Smoked Paprika.

I know this is controversial, but garlic.

Almost always some acid. White wine, vinegar, lemon juice.

MSG

Ethiopian Berbere seasoning. A lot of places make a blend with too much cayenne, but if you can find one that isn’t especially spicy, it’s an incredible earthy umami flavor you can put in almost anything.

For the umami thing, black garlic is really good. Kinda like fermented roasted garlic, really nice in soups and stews

Cocaine /s

Cinnamon

Salt, acid, fat, heat. In everything.

Acid: vinegar, hot sauce, or some type of citrus. Fat: butter or oil. Heat: Paprika if you only want to pretend but a actually spicy note goes well in almost everything, at least some black pepper.

The perfect 5 spices:

Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and MSG.

Almost everything you cook will benefit from these.

Ginger paste. It's kind of cheating, but I hate how much time it takes to finely mince ginger to the point where it just disappears into a recipe.

Oyster sauce

Sesame oil

Tony Chachere's (pronounced sash-er-ee) Creole Seasoning. It was my go to meat seasoning when I was younger before I started branching out. Being from Louisiana, we put Tony's on everything. It's especially good on fries and eggs. You can basically just substitute the salt in any dish as it's pretty salty on it's own.

I buy a block of hot pot seasoning, keep it in the freezer, and shave some off whenever I need some spicy, salty, mouth numbing goodness. I found one that is made with beef tallow, too, which is nicer than the palm oil kind.

Sichuan peppercorns are great to use to boost many dishes too

Anchovies

Worcestershire Sauce

Fennel seeds and a bit of oil in tomato sauce. First had it at a popular Italian place and I've loved it ever since

Salt

Fat and vinegar.

Rice? Generous splash of white vinegar into the rice cooker, then a pat of butter at the end to melt in the residual heat. If you want something to pair with stir fry, try drizzling with sesame oil instead.

French fries? Toss 'em with a splash of malt vinegar (they already have oil from the frying).

Salad? Toss it with a splash of a good quality balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Bonus points for tahini.

Stir fry? Splash some rice vinegar into the pan and drizzle sesame oil over the top at the end.

Pasta? Drizzle of a good quality balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil on the plate.

Pizza? Pat of butter right after you take it out of the oven to melt from the residual heat, then a drizzle of good quality balsamic vinegar.

Citric Acid and real Liquid Smoke make most things pop.

Shallots and butter. Most things I make including cakes, I’ll reduce down some shallots, butter, and roasted peppercorns. Really adds to any dish

Not very special at all, but I like adding finely chopped flat leaf parsley on top of savory dishes. Looks nice and I really like the taste of parsley.

Kimchi/ferments/pickles

Gochujang

Chinese 5 spice

Balsamic, Chinese vinegar

Seasoned rice wine

Furikake

Chili oil

Hot sauce - especially a smoked habanero/chipotle

Better than bouillon but used like a flavor concentrate rather than stock

Some of my other favorites like berbere were already mentioned, periperi is in a similar vein

Splash of beer in a stew or bread recipe, also diastatic malt.

Ajvar.

It's good to use instead of tomato paste or ketchup in any recipe that calls for it. My favorite is using it as a glaze for meatloaf.

You also shouldn't underestimate something as simple as smoked salt.

A little bit of sherry can add a surprising improvement to some dishes.

What sort of dishes will MSG really make pop? Sometimes I feel like I’m lacking something and I can’t put my finger on what it is. I’m thinking MSG may fill that void.

Smoked paprika.