Cooks: Pre-mixed Seasonings on YOUR Shelf?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m a fussy cook…I usually mix spices and dried herbs up from scratch rather than using commercially-blended seasonings.

I HATE curry powder…always use individual measurements of cumin, turmeric, coriander, cardammom, etc. I HATE chili powder…always use pure ground ancho chiles and chilpotle chiles, oregano, red pepper, etc.

But there ARE a few cans and jars in my kitchen that I’d hate to do without. The parenthesized stuff is verbatim from the labels.

The “Crab Chip” thread teetered into a discussion of Old Bay Seasoning, from Baltimore. Great stuff, though I don’t use it as often as I should. (Celery Salt, Spices {including Mustard, Pepper, Laurel Leaves, Cloves, Pimiento, Ginger, Mace, Cadamom, Cassia}, Paprika)

Wye River Seasoning. Anyone else ever hear of this, or has it been discontinued? Also made in Maryland; seems to be a sort of rip-off of Old Bay…touted as a crab boil, but REALLY GOOD as a dry rub for red meat. And just sprinkled on burgers before grilling. (Salt, Black Pepper, Celery Seed, Paprika, Mustard Flour, Spices, and Red Pepper)

Adobo. A classic Hispanic seasoning, mine is formulated by the good ol’ Goya Company of New Joisey. I sometimes use it as a last-minute flavor boost. (Salt, Granulated Garlic, Tricalcium Phosphate {to prevent caking}, Oregano, Black Pepper, Turmeric)

Penzey’s Greek Seasoning. Penzey’s Ltd. is a marvelous company, based in Wisconsin, which imports spices and dried herbs from all over the world. All pure as the driven snow, and not cheap. I get a LOT of my straight spices from them by mail-order. Once they included a sample jar of this Greek stuff as lagniappe…blew us all away. If we need a quick dinner, we use it as a dry rub on a pork tenderloin or a flank steak while the charcoal is getting hot. (Flake Salt, Garlic, Lemon Peel, Black Pepper, Greek Oregano, Marjoram)

Finest “Soul” Seasoning. This one’s a mystery. AND getting harder to find. I used to see it at the Brooklyn Terminal Market, a wholeseale fruit and veggie market on Foster Avenue, but it’s been missing the past year or two. Luckily I bought a half-dozen jars in 1997, which I am now hoarding. It’s packaged by a small company somewhere up in Queens, in a VERY simply labelled jar. It adds, ahem, “soul” to my cooking. (A Private Special Blend of Salt, Black & Red Pepper, Paprika, Garlic, Onions, and other Spices and Herbs)

Finally, Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning. Misnamed…it’s Cajun, NOT Creole at all. This is from Opelousas, Louisiana, and is VERY piquant. My kids often refuse to eat things I’ve put it in. I use this to season flour for pan-fried chicken and chops; in butter-beans and black-eyed peas; in cornbread; in lots of different Southern dishes that are not necessarily LOUISIANA dishes. Oddly, I don’t use it in gumbos or other Cajun specialties…I prefer to use basic spices, as if I were making a curry. It is damn good stuff, though. (Salt, Red Pepper and Other Spices, Garlic, Silicon Dioxide {prevents caking})

Okay, so what do YOU use? Anything that’s better than the above? That I should try?

2

I confess I have a container of Goya Adobo, but it really is not as good as making Adobo yourself. I used to make my own, or better yet, have my mom make me a batch. Now I usually just mix up the seasonings right before I use them, and save the jarred stuff for when I really don’t feel like cooking.

3

What do you (and your mom) put in your Adobo? I’d love to make my own. Even better, if I mail you an empty jar, will you fill it up (with Adobo, smartass) and send it back?

I use the Goya stuff mostly as a last-minute kick. If I rub a rib steak with garlic and season it with salt, black pepper, and a pinch of oregano, I may sprinkle on a little Adobo just before I take it to the grill.

I have a pot of ropa vieja “resting” on the stove right now. I may add a dash or two of Adobo when I heat it up just before dinnertime, while the rice and black beans are simmering.

4

Adobo is easy, most people probably use all of these ingredients in some dishes anyway.
Garlic Powder
Oregano
Black Pepper
Salt

That’s it.

5

Hey Uke! Glad to see y’all appreciate some of the finer aspects of good old Maryland home cookin!:smiley:

I use a commercial season all called Johnny’s Seasoning Salt. They have a lot of other spices that I haven’t tried yet. This is by far the best general seasoning/salt substitute I have ever used. And the website has fun Carribean music, too!

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I always try to use whole spices as opposed to premixed. That said, I still use curry powder and a few other combined spices. I feel the most crucial ones to avoid are:

[li]Garlic Salt[/li][li]Onion Salt[/li][li]Seasoning Salt[/li][li]Celery Salt[/li][sub](notice a pattern here?)[/sub]

I feel it is just plain stupid to pay so much for glitzed up salt. In addition, you have less control over how much spice you may add before the salt takes over the dish.

Some of the premixed seasonings that I use are:

[li]Berber [sub](African cooking)[/sub][/li]
[li]Chiro [sub](African cooking)[/sub][/li]
[li]Curries [sub](Kima and green types too)[/sub][/li]
[li]Chili Powder [sub](rarely used)[/sub][/li]
[li]Barbacoa marinade [sub](still looking for the recipe)[/sub][/li]
[li]Sinigang soup mix[/li]I also have some Old Bay and Zatarain crab boil around for kicks. For me, nothing compares to using fresh or dried whole spices. I recently bought a spice grinder specifically to start making my own curries. A while back I was also blessed with the gift of a well used and aged Molcajete from an exgirlfriend’s grandmother. I really need to start using both of them more often.

Everybody please feel free to post any recipes mentioned here in my recipe thread.

PS: Good topic Ike

7

I keep some Old Bay on hand myself, along with Bell’s poultry seasoning, but the one thing I use more often than anything else is Cavender’s Greek Seasoning. Made by a small company in Harrison, Arkansas (a former hometown of mine). Mostly black pepper, garlic, oregano, parsley, marjoram, white pepper, and a few other things (from memory/taste – don’t have a label handy).

I’d rather go out in the yard and cut fresh herbs (I manage to keep sage, parsley, and thyme going outdoors pretty much year round, and I have the mother of all rosemary bushes, though I struggle to keep basil plant alive indoors) or mix my own from decent dried stuff, but with two kids under the age of 4, a work day that lasts until 6 PM and an hour commute home, plus a wife who dislikes cooking, sometimes getting it done quickly rather than well is the order of the day.

8

Everyone seems to be referencing dry seasonings, and in that vein I use Old Bay, although it can be hard to find in CO.

One thing we do have, being in the Southwest, is a great selection of hot sauces. Most are Mexican or Carribean salsas, and many are very good, but the one that has become my staple is Sriracha, from Lee Kum Kee. This is one killer sauce. It is simple, mostly garlic and chiles, and is hot without overwhelming dishes. If you live in a chile deprived locale, ask for it in an oriental grocery. Use it in soups, fried rice, cajun dishes, etc.

LM

9

I have to put Tony Chachere’s on my list, too. It’s absolutely lovely for a pork chop spice rub.

My mother bought me a few cans of Dean & Deluca pre-mixed herbs: Fine Herbes and Herbs for Meat. I quite like the Herbs for Meat; it’s a blend of rosemary, thyme, parsley, savory and a few other things–I grind it up in my mortar & pestle and use it either for a rub or add it to bread crumbs for a seasoned coating for lamb or chicken. I think I’ve only used the Fine Herbes once for a marinade–it has tarragon in it, which I tend to not use very often.

I once picked up this seasoning mix called Santa Maria Style Seasoning just to give it a try, and now it’s a regular item when I’m grilling steaks–it just has the right combination of flavors that are perfect. :::running to kitchen to grab jar::: Ingredients: Sea salt, onion, garlic, spices, organic evaporated cane juice, dextrose, silicon dioxide, and natural hickory smoke.

10

I use a few different premixed herbs/spices from http://sfherb.com/ like italian seasoning, chili mix and a few others. The only other mix I use is Busha Browne’s jerk seasoning. You just can’t recreate that stuff. It’s wonderful and you can get it here: http://caribcon.com/bushajerksea.html

11

If I don’t make my own pre-mixed seasoning salt I only use Johnny’s, it’s great.

I actually don’t use any pre-mixed seasonings when I cook and fresh garlic is the only way to go. We purchase pre-crushed garlic here but it lacks the kick of freshly peeled.

I make my own curry as well.

12

Gee, I’d have to say that Curry is pretty much the only dry seasoning that I don’t mind having pre-fab. I made if from scratch once and it just didn’t seem that much better to justify all of the fuss. I have some Old Bay but can’t remember the last time I used it.

I keep granulated garlic on hand only for making garlic bread, because I grill my garlic bread face down on a griddle and minced garlic doesn’t work out as well that way. Also, the granulated covers more uniformly & provides a pleasing all-over-golden-brown effect when the bread is grilled.

On to liquid seasonings: I keep a variety of seasoning sauces: extra dark soy, extra thick & sweet soy (carmelized), oyster soy & fish sauce. These can be made from scratch but the effort does not come through noticeably in the dish. Anybody want to get snippy about worstershire & katsup?

The artist formerly known as opus

Question for those of you who are determined to make curry powder every time you need it (when your store runs out): Do you also make chai spice (for tea & latte) from scratch? I have wanted to do it on a few occasions, but again think that the effort wouldn’t be worth it.

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Whoops, what’s my sig line doing way up there??

The artist formerly known as opus

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My ex called my “condiment man” because my collection of sauces: light,dark,and mushroom soy,oyster,hoisin,bean paste,black bean paste(homemade)miso, five spice, vinegar(white, red wine, apple cider, sherry, rice wine, tarragon, raspberry, ), would crowd out unimportant stuff like milk and apple juice. The spice cabinet was packed as well. As a bachelor I have pared the list down a bit but not much. I still have four different kinds of oil and lots of ziploc bags of different pure chili powders.

Re: the OP, I don’t particularly mind Indian curry powder as it is usually cooked for a very long time and the diffenent flavors are released. I have made thai curries from scratch but it’s hardly worth it IMHO as the canned stuff is pretty darned good.

15

Mike
Have you been to The Spice House in Evanston? OMG. It smells so good in there. I can’t really cook, so I bought I ton of pre-mixed stuff there a while back. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

16

{b]piney** I drive past there every day on my way home from work. It is a major contributor to my financial woes.(ohh I just have to have some of this Sumatran pepper/pure saffron —it’s HOW much!!!

Now there’s some premixed spice I’ll take anyday if I could afford it!

When I go in on the weekend, the North Shore housewives in there seem to be reliving their college pot smoking years:
“Oh , you’ve got to try this, it’s so mellow but intense!”

17

I am not the cook you guys seem to be, but I just have to post this in an attempt to make Uke jealous:

I used to live within waking distance of Penzey’s in Madison. I often went in there just to sniff. Heaven.

18

Three seasonings/sauces I can’t live without.

  1. My new find “Daves INSANITY” hot sauce
  2. Busha Brownes Jerk sauce is incredible
  3. Montreal steak seasoning

PS…oh yeah…1st runner up is The Green tabasco.That stuff OWNS eggs.

19

I am a big fan of Tony’s–I keep both the original and the More Spice version on hand. One of my favorite quickie dinners is a chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces, coated with Tony’s, and sauteed with some lemon juice. I put it on a salad.

I have another cajun spice mix called Joe’s Stuff that I got when I took a cooking class in N.O., but I don’t think it’s quite as good.

Dr. J

20

So it would be inappropriate to bring up “Shake-n-Bake” in this thread?

[slides her Shur-Fine brand of minced onion flakes out of view with feigned casualness]