Add some spice?

[Sweet Tooth]

Tef and I went to a local diner tonight, one which prides itself on its soups. I had a simple chicken noodle which was nicely spiced with bay leaf.

I keep hearing Rachael Ray talk about using nutmeg in various white sauces [ie. bechamel].

A friend recently made chili for us that included cinnamon. I'd heard of unsweetened cocoa in chili, but never cinnamon. It was delicious!

So, I have to ask.....
What spices/herbs do you use in foods that aren't what people might expect normally? What spices/herbs do you go through frequently? Do you have a favorite spice/herb blend that you make yourself? [And can we have the recipe?] How hot do you like to go? What's your signature spice/herb, if you have one?

[ScreamingChicken]

How hot do I like to go? In my pantry, I have several different varieties of Tabasco:
Original
Jalapeno
Chipotle
Garlic
Habanero

As well as plain ol' Louisiana Hot Sauce.

[ThatFatGirl]

Cinnamon has always been the "secret ingredient" in my chili. I love it.

There's a pizza place in the suburb I grew up in about 20 miles from where I live now. I've been eating their pizza since I was a child and always considered it the best "St. Louis Style" pizza (super thin crust with provel cheese - a blend of processed provolone, cheddar, and swiss cheeses) in St. Louis. It has taken something like 25 years, but I recently discovered the "something" about their pizza that made it taste so unique was the cinnamon in their sauce. Usually it's only enough to add a certain kind of mellow flavor I wasn't really able to identify, but a recent pizza from there had a little extra in the sauce or perhaps wasn't mixed well.. it was really an "Ah!" moment (and it's really much better with only the slightest hint of it rather than the full-on flavor).

[Fuzzy]

How hot do I like to go? In my pantry, I have several different varieties of Tabasco:
Original
Jalapeno
Chipotle
Garlic
Habanero

As well as plain ol' Louisiana Hot Sauce.

What? No Tabasco Soy? :eek:

[Fuzzy]

I tend to cook mildly, and provide the hot spices on the table for "BAM!". The front door of my fridge is completely filled with pepper sauces. While I have the full spectrum, I tend toward pepper sauces that use garlic and habanero.

The herbs I use the most are: basil, oregano, bay, thyme, and rosemary.

And Its a Dilly (http://www.mccormick.com/productdetail.cfm?id=6362), from McCormick. A tasty blend of dill, onion, garlic, lemon, and jalopeno. Makes steamed broccoli wonderful!

Seasonings I have that don't get used: Curry, Cayenne, Cumin, Paprika, Marjoram (ground oregano), and Lemon grass.

[missaf]

I make my own garlic olive oil, that's always good :)

Cayenne in my hot chocolate

I absolutely LOVE to put chiptle Tobasco in my ketchup or BBQ sauce :)

[Friday]

I love nutmeg. I even bought a little nutmeg grinder so I could grind it fresh. The dessert uses are obvious (you can't make custard or rice pudding without it and I love a dash in orange cream cheese frosting) but there are lots of savory uses too. A little in chicken soup or chicken and dumplings adds a mmmm factor that always gets compliments, putting it in Alfredo sauce is classic as is using it in say a manicotti with sausage filling and a white sauce. It's lovely on some vegies like carrots sauteed in a little butter or creamed spinach. Plus just the smell of it makes me purr.

[Jes]

I remember sitting around the dutch tables of my relatives, and they'd pass around a nutmeg nut, along with a teeny grater, person by person, when we were eating certan things like...cauliflower. I'm sure there were a few other uses, but that one sticks out.

[Ruby Ripples]

When I make home made chicken noodle or chicken and rice soup, I always add some tom yam paste. The tamarind flavour along with the heat from the chillies and the citrus tang is just mmmmm and it makes the soup addictive :)

I do like nutmeg on custard tarts and in baked rice pudding, but I HATE it in bechamel sauce. I just don't like it done savoury.

[jamie]

Nutmeg in quiche is great... people around here always wonder what that difference is.

[SoVerySoft]

One seasoning I use a lot is Lawry's Seasoned Pepper. When I say a lot...I mean a LOT.

10411

[fatgirlflyin]

One seasoning I use a lot is Lawry's Seasoned Pepper. When I say a lot...I mean a LOT.

10411

I use that pepper alot too! I make some awesome breakfast potatoes with it :eat2:

[SoVerySoft]

I use that pepper alot too! I make some awesome breakfast potatoes with it :eat2:

I like this in eggs:

10414

Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Pepper - it has a different flavor (less peppery) but it has the black seeds that are used in russian rye which I really like!

[fatgirlflyin]

I like this in eggs:

10414

Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Pepper - it has a different flavor (less peppery) but it has the black seeds that are used in russian rye which I really like!

Its not a spice but I put a little orange marmalade in my egg mixture when I make french toast.

[Tad]

Chili hot sauce in the mashed potatoes! :eat1:

Also balsamic vinegar glaze is awesome on roasts--yum!


Also when I cook I almost always throw in small amounts of what I think of secondary spicing, just to broaden the taste. I don't want you to taste the, say, cillantro in the spaghetti sauce, but adding a bit will add something to the taste.

Not that I cook all that much. But when I do I try to make the flavoring a bit different than how my wife would do it, partially because I'll never match her talents doing it her way, and also to give us that bit more variety.

-Ed

[lypeaches]

Ditto here for a pinch of cinnamon in red sauces...I also will add a whiff of ground cloves....or sometimes I just use chinese 5 spice (which is an awesome addition to oatmeal cookies, by the way). And yup, gotta have the ground nutmeg in any white sauce!

As for "secret", it's not exotic, but add a bit of salt to your hot cocoa, or any other chocolate type thing...it really brings out the chocolate flavor. Also is good in coffee as a flavor enhancer. In a mug, we're just talking a few grains. If I'm brewing a whole pot, maybe 1/8 teaspoon in the filter along with the ground beans.

Hmmm, other than that...I like a tiny bit of curry powder when making an oil and vinegar type salad dressing. Not enough to define it as curry, but it definitely gives the air of "what is that?"

[jcas50]

I like to put powdered ginger on grilled cheese and ham sandwiches.

Gives it a little extra je ne c'est qua!

[Friday]

Its not a spice but I put a little orange marmalade in my egg mixture when I make french toast.


Mmmmm, that would be tasty. I use a little shot of vanilla and some cinnamon and nutmeg.

[Sweet Tooth]

Rather than start an entirely new thread, I thought I'd include this bit in this old one....

Tef and I went to Penzey's Spice (http://www.penzeys.com/) store over the weekend. I tell ya, it was spice heaven! I'm sure some places would have way more, but it was a bit overwhelming as it was. They have several size jars/bags of their spices, herbs, and blends. They put out a glass jar with a sample of each. I was surprised that a few spice blends I would enjoy in food were ones I couldn't stand to smell. Since so much of taste is in the actual smelling of the food, I'm guessing this is simply based on the potency of the spice on its own.

It was also a treat to smell varieties of spices and herbs and realize how different they really are. Their "real" cinnamon [not cassia] had an orangy undertone. And the cassia cinnamon that they said is normally sold in stores smelled amazingly bland compared to the Chinese and Vietnamese versions.

Since I already had a bunch of spices, we only got a few to try on the first visit. I haven't made the cocoa yet, and Tef has only tried the tandoori spice blend on non-tandoori dishes. I'll let you guys know how those are. I got a cake spice blend that was wonderful in pancakes. [Haven't made cake yet.] Tef got another that I can't remember right now. It was just so hard to choose!

[Dr. Feelgood]

I put a pinch of sugar in any dish that involves cooked tomatoes or tomato sauce: it cuts the acid taste. I like a pinch of tarragon in any dish that uses eggs. And I always put a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar in my chili; it makes a nice difference.

[jamie]

They opened one in Memphis, just after Justin moved, so this last time we were there, I suprised him and took him there...such a kid in a candy store. I swear I think we bought about 40$ worth of spices..and they were all worth it.

I now put their "Mural of Flavor" blend on most of my veggies and it really helps me get them down. Also, we have a lot of vanilla styles in the house now. Their Balti Curry one is great on eggplant or zuchinni sauteed pretty brown in a skillet.

Rather than start an entirely new thread, I thought I'd include this bit in this old one....

Tef and I went to Penzey's Spice (http://www.penzeys.com/) store over the weekend. I tell ya, it was spice heaven! I'm sure some places would have way more, but it was a bit overwhelming as it was. They have several size jars/bags of their spices, herbs, and blends. They put out a glass jar with a sample of each. I was surprised that a few spice blends I would enjoy in food were ones I couldn't stand to smell. Since so much of taste is in the actual smelling of the food, I'm guessing this is simply based on the potency of the spice on its own.

It was also a treat to smell varieties of spices and herbs and realize how different they really are. Their "real" cinnamon [not cassia] had an orangy undertone. And the cassia cinnamon that they said is normally sold in stores smelled amazingly bland compared to the Chinese and Vietnamese versions.

Since I already had a bunch of spices, we only got a few to try on the first visit. I haven't made the cocoa yet, and Tef has only tried the tandoori spice blend on non-tandoori dishes. I'll let you guys know how those are. I got a cake spice blend that was wonderful in pancakes. [Haven't made cake yet.] Tef got another that I can't remember right now. It was just so hard to choose!

[out.of.habit]

Seems like this thread got bumped once last year, but I figured I'd add to the discussion instead of just making a new thread!
So, spices, eh?

Joe and I have been cooking more and more as time goes on, and we're really loving the learning process of the whole thing- especially the spicing/seasoning aspect of it! Last year I found a spice blend at Home Goods, and you know the drill. You find it once, and you'll never see it again.

The blend was called Grains of Desire by The Cape Herb and Spice Company (http://www.capeherb.com), and it contains: black peppercorns, nutmeg, cloves, orange rind, red rose petals, grains of paradise, and ginseng - all in a grinder. It is absolutely delicious, and in a variety of things. We've used it as a rub on steak, we've put it in tomato sauces, we put it in omelets, and I even put it in cookies a few times. Never one regretted it. Well, we ran out over the weekend, so I went online to find the company that sells it, thinking it was in Cape Cod, or Cape May. Yeah, not so much. How about Cape Town, South Africa! Only does Wholesale! No links to who it's distributed to! Noooooooooooo!

Thanks to Google, I calmed down, and bought a bunch of things from the company here: Chelsea Market Baskets (http://cmb.stores.yahoo.net/capeherb.html) Whew! Thanks for pointing me to a NY source, Google!

On our list:
Grains of Desire
Spirit of Fire
Herb Garden
Summer Salt
Steakhouse Rub
Gluttony
Lust
(last two are sugar grinders!)

Anyway, you should totally check them out. They seem very creative and a little exotic, and I might need to order the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins sugar grinder set, after trying both Gluttony and Lust on some ice cream.


Anybody care to update about their spice use? I'm curious about what you're all loving right now!

[MissToodles]

Sunny Paris, from Penzey's. It's a salt-free blend of shallots, chives, green peppercorns, dill weed, basil, tarragon, chervil and bay leaf. Taste great in scrambled eggs or rehydrated and mixed into Greek yogurt for a dip.