkable without onion; ditto tomato-based pasta sauces.  Onion and red meat go together like salt and pepper, but so do legumes and onion.  Sauteed onions are delicious on any type of sausage, including the healthy chicken or turkey ones.  And if you like it, raw onion can intensify any sandwich or salad.

As with garlic, we're talking fresh onion, not flakes or powder or salt.  All members of the onion family have their own distinct personalities and thus varying uses:  I like scallions in egg dishes, leeks in soups, and shallots for quick sautéing for pasta and veggie dishes.  Regular red or yellow onions are best for longer-cooking dishes.

When I was young and living on very little money, I figured out that the absolute cheapest dish I could make was onion soup, requiring only bouillon cubes and fresh onion (I couldn’t afford parmesan on top).  I sometimes ate onion soup for days while waiting for my next paycheck.  (As you can imagine, I was very popular at work.)

As a side note, the fastest way to make people hungry is to start sautéing some onions – the smell is irresistible to all but diehard onion-haters!

Olive Oil

I can steam vegetables with the best of them, but many foods improve so much when cooked with a bit of oil that it’s worth the calories.  (If you use a non-stick pan, you don’t need much.)  We cook with olive oil not only because of its proven health benefits, but because it adds flavor.  What flavor that is varies hugely – olive oils range from quite neutral to intensely olive-y, and you could fill a pantry with different kinds for different uses.  But generally we just buy a decent basic olive oil in the economy size from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods and use it for everything from sautéing to salad dressings.  

Before grilling fresh veggies or fish, brush on a light coat (and then add seasonings of your choice).  Use for sautéing most things and making quick pasta dishes. I like to sauté shrimp in olive oil with garlic, lemon juice, white wine and herbs, along with any fresh veggies I have handy or peas from the freezer.  I toss the sauté with angel hair pasta, sprinkle on fresh Parmesan, grind fresh pepper over it and feast.  (You can substitute chicken, sausage or other fish for the shrimp or just go all veggie.)  If I’m short on time or ingredients, I’ll abbreviate this to just cooked pasta tossed with olive oil, Parmesan and fresh pepper, a very satisfying comfort dish.

Butter

This might be the most controversial item on my list.  When I was first living on my own as a young adult, I tried switching to margarine, which was cheaper and supposedly healthier.  The danger of trans fats wouldn’t be revealed for another 20 years, but I knew one thing:  Margarine grossed me out. I decided to keep using real butter and just watch how much I used.  Decades later, I still have low cholesterol and I still love butter.

I once read an article by a restaurant chef (possibly the famous Bourdain himself) who said (paraphrasing), “You wanna know why vegetables taste so good in restaurants, better than they do when you make them at home?  We put butter on them.  That’s why they’re so shiny and pretty.”  

In a similar vein, I once talked diets with a woman who (along with her husband) is always trying to lose weight.  When she said they didn’t care for some of the fresh veggies I was touting, such as Brussel sprouts, I asked, “Have you ever tried them with some butter?”  And she laughed, “Well, of course, everything tastes better with butter!”  

As indeed it does.  A judicious bit of butter makes many foods taste a lot better, without adding that much in calories.  And I’m convinced that I’m better off eating a pile of fresh steamed Brussel sprouts dressed with a little butter than eating some processed “diet” food, and that it’s important to eat a variety of vegetables (all of which provide different nutrients) even if some require a little “help” to taste good.

So if you don’t like a food, especially one that’s good for you, try adding a bit of butter – or olive oil, or lemon juice, or salt and pepper, or garlic or onion, or some combination thereof.  You might be surprised at how good they can taste, even those Brussel sprouts you thought you hated!

(All photos taken in my kitchen.)