I forgot about steaks… we’re big fans of this for steaks:
Uncle Chris’ Gourmet Steak Seasoning | Fiesta Spices
Not sure if it’s a regional brand though, even if it seems to be in every grocery store in Texas.
Yeah, like I say, she’s a pretty good cook, but that chicken rice soup was just a little bland and needed something.
She does have a version of chicken lemon rice soup she sometimes makes, but she insists on using that (shudder) so-called ‘Real Lemon’ stuff from a bottle. Claims it’s better than fresh lemon juice. Blasphemy! To me it tastes like spraying Lemon Pledge into the soup.
Her stuffed pasta shells, on the other hand…top notch.
Occasionally I make chicken and dumplings. The recipe I use calls for “poultry seasoning” so I keep some on hand. The other day I was making some, and took a look at the ingredients list on the jar of poultry seasoning, and realized it’s just a blend of thyme, marjoram, sage, and a few other spices I already have on hand. I think once I use up this jar I’ll just mix up my own rather than buying more.
I already mix up my own Cajun seasoning, like the OP, since that too is just a blend of spices I already have.
I do use curry powder and chili powder. I know chili aficionados will say to use your own blend of peppers, paprika, etc., but sometimes I’m lazy and just want to throw some chili powder in the pot.
Penzy’s has some excellent spice blends.
Mural of Flavor is a favorite of mine, as is Justice. Many of their blends are salt-free, which I especially like. There’s also Sunny Paris and Sunny Spain (great for fish). I sprinkle Salad Elegant on all my salads for a little pop.
They use fresher spices than supermarket brands and you can taste the difference.
A chili recipe I sometimes make calls for some specific chili powder blends from Spice House. My normal table salt is Goya Adobo con pimienta which is salt with barely detectable amounts of garlic powder, black pepper & oregano. I suppose the packets of Goya sazon with annatto and coriander I use for picadillo and Mexican rice count, too.
I came in to say this. Before Penzeys, I made all of my own blends (adobo, garam masala, boharat, zatar) and I still do if it’s something Penzeys doesn’t stock or I’m out. I wouldn’t touch any brand of curry powder except Penzeys; I think they have several varieties but Maharaja is the one I use.
Penzeys keeps sending me samples of their blends and while I use them up I never order them; they’re delicious, I just like to have more control over my seasoning most of the time - except for Mural of Flavor. That stuff ROCKS.
Even Penzeys isn’t perfect, though. I used to like their adobo, but I swear they changed the recipe and now if I use it the way I used to, the result is weird. I think they increased the amount of pepper they use.
I’m also not keen on their berbere. I used to get it in Egypt and it was wonderfully rich, complex and hot but not only hot. The Penzey’s stuff just tastes like hot pepper without the subtleties. Too bad!
My pre-mixed spice blends consist of
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Old Bay
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Penzey’s Northwoods or Northwoods Fire, depending on who’s eating it
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Penzey’s Bavarian
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Poultry seasoning.
Beyond that, I tend to mix and match ingredients individually depending on mood, taste, whim
I love spice blends. My favorites:
Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning – goes in almost anything savory
Jamaican Jerk Seasoning – flavorful, spicy, and a bit sweet
Garam Masala
Ras el Hanout
Ethiopian berbere spice – very, very hot
Our favorite for salmon is Our Own Rub - All Natural, Pike Place Fish Market.
We also have Chinese 5 spice and mediterranean herb mix.
My coworker from Mumbai finds curry powder puzzling. He had never hear of the term before coming here.
‘Curry powder’ as its own separate thing, rather than just cooking the separate spices in various combinations, is more of a Britishism. This site has a nice capsule description (bolding is mine):
Curry originated in the Indian subcontinent and the word comes from the Indian Tamil word “Kari”meaning a sauce or soup to be eaten with rice. It consists of a mix of spices of which coriander, turmeric, cumin, and red chilies are almost always a constant. Curry powder as we know it in the West is a British invention that dates back to the 18th century. In the rest of the world, curries are made from scratch by using these spices whole or grinned along with others for mixtures that vary according to regional traditions.
I generally keep the following around:
Old Bay Seasoning
McCormicks Seasoned Salt
Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
Slap Yo Mama Cajun Seasoning
Swad Garam Masala
Right now, and I’ll rotate through these, trying different ones, I’ll usually have some sort of grilled chicken seasoning (right now I have a bottle of Mapre Foods seasoning I randomly picked up that I find quite good; I also like Chef Merito brand), and then a shit ton of Shan brand South Asian spice mixes (masalas) labeled for specific dishes. I’m not sure I have a generic “curry powder” around.
Cavender’s Greek Seasoning, Tony Chachere’s, Slap Ya Mama, pumpkin spice, adobo, chili powder, poultry seasoning
That’s the one we have (I forgot the name in my earlier post).
Chef Merito - Chicken Red, Hot Chicken Wing and Fajita seasoning.
Chef Merito makes really good bulk seasonings at a great price. They are all salt based so you have to work that into your dish.
Garam masala is VERY heavy on cloves, although it wouldn’t work for a sweet recipe.
To me, a kitchen is not a kitchen without Zatarain’s or Tony Chachere’s. I prefer Zatarain’s, and that’s the only file I use.
I also have The Usual by the Fire & Smoke Society. Goes on pretty much everything.
I use lots of spice blends regularly and try new ones frequently. I see nothing wrong with them.
I don’t pick all my own vegetables off the stalk or make all my own pasta, either.
I have a can of Old Bay that I rarely use, and I have a jar of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt that I use occasionally when I’m frying up potatoes for breakfast. I make my own garam masalas (note that it’s plural because every region has its own version of it). I used to have a jar of Italian Seasoning, but it has such limited uses that I ended up tossing it out. My local spice shop is always trying to give free samples of some blend or another, but I always turn them down. Oh, two spice blends that I do use more often are Penzy’s Chili 9000 and Penzey’s Baking Spice. The latter is amazingly good. I use it in cookies, pancakes, French toast and other baked goods, often in place of just cinnamon in the recipe.
I use them all the time at the table. I sometimes use most of the ones mentioned above while cooking. If making anything fancy would just make my own. Not going to do that just for, say, breakfast eggs. It’s necessary for things like curry, Szechuan or chili.
I use Bell’s pickling spice blend 'cause I’m new to the fermented veggie thing and lazy. Actually, not lazy but I’ve bought separate ingredients enough that I have ounces of spices to blend and don’t get to it while they are still kinda fresh.
Japanese shichimei or 7 spice blend is pretty awesome and ubiquitous.