**The Art of Elevating Ice Cream with Unconventional Toppings**

As a huge ice cream fan, I'm always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to enjoy my favorite dessert. Recently, I had the pleasure of trying out a unique and delicious ice cream recipe that incorporates unexpected toppings, including sugar, orange, tamarind, and more. The combination of flavors may seem unusual at first, but trust me when I say it's a game-changer.

**The Secret to Great Ice Cream**

When it comes to making great ice cream, simplicity is often overrated. By taking a classic recipe and flipping it on its head, you can create something truly special. In this case, the recipe starts with a familiar base of vanilla ice cream, which provides a smooth and creamy canvas for the toppings. The next step is to add some unexpected flavors, such as sugar, orange, and tamarind, which may seem like an unusual combination at first. However, these flavors work together in perfect harmony to create a truly unique taste experience.

**Exploring the World of Tamarind**

Tamarind is a fascinating ingredient that can add depth and complexity to any dish. For those who have never tried it before, tamarind is a sour and slightly sweet fruit that is commonly used in many cuisines around the world. In this recipe, the tamarind adds a tangy and fruity flavor that complements the sweetness of the sugar and orange perfectly. The best part about using tamarind is that it's incredibly versatile – you can use it to make sauces, marinades, and even sweet treats like jams and preserves.

**My Secret Ingredient**

For me, food is all about experimentation and creativity. One of my favorite secret ingredients is a specific type of vinegar that I keep on hand at all times. This particular vinegar is made from a blend of carrot juice, celery juice, tomato juice, and jalapeno, which gives it a unique flavor profile that's both spicy and earthy. The acidity in the vinegar adds a bright and tangy note to any dish, while the vegetable flavors add depth and complexity.

**A Cocktail with a Twist**

Speaking of unexpected twists, I recently discovered a recipe for a cocktail that incorporates this special vinegar. By using it instead of lemon juice, we can add a savory layer to the drink that's both refreshing and intriguing. The combination of gin, simple syrup, and vinegar creates a unique flavor profile that's reminiscent of a bloody mary without the saltiness.

**The Power of Secret Ingredients**

When it comes to cooking, having a secret ingredient can make all the difference in the world. Instead of relying on tried-and-true flavors, you can use a special component to elevate your dishes and take them to new heights. In my case, my secret ingredient is this incredible vinegar that I like to call "fancy vinegar." It's not something that I would normally reach for in most recipes, but when I do, it adds a level of sophistication and complexity that's hard to beat.

**Food is About More Than Flavor**

Finally, food is about more than just flavor – it's also about sharing your passion with others. When we share our favorite recipes and secret ingredients with friends and family, we're not just feeding their bellies – we're also sharing a piece of ourselves. So go ahead, experiment with new flavors and toppings, and don't be afraid to show off your secret ingredient. The world needs more people who are passionate about food and willing to take risks in the kitchen.

**Secret Weapons**

As I always say, "Food isn't just a meal – it's an experience." When we cook from the heart, we can create dishes that are truly special and memorable. So go ahead, share your secret ingredient with the world, and let's make food a show!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eni would say a secret weapon ingredient to me is something that has an element as a prize oh my god has to be flavor packed it should leave people like oh i want you i'm questioning what what was that today we're in the test kitchen sharing our secret weapon ingredients consider my curiosity peaked yeah each of us has an ingredient that we love to use and we're gonna show you why all right brad what you think man what's the secret ingredient it's going to be something filipino it's going to have some fun qual to it yes and i'm excited yeah yeah all purpose oh jesus christ that's the sketchiest label i've ever seen in my life so this is mang tomas it's an all-purpose sauce and if you don't got this in your crib you ain't a real filipino i'm sorry it's good huh yes sir i put this on everything so let's say popeye's fried chicken late night you use that sauce as a dipping sauce you know what i'm saying i just love the name all-purpose sauce so the story is there's a restaurant in the philippines that served whole pigs like roasted in them over coal they brushed it you know super nice right crispy skin and this guy made a pork sauce called mang tomas which was made out of pork livers sure cooked it down with some aromatics pureed it and then made it into a dipping sauce it's probably delicious and so it got so popular said let's bottle that is that what this is yeah this is what it is i gotta taste this stuff straight yeah give that a shake i ain't eating that top stuff man yeah i got you baby oh look at that fake chill oh that's wild yes sir i love it i could see it's a textural thing for me like visually i'm like oh god but it's sweeter than i thought fried pork skin just imagine with that you know what i was saying it is good i mean lumpia would be good with that yeah it's nice yeah it's sweeter than i thought it's super versatile uh it's a lot sweeter than uh than than most people would like but i think you know for me some spicy food forget it it's really good man as everybody knows i'm from the south bronx for me growing up i would always put this on my bacon egg and cheese yeah bud i would just slather this on there and just eat it like that that's why i got this weight on me because of that thanks for agreeing max i'm really curious to try and do with this man let's give it a taste bud on food it's almost like it's good it's almost like in the world of barbecue sauce good call yeah it's a little bit more uh it reminds me of oh my god you know i'm talking 20 years ago year ago there was a burger king in my hometown it turned out these things called rodeo burgers and it's just a hamburger but it had um onion rings bacon and have barbecue sauce this sandwich with that reminds me of it oh my god that's what you call guys a cultural touch point that's right i want a bottle of that stuff i mean i love the versatility of it and i like the idea of not only being a really cool all-purpose sauce as far as dipping or you know applying straight to something i think it'd be good on cheese steak i'm really interested in trying to like cook with it too i was like yeah space like we said maxum is all-purpose all right so underneath this beautiful dome harold i have one of my favorite secret ingredients i use it on all types of stuff it's wonderful drum roll please thank you you had a boy how oh it's a tar nice you're a fan you use the tarot all the time man fish chicken vegetables hummus i mean you name it i mean listen i'm the expert i'm from new jersey you know but like everyone's family's got a recipe every region's got a variation on it there's lebanese there's israeli there i mean i'm sure there's far more than i'm even aware of so that was great bring that bad boy up it's a good one dude these guys do a real good job do you have money in this company i have 30 equity you would think because i promote the hell out of them all the time yeah i mean mediterranean food this is great i used to do ribs with zatar yeah all the time it's it's great man i think um it's a one-stop shop you know yeah i mean what i love about it is its versatility i mean it's got that familiar kind of wild field thyme you know like sesame is kind of hard to beat and then you got that like citrusy punchy um like vibrant acid that would just be nice and like a pita bread like you dusted a bit on top come on amazing eggplant yogurt i mean basically anything out of otto angie's cookbooks you can put this but it's amazing man all jokes aside it's just it literally it is one of my favorite secret weapon ingredients chicken salad i haven't had lunch yet too cuz so i mean even if you didn't make it yourself say you went into the deli and got a container chicken salad you just want to judge it up a little you know break out your secret weapon little zatar and i think it just complements it it goes with the onion it goes with the celery it goes with the herbs in there it goes with mayonnaise gives it a nice crunch factor it's like a little texture too let's try it with the little little zatar in it don't feel strong i'm gonna put a little bit more right on top of mine yeah let's do that nothing like eating crunchy things on camera and just awkwardly waiting for us to stop chewing instant you get that you get the um the sumac the thyme and the sesame pretty pretty familiar flavors right but that sumac mixed with it that and it's good sumac yeah it hits it almost like the first thing i tasted was it almost like there was citrus in it now it's really good yeah it's different you know you get those other ones it's like super dry whatever yeah but this is nice yeah yeah and you can go down the rabbit hole with this stuff i mean zatar you know i find myself using it probably more than any other like spice herby kind of mixture that i have in my arsenal which is rather large well like i said this one's for you harold you're saying i never gave you nothing all right you're the best dude i'm so excited to see this right now i feel like i'm like we've almost like built it up a little bit too much no it's fine this is not gonna be some massive surprise maybe it would just be a surprise that like i'm the one advocating for it okay do you know this stuff yes i love the fact that you picked this actually because i think guys are kind of like holding hands oh yeah this is black bean garlic sauce or otherwise stated this is like one of many forms of black bean sauce that uses a base of fermented black soy beans and then is turned into a sauce with the addition of soy sauce and some usually some like starches or thickeners i love using black bean especially with stews braises um you know kind of stir fries it really like defines and like adds like tons of character to a range of dishes i've had it before i haven't had in a while i would love to taste it to kind of just like refresh my brain maybe tasting it on food first but like i want to taste it solo dolo first totally for me it's a little bit more versatile like when it's in this form it just wants to play ball a little bit more readily that's fire i mean it's so salty it's so good it's so salty but it is so like funky and rich it's very much rich i love using black bean especially with ingredients that might not um have like tons of flavor on their own like i'm thinking of things like tofu you know with like some fermented black bean is like really nice putting like a couple teaspoons even of this into like a sauce just used to kind of finish some stir-fried veg so we figured like one way to kind of get at the power that this has is to do a version of like a dry fried green bean it's finished with a little bit of black bean garlic sauce with a little bit of greeny beanies i love green beans that's really good yeah it's great it's also like really nicely seasoned just on its own it's a flavor enhancer it enhanced all of the everything aromatics that were in this on its own but with that bean paste the flavors are more married and pronounced everything is like knit together like that black bean like coats everything i mean there's a very modest amount in there but you really feel it because it builds this cohesiveness in the dish yeah it kind of just like turned it up you know yep i would even argue okay that like you could strip the aromatics out of both of these and still have a very compelling dish on your hands just with the addition of this and the oil this is for me this is a powerhouse ingredient sometimes less is more but you can sure use it in a lot of things um i think you could guess it like i feel like it's one of the things if i'm known for it on ba i'm going to be known for it on ba because it's literally in almost everything i've done so far but i'm okay with that because it's the best fish sauce ah here we are i was like but the bottle wouldn't fit under there you know fish sauce has been like in my life since day one i think it was probably in the baby bottle or something like that like i'm addicted to fish sauce if i don't have like i eat the sauce every day it can vary from actually coming from fermented fish or shellfish or a mixture typically used in southeast asia or asia i feel like this classic red boat is something that i like to use just like across the board you can use it in sauces you can use it in marinades as a condiment on the side that's like one of my favorite ways to do it straight up pour it on top of something listen you know i did not grow up with fish sauce the first time i smelled it i was like wow you know i mean you know and i just didn't have like any context for it really once you kind of discover this as like a culinary tool and once you kind of like unlock its potential and once you start to appreciate so many dishes that use it yeah it's like yeah you can't you can't ignore it like you can't ignore it you notice when it's not there yeah you notice you need it fish sauce adds a earthy umami briny salty funky greatness to whatever you're adding it into what did you do all right so fish off eggs my low i use fish sauce all the time when making scrambled eggs wow and like we eat it with rice garlic fried rice or like longanisa it just makes for this really savory breakfast i pretty much use fish sauce to substitute for salt so as i'm scrambling them i'll just throw a few doused i just whip them up with the fish sauce and then i cook them in butter oh are you concerned i mean no i'm consider my curiosity peaked egg let's try it wow it's really interesting even just like smelling it it's like way more subtle than you think it's gonna be yeah it's not like the egg has so much fat you know what i mean it's like it's just getting just getting in front of that with a little like funky umami kind of note and it definitely makes me want to eat another bite over the years we've used fish sauce in certain applications where it's like just like the main point was just like you know seasoned with fish sauce instead of salt never would have thought to apply it to eggs in that same way you know just like carrying that thought across to like something else that is a little bit less expected is really cool don't judge a book by its cover that's my life tip and my food tip it's gonna taste great so my ingredient it's something that i use all the time it's i would say pretty versatile it reminds me of growing up cooking with my family it's something that is found across many different cultures to want to know yeah i want to know okay we have tamarind concentrate have you ever used tamarind coffee yes i have tamron concentrate it's really fun because it's both sour and sweet sometimes you can get it in that like brick it's a lot of labor to like break it down but i think it's cool because like if you want to start it as like a jelly or a paste you can buy it in different forms if you also want to buy it in the pod too those are really pretty and cute so i feel like it has range i mean it's also cool because i feel like there's tamarind in india there's tamarind in south america there's tamarind caribbean so like when i think about that spread of dishes there are so many ways that you can use it for me this is like equivalent to what i might start a barbecue sauce with or a marinade or if a dish calls for a roasted pepper paste or a tomato paste you know i might add sugar and cook it down so it becomes something more like treacle or molasses but it just has such a wide range and that feels like a really great great secret ingredient to have oh my god what a delight i'm really excited to try this with you because what is one of the easiest and most simple way to get someone who maybe has never had that thing to understand it and so in this application it is a tamarind candy and to me it kind of functions the same way that you know a salted caramel would function we combine it with sugar orange zest this version is like caramel's like caribbean cousin who just got back from vacation is like you know got the beads in the hair and is like having a good time so let's try it on the vanilla can you drizzle me thank you i did not know i was going to be able to eat ice cream today and any day with the surprise ice cream is a good day like unfortunately no contest like it's so good i need this recipe well if you go to ba.com i mean listen i'm a huge ice cream fan and so taking something that's super simple and being like let's just like flip it on its head a little bit like yes we all have our favorite ice cream we have our favorite topping but how can we just like you know like nudge this into the direction of like what we want to eat and enjoy and it's such a simple application like the sugar the orange the tamarind all together i think just like makes it like something so much more complex and fun to put on an ice cream i also think it's a really good entry into tamarind if you've never had it because even just taking one bite you're like oh yeah i can see how this could be useful for me and my cooking exactly i also love that i'm like tamarind jam like this with like some butter and toast oh yeah or like as a layer between cakes yes yes i love it i want this to be mine my secret ingredient you can share it no we can share it okay my secret ingredient is something that i have at the front of my pantry at all times to pull out whenever i need just like an oomph a little extra it's specific so it doesn't apply everywhere in my cooking but where it does apply it makes all the difference yes my secret ingredient is fancy vinegar also this packaging i know beautiful specifically my favorite vinegars are vegetal vinegars so like this guy's made with carrot juice celery juice tomato juice and jalapeno it smells kind of like a bloody mary it does actually yeah it has that like that spice to it for sure and but it also has like that earthy vegetable moment it's got that acid and that sweetness of vinegar but then has this like rumble of vegetable produce goodness happening underneath which is just so complex to me and makes the best salad dressing you'll ever eat it's great in marinades it's great over grains amazing with meat and vegetables i feel like it's a really great gateway into just like making your food more playful and fun and like trying new things speaking of what are we gonna do we are gonna make this vinegar into a cocktail oh my god so this is kind of like tom collins-esque so gin which usually it would be with lemon juice and a little bit of simple what's fun about the vinegar in places of the lemon is citrus is very like one note but i think with the vinegar it just like adds that savory layer on top of it so it's like it's like a little starter totally and the color can you beat it it's very good the vin this one i really like it so much it's like a bloody mary light you know it is honestly i'm not a bloody mary fan but this i would definitely order for brunch to me it's like got this like kombucha note to it because of like that that vinegar brightness yeah i really like this because it definitely offers acidity but you can also taste everything from the carrot to that sort of like grassiness so just like honestly like by and large more complex than just squeezing some lemon into a cocktail and also like it's not a far jump from i like even like this description of kombucha is like really helpful right like if if you've had kombucha basically in some ways pouring gin and ice and simple syrup over it so i love that how like easy it is to get from here to there not feeling like it's a scary thing that's happening totally yeah and it's like a little spendy it's a moment to like shell out you know twelve dollars for a bottle of vinegar which maybe you wouldn't usually do but in these moments where you want to just like level up make it a little bit special i think it's really worth it and the flavor doesn't compare to anything else my takeaway is start with a familiar base and you can add something in that can be your own secret weapon to the mix and you can tell a lot about a person from their secret ingredient you know these are not necessarily ingredients that are about subtlety and flavor and temperament you'll just expand what that recipe that you already know and love can do yeah food isn't about it's my secret weapon you know we share right we love food is love if you have a secret ingredient out there share it to the world don't be that guy or that person or that grandmother you gotta go on the road we gotta make it a show so secret weapons with brad harold yo you don't want us on the road are you kidding mei would say a secret weapon ingredient to me is something that has an element as a prize oh my god has to be flavor packed it should leave people like oh i want you i'm questioning what what was that today we're in the test kitchen sharing our secret weapon ingredients consider my curiosity peaked yeah each of us has an ingredient that we love to use and we're gonna show you why all right brad what you think man what's the secret ingredient it's going to be something filipino it's going to have some fun qual to it yes and i'm excited yeah yeah all purpose oh jesus christ that's the sketchiest label i've ever seen in my life so this is mang tomas it's an all-purpose sauce and if you don't got this in your crib you ain't a real filipino i'm sorry it's good huh yes sir i put this on everything so let's say popeye's fried chicken late night you use that sauce as a dipping sauce you know what i'm saying i just love the name all-purpose sauce so the story is there's a restaurant in the philippines that served whole pigs like roasted in them over coal they brushed it you know super nice right crispy skin and this guy made a pork sauce called mang tomas which was made out of pork livers sure cooked it down with some aromatics pureed it and then made it into a dipping sauce it's probably delicious and so it got so popular said let's bottle that is that what this is yeah this is what it is i gotta taste this stuff straight yeah give that a shake i ain't eating that top stuff man yeah i got you baby oh look at that fake chill oh that's wild yes sir i love it i could see it's a textural thing for me like visually i'm like oh god but it's sweeter than i thought fried pork skin just imagine with that you know what i was saying it is good i mean lumpia would be good with that yeah it's nice yeah it's sweeter than i thought it's super versatile uh it's a lot sweeter than uh than than most people would like but i think you know for me some spicy food forget it it's really good man as everybody knows i'm from the south bronx for me growing up i would always put this on my bacon egg and cheese yeah bud i would just slather this on there and just eat it like that that's why i got this weight on me because of that thanks for agreeing max i'm really curious to try and do with this man let's give it a taste bud on food it's almost like it's good it's almost like in the world of barbecue sauce good call yeah it's a little bit more uh it reminds me of oh my god you know i'm talking 20 years ago year ago there was a burger king in my hometown it turned out these things called rodeo burgers and it's just a hamburger but it had um onion rings bacon and have barbecue sauce this sandwich with that reminds me of it oh my god that's what you call guys a cultural touch point that's right i want a bottle of that stuff i mean i love the versatility of it and i like the idea of not only being a really cool all-purpose sauce as far as dipping or you know applying straight to something i think it'd be good on cheese steak i'm really interested in trying to like cook with it too i was like yeah space like we said maxum is all-purpose all right so underneath this beautiful dome harold i have one of my favorite secret ingredients i use it on all types of stuff it's wonderful drum roll please thank you you had a boy how oh it's a tar nice you're a fan you use the tarot all the time man fish chicken vegetables hummus i mean you name it i mean listen i'm the expert i'm from new jersey you know but like everyone's family's got a recipe every region's got a variation on it there's lebanese there's israeli there i mean i'm sure there's far more than i'm even aware of so that was great bring that bad boy up it's a good one dude these guys do a real good job do you have money in this company i have 30 equity you would think because i promote the hell out of them all the time yeah i mean mediterranean food this is great i used to do ribs with zatar yeah all the time it's it's great man i think um it's a one-stop shop you know yeah i mean what i love about it is its versatility i mean it's got that familiar kind of wild field thyme you know like sesame is kind of hard to beat and then you got that like citrusy punchy um like vibrant acid that would just be nice and like a pita bread like you dusted a bit on top come on amazing eggplant yogurt i mean basically anything out of otto angie's cookbooks you can put this but it's amazing man all jokes aside it's just it literally it is one of my favorite secret weapon ingredients chicken salad i haven't had lunch yet too cuz so i mean even if you didn't make it yourself say you went into the deli and got a container chicken salad you just want to judge it up a little you know break out your secret weapon little zatar and i think it just complements it it goes with the onion it goes with the celery it goes with the herbs in there it goes with mayonnaise gives it a nice crunch factor it's like a little texture too let's try it with the little little zatar in it don't feel strong i'm gonna put a little bit more right on top of mine yeah let's do that nothing like eating crunchy things on camera and just awkwardly waiting for us to stop chewing instant you get that you get the um the sumac the thyme and the sesame pretty pretty familiar flavors right but that sumac mixed with it that and it's good sumac yeah it hits it almost like the first thing i tasted was it almost like there was citrus in it now it's really good yeah it's different you know you get those other ones it's like super dry whatever yeah but this is nice yeah yeah and you can go down the rabbit hole with this stuff i mean zatar you know i find myself using it probably more than any other like spice herby kind of mixture that i have in my arsenal which is rather large well like i said this one's for you harold you're saying i never gave you nothing all right you're the best dude i'm so excited to see this right now i feel like i'm like we've almost like built it up a little bit too much no it's fine this is not gonna be some massive surprise maybe it would just be a surprise that like i'm the one advocating for it okay do you know this stuff yes i love the fact that you picked this actually because i think guys are kind of like holding hands oh yeah this is black bean garlic sauce or otherwise stated this is like one of many forms of black bean sauce that uses a base of fermented black soy beans and then is turned into a sauce with the addition of soy sauce and some usually some like starches or thickeners i love using black bean especially with stews braises um you know kind of stir fries it really like defines and like adds like tons of character to a range of dishes i've had it before i haven't had in a while i would love to taste it to kind of just like refresh my brain maybe tasting it on food first but like i want to taste it solo dolo first totally for me it's a little bit more versatile like when it's in this form it just wants to play ball a little bit more readily that's fire i mean it's so salty it's so good it's so salty but it is so like funky and rich it's very much rich i love using black bean especially with ingredients that might not um have like tons of flavor on their own like i'm thinking of things like tofu you know with like some fermented black bean is like really nice putting like a couple teaspoons even of this into like a sauce just used to kind of finish some stir-fried veg so we figured like one way to kind of get at the power that this has is to do a version of like a dry fried green bean it's finished with a little bit of black bean garlic sauce with a little bit of greeny beanies i love green beans that's really good yeah it's great it's also like really nicely seasoned just on its own it's a flavor enhancer it enhanced all of the everything aromatics that were in this on its own but with that bean paste the flavors are more married and pronounced everything is like knit together like that black bean like coats everything i mean there's a very modest amount in there but you really feel it because it builds this cohesiveness in the dish yeah it kind of just like turned it up you know yep i would even argue okay that like you could strip the aromatics out of both of these and still have a very compelling dish on your hands just with the addition of this and the oil this is for me this is a powerhouse ingredient sometimes less is more but you can sure use it in a lot of things um i think you could guess it like i feel like it's one of the things if i'm known for it on ba i'm going to be known for it on ba because it's literally in almost everything i've done so far but i'm okay with that because it's the best fish sauce ah here we are i was like but the bottle wouldn't fit under there you know fish sauce has been like in my life since day one i think it was probably in the baby bottle or something like that like i'm addicted to fish sauce if i don't have like i eat the sauce every day it can vary from actually coming from fermented fish or shellfish or a mixture typically used in southeast asia or asia i feel like this classic red boat is something that i like to use just like across the board you can use it in sauces you can use it in marinades as a condiment on the side that's like one of my favorite ways to do it straight up pour it on top of something listen you know i did not grow up with fish sauce the first time i smelled it i was like wow you know i mean you know and i just didn't have like any context for it really once you kind of discover this as like a culinary tool and once you kind of like unlock its potential and once you start to appreciate so many dishes that use it yeah it's like yeah you can't you can't ignore it like you can't ignore it you notice when it's not there yeah you notice you need it fish sauce adds a earthy umami briny salty funky greatness to whatever you're adding it into what did you do all right so fish off eggs my low i use fish sauce all the time when making scrambled eggs wow and like we eat it with rice garlic fried rice or like longanisa it just makes for this really savory breakfast i pretty much use fish sauce to substitute for salt so as i'm scrambling them i'll just throw a few doused i just whip them up with the fish sauce and then i cook them in butter oh are you concerned i mean no i'm consider my curiosity peaked egg let's try it wow it's really interesting even just like smelling it it's like way more subtle than you think it's gonna be yeah it's not like the egg has so much fat you know what i mean it's like it's just getting just getting in front of that with a little like funky umami kind of note and it definitely makes me want to eat another bite over the years we've used fish sauce in certain applications where it's like just like the main point was just like you know seasoned with fish sauce instead of salt never would have thought to apply it to eggs in that same way you know just like carrying that thought across to like something else that is a little bit less expected is really cool don't judge a book by its cover that's my life tip and my food tip it's gonna taste great so my ingredient it's something that i use all the time it's i would say pretty versatile it reminds me of growing up cooking with my family it's something that is found across many different cultures to want to know yeah i want to know okay we have tamarind concentrate have you ever used tamarind coffee yes i have tamron concentrate it's really fun because it's both sour and sweet sometimes you can get it in that like brick it's a lot of labor to like break it down but i think it's cool because like if you want to start it as like a jelly or a paste you can buy it in different forms if you also want to buy it in the pod too those are really pretty and cute so i feel like it has range i mean it's also cool because i feel like there's tamarind in india there's tamarind in south america there's tamarind caribbean so like when i think about that spread of dishes there are so many ways that you can use it for me this is like equivalent to what i might start a barbecue sauce with or a marinade or if a dish calls for a roasted pepper paste or a tomato paste you know i might add sugar and cook it down so it becomes something more like treacle or molasses but it just has such a wide range and that feels like a really great great secret ingredient to have oh my god what a delight i'm really excited to try this with you because what is one of the easiest and most simple way to get someone who maybe has never had that thing to understand it and so in this application it is a tamarind candy and to me it kind of functions the same way that you know a salted caramel would function we combine it with sugar orange zest this version is like caramel's like caribbean cousin who just got back from vacation is like you know got the beads in the hair and is like having a good time so let's try it on the vanilla can you drizzle me thank you i did not know i was going to be able to eat ice cream today and any day with the surprise ice cream is a good day like unfortunately no contest like it's so good i need this recipe well if you go to ba.com i mean listen i'm a huge ice cream fan and so taking something that's super simple and being like let's just like flip it on its head a little bit like yes we all have our favorite ice cream we have our favorite topping but how can we just like you know like nudge this into the direction of like what we want to eat and enjoy and it's such a simple application like the sugar the orange the tamarind all together i think just like makes it like something so much more complex and fun to put on an ice cream i also think it's a really good entry into tamarind if you've never had it because even just taking one bite you're like oh yeah i can see how this could be useful for me and my cooking exactly i also love that i'm like tamarind jam like this with like some butter and toast oh yeah or like as a layer between cakes yes yes i love it i want this to be mine my secret ingredient you can share it no we can share it okay my secret ingredient is something that i have at the front of my pantry at all times to pull out whenever i need just like an oomph a little extra it's specific so it doesn't apply everywhere in my cooking but where it does apply it makes all the difference yes my secret ingredient is fancy vinegar also this packaging i know beautiful specifically my favorite vinegars are vegetal vinegars so like this guy's made with carrot juice celery juice tomato juice and jalapeno it smells kind of like a bloody mary it does actually yeah it has that like that spice to it for sure and but it also has like that earthy vegetable moment it's got that acid and that sweetness of vinegar but then has this like rumble of vegetable produce goodness happening underneath which is just so complex to me and makes the best salad dressing you'll ever eat it's great in marinades it's great over grains amazing with meat and vegetables i feel like it's a really great gateway into just like making your food more playful and fun and like trying new things speaking of what are we gonna do we are gonna make this vinegar into a cocktail oh my god so this is kind of like tom collins-esque so gin which usually it would be with lemon juice and a little bit of simple what's fun about the vinegar in places of the lemon is citrus is very like one note but i think with the vinegar it just like adds that savory layer on top of it so it's like it's like a little starter totally and the color can you beat it it's very good the vin this one i really like it so much it's like a bloody mary light you know it is honestly i'm not a bloody mary fan but this i would definitely order for brunch to me it's like got this like kombucha note to it because of like that that vinegar brightness yeah i really like this because it definitely offers acidity but you can also taste everything from the carrot to that sort of like grassiness so just like honestly like by and large more complex than just squeezing some lemon into a cocktail and also like it's not a far jump from i like even like this description of kombucha is like really helpful right like if if you've had kombucha basically in some ways pouring gin and ice and simple syrup over it so i love that how like easy it is to get from here to there not feeling like it's a scary thing that's happening totally yeah and it's like a little spendy it's a moment to like shell out you know twelve dollars for a bottle of vinegar which maybe you wouldn't usually do but in these moments where you want to just like level up make it a little bit special i think it's really worth it and the flavor doesn't compare to anything else my takeaway is start with a familiar base and you can add something in that can be your own secret weapon to the mix and you can tell a lot about a person from their secret ingredient you know these are not necessarily ingredients that are about subtlety and flavor and temperament you'll just expand what that recipe that you already know and love can do yeah food isn't about it's my secret weapon you know we share right we love food is love if you have a secret ingredient out there share it to the world don't be that guy or that person or that grandmother you gotta go on the road we gotta make it a show so secret weapons with brad harold yo you don't want us on the road are you kidding me\n"