The art of seasoning

Cafe Society
1

I’m ashamed to admit that I was in my forties before I discovered salt. By that I mean its flavor enhancing qualities. Now even older, I’d like to tinker with some seasonings and herbs and spices, but I don’t want to waste time on anything ridiculously unlikely to be palatable.

Therefore, I’d appreciate anything you could tell me about herbs and spices and their effects on different foods. I know that Martha Stewart adds nutmeg to almost everything. (But I’m not sure why.) And I’ve tried some basics, like adding cinnamon to egg custard pie.

But what about cilantro? What does it do? Does it make food earthy? Pungent? Bitter? Sour? Something else? You can’t always tell by tasting the spice alone. Cinnamon, for example, is bitter and tastes like tree bark. (To me, anyway.) But when mixed with sugar, it becomes a divine flavoring for everything from pumkin cheesecake to buttered toast.

And help? Tips? Things to avoid? And please be as descriptive as possible about how certain seasonings affect certain foods. Thanks.

2

Little else has the effect that salt & pepper & sugar have.

They add “qualities” (piquancy, sweetness) as much as flavors. When you get outside that, though, you’re really just adding flavors. Rosemary, thyme, oregano, cilantro (coriander), cumin, turmeric, basil, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, chili powder, ginger, cayenne, cloves, cardomom. . .you name it, that’s what it is.

Some of those things are earthier (turmeric), some are peppier (cumin). Experience says what goes with what from that list, whether I’m making something Asian, or Italian, or Indian, or South American.

I might single out cayenne from that list. . .that’s something you can add where you might not detect its flavor as much as you’ll detect its heat. I like it in something to balance a little bit of sweetness, like sweet potato soup, say.

As we all know, the sense of smell is closely related to the sense of taste, and I think herbs bring a lot of that to a dish, much moreso than salt or sugar, which don’t have odors.

For a whole other kind of taste, you can buy straight MSG from an asian grocer. It adds another quality to food that some like, and some don’t.

3

Now me, I hate cilantro. Apparently there’s a certain percent of the population for whom it tastes “soapy” and I am in that group.

Dill & Rosemary to me have a very “green” taste (although they taste quite different from each other). Both mesh well with garlic. Dill meshes well with creamy flavors while Rosemary goes with meaty flavors (in general).

To get a feel for what they’re like, take some butter and mash in some garlic chopped fine and some dill or rosemary chopped fine. Good job, you just made “compound butter,” sounds fancy, don’t it? Spread on good bread and enjoy.

4

Try grated nutmeg instead of cinnamon.

5

A touch of nutmeg is a classic ingredient in tons of Italian foods, and the general rule is that you shouldn’t add enough to actually taste the nutmeg, just enough to enhance the other flavors.

Cilantro is a problematic herb, because different people taste it differently due to genetic reasons. So there are people who are never going to like ciliantro. Personally, I’ve rarely tasted a dish where I thought the presence of cilantro was a good thing. It doesn’t ruin every dish for me–it’s pretty neutral in Thai dishes or when cooked, but raw cilantro in salsa doesn’t taste good to me. It’s got this wierd taste usually described as “soapy”. But people who don’t taste it this way seem to love it.

I really enjoy cloves quite a bit. You can try cloves anywhere you’d usually try cinammon, or substitute 50.50 cinammon/cloves. Cloves are also very good on pork…I like to marinate pork chops with garlic, soy sauce and ground cloves, then grill. Cloves can also go well with lamb. Cloves blend well with asian flaovers.

6

Cilantro tastes very strong to me. I had never even seen it until I went to Costa Rica; I thought it was parsley (which is almost tasteless) but it wasn’t. And they pretty much pour it on!

First time I ate it, I got dizzy. Second time, I got dizzy. Third time, fourth time: dizzy. We’d attributed it to “coincidence” until someone told us that it’s locally considered as being “very good for the heart”. I asked “wait a minute… you mean as in ‘lowers your blood pressure’?” “Yes ma’am! Very good for the heart!” Right. Have I mentioned that I have low blood pressure?

One detail about seasonings: they can work completely differently if you use them for cooking but take them out, if it’s whole pieces that you may bite, or if it’s powdered. When I try a new one on my cooking I always start with a tiny amount (I learned this after that one time Mom mistook the real powdered cayenne for red coloring).

7

Spaghetti sauce is a good place to experiment. Make it in small batches, and try different herbs each time to see the effect. Herbs and spices such as thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, fennel, cinnamon, nutmeg (the last two in very small quantities) all go well in spahetti.

8

Wow, great idea, Chefguy, thanks! And thanks to all for the great info. Keep it coming, please.

9

I admit, I get stuck in seasoning ruts. But if you’re a beginner, maybe my ruts will give you a good place to start. We can divvy it up a couple of ways:

Beef: allspice, bayleaf, salt, pepper, thyme
Chicken: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme (just like the song), lemongrass, tarragon, marjoram
Pork: rosemary, lemongrass
Fish: lemongrass, pepper, lemon juice, basil
Potatoes: rosemary or dill (Rosemary sweet potatoes wedges are to die for!)
Carrots: dill or parsley
Peas: tarragon

Italian: basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, onion, fennel, rosemary, red pepper flakes
Mexican/Tex-Mex: oregano, cumin, onion, garlic, chilis, cayenne (powdered chilis) and of course, the dreaded cilantro
British and “American”: salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme, allspice
Thai: basil, lemongrass, garlic, red pepper flakes, ginger root (but not so much powder)
Indian: Thai + turmeric and cumin

Spring and Summer: mint, lemongrass, basil, parsley, dill, tarragon
Fall and Winter: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, black pepper, rosemary, sage, marjoram, ginger (powdered)

10

In the lines of Chefguy’s advice, try sauteeing chicken with some butter and taste until you have a good grasp of salt/pepper. It should taste good (not heavenly but good enough to it). Once you got that, start adding herbs and spices (works just as fine for dry and fresh, go crazy) one at a time to separate batches until you get a feel for each herb. Then start mixing them up.

Another thing to look for is the balance of sweet/sour/salty. Enjoying bitter flacours is an acquired taste, I think, so that is up to you. A touch of sweet on savoury dishes, a touch of salt on sweet dishes should enhance flavours. Acidity makes a great flavour conductor so a little bit will bring your dishes to life.

One last tip: Dry herbs at the beginning of the preparation and fresh herbs at the end. And adding a tiny amount of the ingredients you started with at the end of the preparation can also bring complexity to the dish.

oh, and don’t experiment on guests!

11

Season early, and season often. For example, when making stews or sauces, season the vegetables you are sauteeing, season the meat you are browning, season the liquid. Less seasoning per layer, but definitely season each of the layers.

If using dried herbs, add early in the cooking process. If using fresh, add late or at the end. Don’t chop until you need them. I don’t add fresh basil to my tomato gravies until it is off the heat and ready to serve. The heat of the sauce is sufficient for the flavor and aroma to bloom.

Certain items pair well; I especially like:

Potatoes: rosemary and parsley
Tomatoes: basil and/or oregano
Fish: dill
Lamb: mint

Chicken is another good item to play with. You can find out what herbs and spices you like and in what combos by seasoning individual breasts, or even strips of chicken breasts.

Go wild with the flavors, but in moderation with the quantities.

12

sigh, I take to long to post. Sapo’s post wasn’t there when I started.

13

Real is always better than artifiacial or extract. This is especially true with vanilla - the difference between a vanilla pod and vanilla extract is great, and between the extract and the “essence” even greater.

Fresh is usually better than dried or powdered. This is especially true of ginger and nutmeg. Get a nutmeg grater and mortar&pestle if you don’t have them.

Saffron is the king of spices, but most people don’t appreciate its subtlety and only use it for its colour. I love its slightly bitter, slightly earthy taste, nothing like turmeric at all.

Garlic is pungent. Roasted garlic is sweet. Roast your garlic except for Levantine cooking.

If you can get them, try the different kinds of pepper - long pepper, cubebs etc. Sometimes milder, but still peppery.

Try galingale rather than ginger - more peppery. Try mace rather than nutmeg - less nutty. Try cassia or allspice rather than cinnamon - sweeter, less cloying, with hints of nutmeg and clove wrapped up in one spice. Clear differences while still the same general ballpark for each grouping.

Despite the current mania for ground black pepper (here, at least), try cooking with white pepper - very different (almost herbier, but sharper), and I like it a lot.

14

So where do I go to get my trophy? :slight_smile:

15

I second this. Fresh nutmeg enhances all sorts of dishes, and whole nutmegs are available from any number of spice companies.

Once you start figuring out what spices you like, look for the ones packaged in cellophane in the ethnic aisle of the supermarket. You can usually save a bundle and get fresher spices if you do. There is no reason to pay Spice Islands or McCormick prices when the Mexican aisle has the same stuff for 1/3 the price.

Cycle your spices. Especially the pre-ground ones. After 6 months to a year, toss them out and buy new. If you do a few each quarter it won’t hit your wallet so hard, and you’ll always have fresh seasonings on hand.

Don’t overcook basil. Add it at the end of the cooking time. Most others can be added at the beginning.

16

I should hasten to add that fresh herbs always trump dried herbs. Some herbs just don’t translate to dried, basil being a glaring example. Thyme does okay, as does rosemary (although it becomes very tough), and oregano isn’t bad. But if you use dried herbs, make sure you reconstitute them in warm water before adding to the dish. When using fresh herbs, it’s best to add some at the end to jazz the flavor.

17

This thread should be able to help you. I’d repost my comments, but I think the entire thread has a lot of useful info.

18

Thanks! I’ve bookmarked both threads!

19

I don’t quite agree with those rules. Certain herbs, like thyme and rosemary, even when used fresh, are often added at the beginning of a dish. You can add fresh herbs early or late, depending on the type of herb and the recipe. My general rule is “woody herbs” (thyme, rosemary, sage) early and “delicate herbs” (cilantro, parsley, tarragon, basil, etc.) late. But there’s no hard and fast rule.

I’ve also never reconstituted herbs before adding them to a dish. If the herb is going into a sauce, anyway, it’ll get reconstituted. The most I do is rub the herb between my fingers as I put it into the dish.

Also, not all herbs are better fresh. I would say oregano has a very different character in its fresh and dry forms. Personally, I prefer dry oregano for most of my uses. Dried rosemary also works pretty well. Stuff like parsley, basil, and cilantro are useless in their dry forms. MAYBE dried basil can work in some sauces, but I hate it.

20

I think Cayenne pepper has a bad rap. Used sparingly, it can enhance flavors as well as salt. One of my all time favorite marinades for steak is a rediculous amount of both salt and cayenne pepper barely disolved into water spiked with Jack Daniels. Let the steak soak for about 15 min and grill. Perfectly seasoned, not very spicy at all. (I know it doesn’t sound like “sparingly”, but trust me, not much gets absorbed into the meat.)

Also, adding the tiniest pinch of cayenne pepper to hot cocoa is a-frickin-mazing. (By tiniest pinch, I mean about 1/8th of a teaspoon for a gi-normous pot made from a whole canister of instant mix.) When I make a single serving, I tap a couple of specks into the cap, and add something smaller than the head of a pin to my cup. Trust me - try it.

OTOH, my parents don’t deal well with cayenne pepper any more. When I cook for them, I substitute paprika (1 for 1) when I would have used cayenne. There’s still a bit of heat, but nowhere near as much, and a pleasant smoky flavor.

As far as other herbs and spices go, I don’t have much to add that hasn’t been said. I would only add: try breaking out of your cooking shell. Grab a cook book that’s about a cuisine you wouldn’t normally try. Even if you don’t like particular dishes, you should get experience using all sorts of new spices / herbs.