Cheater Cheater

I was at The Stanton Social for dinner last night and on the table was a plate of pierogis, amongst other things. Now, pierogis are pretty good in general but what makes these especially noteworty? They had two elements that reflected culinary cheating. No, I am not talking about cheating by suggesting that it was frozen and came from a bag or anything. Rather, the elements I refer to are: caramelized onions and goat cheese. These two (like the rest on this list) will make almost anything taste infinitely better and are part of a cook's cheat sheet. It's impossible to go wrong with these (some apply to savoury, some apply to sweet). If I were a cook thinking up a menu for a new restaurant, I'd try to incorporate as many of these as I possibly could. :

1. Goat Cheese
2. Caramelized Onions
3. Butter
4. Deep Frying
5. Bacon
6. Liquidy chocolate
7. Chorizo
8. Some sort of alcohol*

*The alcohol evaporates and all that but the flavour it leaves behind is still pretty special. Example? Mussels with white wine and garlic. Steak and Guinness Cornish pasties at a UK train station. Tequila lime shrimp. Jamaican rum cake.