Spices For Dummies...?...

[calvin]

I see from googling around that there actually is a Spices For Dummies book out there. After my 4-5yrs on our WOE, I mostly don't care about spicing my mostly simple meals because everything tastes good, even without spices. And I've been cooking for many decades and have no trouble following and/or modifying a recipe, but want to improve my very limited knowledge-base/understanding regarding 'spices". I know alot of the obvious stuff like oregano for Italian spagetti sauce and cumin in hummus. But the other day i saw a recipe i thought i would try, calling for coriander which i couldn't remember the last time I used coriander but I remember back in the day, I was using it occasionally in some now-forgotten recipe; so i had to find it in the back of my cabinet and smell it and even have some coriander seeds that must be 35yrs old.

No, i'm not asking for your favorite coriander recipe .
But do you folks have any favorite one-stop source(s) you like for when to use what spice where and how much?

[Vegankit]

But do you folks have any favorite one-stop source(s) you like for when to use what spice where and how much?

I do cook with spices and have an extensive collection in my pantry that I use. I don't have any website but I do have a suggestion I found helpful years ago from a Thai cookbook. When cooking with a new spice - add a small amount to the food and taste it. Let it cook a little, retaste - and add more if needed. The idea is for you and your taste buds to understand the flavor that each spice brings so you can control the flavor in your food.

It's important because spices vary. The most obvious is they vary with age going stale, losing their fragrance and taste. Storage conditions affect them too. Each harvest of a spice, the location where it was harvested etc. also affects what is in that container that you brought home.

If you always follow recipes blindly the spicing of your food can vary without your control - if you develop a sense of how you want that spice to work in your food - then you're in control and can adjust recipes according to your needs. Play with your spices - smell them, taste them, cook with them.

[Idgie]

For me, it's just trial and error. I also watch a LOT of YouTube cooking videos, and I get new ideas about flavor combos there.

[Lyndzie]

Well, since you have some coriander on hand, I like Alton Brown’s Taco Potion #19. I’ll use some on black beans when I heat them up. In fact, I just mixed up another batch of seasoning and made black beans for dinner tonight. Served it on rice with corn and salsa. Yum.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alt ... pe-2115513

[calvin]

Interesting tasting Potion. I made up a small batch and have been sprinkling it on my Yukon Gold and White Rose potatos. Plan to try it in homemade hummus.

Edit: My hummus from black beans, tahini, Potion #19, lemon juice, & garlic scooped up on toasted yellow corm tortilla chips is disappearing fast.

[MINNIE]

Hmmm, I never thought much about this. I grew up eating a lot of Middle Eastern food, so herbs and spices were just like the wallpaper .

There were no recipes or cookbooks around. The cooks in my family just had some instinct for what flavor they would get ...or maybe it was magic IDK.

They also had folk beliefs about which spices and herbs had medicinal effects. I used to scoff, but now I'm a believer to some extent.

But personal perceptions of tastes are different, so finding what spices you like may be a matter of trial and error.

Really, any spice can go with any food. There is no right or wrong. But some combinations will appeal to you and some won't.

If you are fond of a particular ethnic cuisine, you can learn a lot by finding a grocery store that specializes in that kind of food, and ask the people who work or shop there. For example, Mexican groceries carry herbs and other seasonings that you may never taste in mainstream "Mexican" restaurants.

People in the food business love to talk about this stuff, so don't be afraid to ask!



If you are happy not using spices, that's okay too. After a lifetime of eating highly spiced foods, I eat much more simply now. A baked potato with broccoli, my big favorite meal, tastes fine to me now with nothing added. On the other hand, I sometimes crave a full-bore Mediterraean herb flavor for my lentil soup and keep a supply on hand.

[Plumerias]

How's your local library?

I learned a great deal about using herbs and spices from various cookbooks. I don't think most people ever read the introductory chapter(s), but rather just go to the recipes. That's a mistake, as there is a great deal of useful information in that part of a cookbook. As Indian cuisine makes liberal use of them (understatement), those are good cookbooks from which to learn. See if you can find anything by a favorite here, Madhur Jaffrey, an excellent teacher.

I also have an old copy of Ian Hemphill's The Spice and Herb Bible, A Cook's Guide. Mine is the original 2002 copyright, but I see that there is a 2014 copyright listed in a simple Google search as well. I keep it as a reference guide for what goes well with what.

And PLEASE, buy some NEW products! You will be amazed at the difference.

[calvin]

OKAY! Hemphill purchased on SmileDOTcom, scheduled for 8Jan19 delivery, and fresh coriander added to grocery list.

I bought my first ever whole Turmeric root at Sprouts the other day and it is way stronger than the powdered - so This is what turmeric tastes like - and not that expensive.

[Plumerias]

Does the bulk department in your local Sprouts store have a dried herbs and spices section? They should be smallish bulk jars, probably from Frontier Organics and would likely be on an aisle end in that part of the store. There would be small zipper plastic bags and labels available. I ask because if the answer is yes, this would be an excellent and inexpensive way for you to learn more about cooking with them. You can buy as little as you want, just a small scoop is fine, and try things out. And when you decide you like something, that's a whole lot less expensive than buying a jar in a standard grocery store. Another place, if you have one, is Penzeys. Each and every one of their offerings has a smelling jar. Their products cost more, but the sniffing is free.