secret sauces

Noun

secret sauce (countable and uncountable, plural secret sauces)

1. A sauce used in cooking or as a condiment, the ingredients of which are kept secret.
   • Congressmen gleefully wolfed down every imaginable version of the hot dog – smoked kielbasas, jumbo grillers, Big & Juicy's, kosher dogs and spiced dogs – topped with every imaginable condiment – hot mustard, sweet mustard, jalapenos, spaghetti sauce, regular relish, corn relish, maple syrup salsa...1994 July 21, Faye Fiore, “Congress relishes another franking privilege: Meat lobby puts on the dog with exclusive luncheon for lawmakers – experts on pork”, in Los Angeles Times
   1. Synonym of special sauce.
   2. burger sauce
2. (figuratively, informal) A secret idea or plan; a crucial element of something that makes it unique or functional.
   • And then, there was a lot of talk about "hard truths" and "bold choices," but the interesting thing was nobody ever bothered to tell us what they were. And when Governor [Mitt] Romney finally had a chance to reveal the secret sauce, he did not offer a single new idea. It was just retreads of the...2012 September 2, Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President at a Campaign Event – Boulder, CO: University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, Colorado”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)...

   Synonyms:

   magic sauce, secret recipe, special sauce

3. (humorous) Clandestine alcohol (alcoholic beverage), especially as a secret ingredient in a recipe or in a hip flask for surreptitious tippling.