Your Go-To Meal Base

I've found that many people who like to cook from scratch have a go-to base for many dishes they favor. Some of the traditional ones include a mirepoix and the holy trinity of Cajun cooking. I've heard of about four of the most common ones, but there are always little differences from one person to the next about what they really think makes a good start for a large number of dishes.

For myself, a blend of diced onion and garlic in butter and olive oil is the starter base for a dozen or so recipes (along with celery salt as a seasoning to pair with it) and is often what I fall back on if I want to try creating something new, but don't know what at the start. I am curious what other people use as their own go-to meal base. So what is yours?

I cook a lot of Mexican and a lot of French and Italian. My go to is like you, onion and garlic in either butter or olive oil. I also have my own chicken seasoning blend I use pretty much no matter what the chicken will be made into.

elle sagenev wrote:I cook a lot of Mexican and a lot of French and Italian. My go to is like you, onion and garlic in either butter or olive oil. I also have my own chicken seasoning blend I use pretty much no matter what the chicken will be made into.

Can we know what that blend is or is it a secret recipe for you?

D. Logan wrote:

elle sagenev wrote:I cook a lot of Mexican and a lot of French and Italian. My go to is like you, onion and garlic in either butter or olive oil. I also have my own chicken seasoning blend I use pretty much no matter what the chicken will be made into.

Can we know what that blend is or is it a secret recipe for you?

It isn't terribly special. Garlic and onion powder, paprika, chile powder, basil, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. I think if I get a good crop I'll be adding terragon. I add fresh rosemary depending on what the chicken will be. The basic is always the same and I have it pre mixed in a shaker. I can't use sage because my husband is allergic. Yeah. That's about it. I have to be careful about any herb mixes I buy because of the sage thing.

Sage is in the mint family can he eat mint/oregano/thyme esp rosemary.

S Bengi wrote:Sage is in the mint family can he eat mint/oregano/thyme esp rosemary.

Shoot. All I know is he got the allergy test done and sage was a no no. So now I avoid sage. He's still alive, so I guess the others are fine.