Kitchen Bouquet

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just darkening

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Eta I dont use it.

98% color, 2% flavor

Rice, corn, and sirloin steak with onions and gravy was a staple in my family growing up. My parents always put a little kitchen bouquet in the gravy to make it darker. It's basically just food coloring. It has an off putting taste if you try it alone but doesn't impact the taste of a gravy at all imo.

Sure, it's for color more than flavor. But we eat with our eyes, and I keep a bottle on hand to "correct" the color of certain dishes. I've made gravies, gumbos, etc that tasted spot-on, but were a bit on the blond side. A few drops can make a beef gravy deeper & darker looking....and we know that some ppl will judge a dish by appearance and not really taste it b/c they prejudge the looks. Practically every commercial roast beef poboy you encounter is made with a hit of KB......roast beef can easily be made tender & delicious without achieving the mahogany brown people expect.

I have abt 36 different gel food colors in my pastry/candy cupboard, why not a little caramel coloring in my savory seasoning cabinet?

I have me a buddy that buys a gigantic fat on 2" sirloin, slathers it with kitchen bouquet and salt, grills it super hot and fast, cuts it into chunks and serves it buffet style. . The end result is black and bloody chunks of salty red meat. It's pretty awesome.

It's just food coloring IMHO.

But America's Test Kitchen thought otherwise and tested it as a flavor enhancer.

You can guess the results - They said it utterly failed.

No shite Sherlock.

My Mom always adds a dash to roast beef gravy to make it darker. Has no effect on flavor. I do the same. I've never used it any other way.