The Secret Ingredient: Anchovies

When it comes to most Secret Ingredients, I can count on public support. I mean, there's nothing very controversial about loving limes. There are a few cherished foods, however, that leave me stranded on my lonely limb.

The most glaring of these has got to be anchovies. I adore anchovies. When someone in a movie or TV show wrinkles their nose in disgust when anchovy pizza is mentioned, I want to throw something at the screen. When you have a salt tooth instead of a sweet tooth, nothing could be better than the salty surge of this amazingly adaptive fish.

It's good in stir-fry. It gives a tang to vegetable dishes. It's a must for Caesar salads. I can toss it into sauce or pasta or rice or eggs or toast or a million other things, and it never fails to make me happy. Anchovies may not be the most popular kid on the block, but to me, they're damn near perfect.

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The Secret Ingredient: Limes

Oh, you know what the secret ingredient is. It's that food (or food component) that makes everything it's in taste better. You'll find any excuse to include it. As we walk down the corridor of your personal Food Hall of Fame, these are the portraits with gilded frames hanging proudly on the wall.

For me, there's nowhere I could begin other than limes. I mean, my handle is Limecrete, for god's sake. That name is not entirely derived from loving limes, but it is certainly one of the inspirations. For as far back as I can remember, anything that had a lime flavor offered was immediately my favorite. Lime jello, lime milkshakes, key lime pies... If it had lime, I had dibs. And while the kid in me loved lime treats, the adult realizes how wonderfully versatile this little citrus marvel is. Need to brighten a cocktail or put some zing in your taco? I've got just the juice for you.

There are foods I used to love that I've grown out of enjoying, and there are foods I used to despise that I've come to have an appreciation for. But limes have been my constant favorite since the start, and it's a love that will undoubtedly stick with me until the end. Whatever that end may be, I can be damn sure it won't be scurvy.

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