Sunday, June 24, 2007

Spice it up!!


I love herbs and spices. You can take almost any meal and get two completely different styles from just changing the spice combinations while keeping the methods and main ingredients the same. This is great because it makes it easier to maintain variety but allows you to keep the minimal amount of ingredients on hand. But, getting the spices right can be daunting. Make a mistake and dinner might be inedible.

My favorite book on the matter is A Busy Cook's Guide to Spices, which I picked up at Savory Spice Shop I also buy all my spices from them because they're local and I can get there when I run out of something. I've since turned others on to Savory and they do ship all their inventory quickly and for a reasonable price. A good online resource is 3men the breakdown of spices is great. Another online spice shop is Penzeys. And finally Spice Advice is another great spice primer that is run by Tone Brother Brands, the makers of French's Mustard and Spice Island spices.

I keep most of spices in the pantry, in brown glass bottles to preserve flavor and color. Light, heat and moisture will kill most flavor. When adding spices to a hot pan put the spice in a measuring spoon or cup and then add to your dish this lessens the chance of moisture from the pan getting trapped into your storage container. I to keep seeds or whole spices. When I need ground spices, I use a coffee grinder dedicated to spices to grind that way we don't get coffee flavored spices.

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