This is an All Ears English Podcast episode 2327.
What's your secret sauce?
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How can you articulate when a business or a company does something especially well?
Today, get a new term to talk about special abilities and qualities with native speakers.
Hello, Aubrey. How's it going today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you? Good, but I have a great question for you today.
You ready? Yes. Let's hear it.
What do you think when you hear the phrase, the secret's in the sauce?
Oh man, I think of fried green tomatoes.
This was one of my favorite movies as a kid.
I haven't seen in a while, but I'm sure it holds up.
Have you seen that film, Lindsay?
Of course I have. It's one of my top favorite movie.
It probably is in my top three favorite movies of all time.
It's fantastic. If anyone out there, if you haven't heard of the film, fried green tomatoes, right after you finish this episode, go watch it.
Hopefully it's available on streaming somewhere.
It is so excellent.
And there is a part where we're not going to tell you why you have to watch the movie so we don't spoil anything, but they say the secret's in the sauce and you have to watch the film to find out why.
It's definitely a twist in the movie for sure.
So go and check that out.
Today's episode is inspired by a question from a listener in Instagram.
Right, Aubrey, would you like to read the listeners question?
Yes, this was from Anastasia Stacy who said, Hi, do you think you can make an episode about the following expressions, secret sauce and a diamond in the rough?
So we actually did talk about diamond in the rough recently on an episode.
It was you and Michelle.
So stay until the end.
We'll give you that episode number so you can check that out all about that expression.
Yes. We'll let you know where to go at the end of the episode.
But for now, let's hunker down here and talk about, you know, secret sauce and special sauce.
Right. So we're going to start with special sauce.
Uh, tell us about this.
Yeah. So we use this two different ways.
The first way is about cooking usually, right?
It's a sauce that adds an important element to a dish that has ingredients that are typically kept secret.
I think of raising canes.
Do you have raising canes where you live?
They have this like rice sauce.
I looked up a copycat recipe and the secret ingredient I think is Worcesters sauce, which is funny.
People say this differently in the US sometimes, they say like Worcestershire sauce.
Okay. Interesting, interesting.
Okay. So here's some sample sentences.
My grandma created a special sauce for her cinnamon rolls.
That sounds delicious, right?
So this is like the frosting on top.
Who knows what she puts in it?
Maybe molasses or honey, and if it's a special sauce, she maybe keeps it secret, right?
You might ask her for the recipe, and she might say, nope, that's my secret.
Right. Right. And then sometimes these recipes get passed down among families when someone, they leave a cookbook and it gets passed down within the family, right?
Exactly. Yes, very often.
Or you might say the diner is known for the special sauce they put on all their sandwiches.
And this same thing, you would be like, I don't know what's in this, some kind of aioli.
It's delicious. But it's good.
Yeah. And then restaurants will try to guard that recipe, right?
Absolutely. I worked for a restaurant here called Cafe Rio.
It has franchise since, so you may be eaten there.
Nice. And they make their pork, they marinate it in Coca -Cola and brown sugar.
Oh my gosh, that's delicious.
Are you supposed to share that?
I can't tell you like numbers.
I never knew them, right?
But I just would watch them like fill the thing with Coca -Cola and go put it in the pork.
And I think they tell people that, but that was their secret ingredient was Coca -Cola for the sweetener.
Yeah. I mean, I know a lot of places will put, you know, their sausage in beer or, you know, marinate things in beer, that sort of thing.
So the more unique you get, I mean, you just have to have a good chef who is willing to experiment, right?
Absolutely. Right. And they can come up with all kinds of interesting flavors by adding different things.
But we also use special sauce totally unrelated to cooking.
Yes. To talk about people's qualities.
Maybe this is like an ability or a practice that makes someone or something more successful or more unique and distinctive.
Yes. So for example, I've been impressed with the leadership at this company.
They have a special sauce of making team members feel valued.
So it could just be a team value, like a company value, the things that matter to that company and the people in that company.
And it kind of emanates out to all the people.
Exactly. Right. And we'll call this a special sauce.
It'd be like, Oh, the leadership at that company is amazing.
That's clearly their special sauce.
Yes. And you're just sort of saying like, there's something that they're doing that's working.
That's really unique.
And you just call it a special sauce.
Nice. Or we could talk about software.
So for example, this software's special sauce is how well it integrates with social media.
Yeah. So I mean, it's like, it's quality, right?
It's some kind of element about it that is really at work, is really making it successful.
I mean, I think most companies do need to develop this.
Most companies for better for some do it better than others, but they need to develop what they call a unique mechanism.
The way they teach something, the way they build something that is different from other companies, but some it's more effective for some companies than others, I would say for sure.
Something that makes them stand out and makes them distinctive.
That's really what leads to success when you really have your niche.
Yes, I love it. Okay.
So now let's go into secret sauce.
Yeah. Yes. And this, I feel like it's pretty interchangeable.
There's maybe a slight difference here where this someone might be even more secretive about this.
So if you're talking about, you know, you say the diner is known for the secret sauce they put on their sandwiches, this is definitely implying that don't ask for the recipe because it's a secret.
Yeah. And I think just to call out what we talked about at the top of the show, this could get confusing for our listeners because the quote from the movie is the secrets in the sauce.
And so it's a little bit, it could also be a secret sauce and it probably it was a soup, right?
Is that what it was?
Yeah. Or like a barbecue sauce.
Right. It's a sauce, but it's also, I just want to show the difference between the two phrases here.
Yeah. Good point. Right.
So you, you kind of can say this two different ways, right?
That the secrets in the sauce, it is in the sauce.
And then we use this more like an adjective, secret sauce.
Yes. And they essentially mean the same thing.
Yeah. Yes. Exactly.
And same with like software or companies or employees, right?
You could say the software secret sauce is how well it integrates with social media.
Same meaning it's really pretty interchangeable.
You're just saying there's something really special and distinctive about it.
And this in this case, it's how it integrates with social media.
Yes, I love it. And then so some sample sentences for secret sauce, the diner is known for the secret sauce they put on all their sandwiches.
Okay. Yeah. And then just that little, the tiny difference of it's more secretive, right?
Yes. They're likely to, and I think you could, you can say special sauce, secret sauce.
The main reason they would say secret sauce is if it's more of a family secret or a trade secret.
Right. It's something they actively protect, right?
Right. They will not share it, but the special sauce could just be, Hey, we make this all the time.
It's why our sandwiches are good.
It's not a secret. You can have the recipe if you want, but we do it here.
Right. Yeah. And I think something interesting to think about is that everyone has a secret sauce or a special sauce, right?
So everyone out there listening, there's something about you that makes you unique and distinctive, something special.
So we got all figure out what that is and look for it in others.
Right. What a great thing to connect about.
Yeah. I mean, and we can, I mean, this brings up a bigger conversation, but I love this topic.
I mean, we can get to this through assessments like StrengthsFinder, looking at our unique ability, our unique genius, all these, there are lots of assessments and self -inquiries that we can do.
We can go on that journey and figure out what it is that we value, what it is that we do well.
Right. Yes. Figure out our strengths and our secret sauce.
Absolutely. Yes. Okay.
Aubrey, let's dive into a role play.
And here we are working in a restaurant.
Yeah. I'll start us off.
Yes. Yes. Do you know what's in this special sauce?
Everyone loves it. No, they've kept the recipe secret.
I'm dying to know what's in it.
Well, the chef's secret sauce is making amazing meals, I guess, because this place has been packed since it opened.
We can take some credit too.
I've seen a lot of great reviews about the service.
I guess you're right.
Our secret sauce is excellent service.
Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.
It's true. It's a good conversation that restaurants have to have, you know, with their management level and decide what do we do better?
Do we, um, there's one restaurant that used to exist in Boston called Durgan Park.
Have you ever heard of this?
No. Durgan Park, where their trademark, their secret sauce was that, was that they would be really rude to customers, like in a jokey way, they would actually like kind of not scream at you, but kind of tease you based on what you've ordered.
And that was their secret sauce.
They trained people on that.
People would go to get ridiculed.
Yeah. And Boston is kind of can be sort of a rude, people can be a little abrasive there.
So it kind of worked in Boston.
I could see that it would be entertaining.
You'd never know what you're going to expect.
Yeah. Unfortunately it closed.
So sad, so much personality, but anyways, bummer.
Yeah. All right. Well, let's go through this.
I first said, do you know what's in this special sauce?
So it's some kind of sauce that maybe they're putting on sandwiches.
Like everyone clearly loves it.
Yes. Perfect. So, and then, and then I said, no, they've kept it a secret.
And then you said, well, the chef's secret sauce is making, uh, amazing meals.
So now I'm going more broadly, I'm saying that is his secret skill or his special unique ability in a way.
And this would be a kind of a fun way to play on words.
If you're already talking about a secret sauce, a special sauce, a literal one at a restaurant, then to be like, well, the chef's secret sauce is creating these amazing meals.
And now we're using it in this more idiomatic way of saying this is his special talent.
Yeah. That's a really creative way to take that term and bring it out into a bigger conversation about people, which is kind of more interesting in a way.
Right. Absolutely. Right.
Just talk about someone having a secret sauce.
Their secret sauce is something they do well.
Yes, totally. And then at the end, you said, Aubrey, what'd you say?
You said our secret sauce is excellent service.
We were talking about the good reviews and we're giving ourselves a pat on the back here.
Right. Exactly. I love it.
So good. And I love again, how we've brought that out to talk about personality.
So I think, you know, the call to action for our listeners today will be to dig into what is your secret sauce, right?
Check out some of the tools that we mentioned earlier and dig into that because we all do have one.
Absolutely. Right. Find out your strengths and then you can use them to be successful at work and in life.
And we did promise to share the recent episode where you guys talked about the phrase diamond in the rough.
What was that Lindsay?
Yeah, secret sauce is titling.
No, just kidding. So check out that episode.
We went pretty deep into this concept and then you and I did a, uh, episode on diamonds to the diamond.
That was interesting.
Yeah. So you guys talked about that actual idiom diamond in the rough on that one.
But Lindsay and I did an episode about diamond mining and sort of the controversy behind that.
So if you missed that, maybe just search diamond on the website and you'll find it.
Yep. Just come back to allersenglish .com and type that in.
And I guess a final thought would be not just taking that step of figuring out what your secret sauce is, but learning how to articulate it because it's only half the battle, uh, if we know what it is, but we want to articulate this to our, our boss at work and to our coworkers and to our families and our friends.
So we have more opportunities to use our secret sauce.
Right, Aubrey? Yes, absolutely.
I love that. And to find out what is the secret sauce of those you know and work with, because what a great way to connect and also you'll be able to be more successful working together if you know their strengths as well.
Yeah. Maybe we'll have to do an episode.
I'm not sure if we've done an episode on that on how to introduce your unique skills and talents, how to talk about what you do better than the average person and how to do it without bragging or without seeming like you're just overtly bragging because we need to do this in a way that's.
Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to do that in another episode guys, hit the follow button right now on all there's English.
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All right, Aubrey, have a good day.
Talk to you. See you next time.
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