There’s only one rule for seasonings I ever learned, and it’s the only one I’ve ever needed to follow. From Julia Child:
Wine makes it French. Garlic makes it good.
In the United States what is sold as “cinnamon” is almost always cassia instead. We don’t even know that there’s a difference between cassia and cinammon.
But really these are two varieties of the same spice (chinese cinnamon vs ceylon cinnamon) with slightly different flavor profiles, just like there are different varieties of chiles, or different types of oregano.
Everything you need, one stop.
Yeah, I’m painting with a broad brush because of the inexperience of the OP. Re the reconstituting of dried herbs: when thrown into boiling liquid, they tend to become tough, whereas if soaked beforehand, not so much. Of course, it also depends on what is being prepared; you don’t want waterlogged herbs in your salad. I also do the rubbing to help release flavors. I use dried rosemary in a pinch, but many people find it to be unpleasant because it generally comes out nearly like it went in.
While I do add the mentioned herbs at the beginning, a bit added at the end really perks up the flavor, especially with soups; if you put a bit of what went in the soup in the bottom of your bowl and pour the soup over it, the aroma will make you light-headed.
I totally agree about dried basil, cilantro, et al. You might as well add old tea leaves or a spoonful of tobacco.
Mexican cinnamon (cannella) is “real” cinnamon, for those interested. Cinnamon has a much more gentle and refined taste than cassia, in my opinion. With recipes calling for true cinnamon, you usually want to substitute only half as much cassia, if you must. When cooking Mexican food, it’s important to use real cinnamon and Mexican oregano (Mexican oregano, too, has quite a different flavor profile than Greek oregano.)
One of my favorite things in cooking is the turnaround. Veggies like sweet potatoes, summer squash, apples, and carrots are usually cooked with brown sugar and sweety-bakey spices. That’s fine flavor, but you can go the other way. If you go with salt, pepper, hot curry powder, and onion, you get a different dimension of these sweet foods you didn’t know was there. Cut up a sweet potato into thin slices, just as you would a regular potato, and fry them in a cast iron skillet with chopped onion. Oh, baby!
Then there’s fond! When you build a meal with browned pieces of meat, finish off the browning by turning up the heat a bit to get little brown edges on the meat, but the main thing is a brown coating on the pan. That’s fond, the foundation of your dish. Take the meat out, turn the heat back down. Then, add a little wine, water, or the veggies you’re sauteing. Scrape that stuff around to take off the brown stuff on the pan. That’s deglazing, and it’s priceless. You can’t buy that flavor in a bottle, you have to make it yourself.
I love fresh ginger, but I don’t like that stringy stuff I get when I grate it. Now, I cut thin slices off the end of the root, and I cut those up into little pieces.
Even better, check out your local ethnic supermarkets (Indian ones are especially good for this, depending on which spices you like). I can buy 8 oz. of, say, cinnamon or pepper in my local Indian markets for the same price as the 1/2 oz. jar of McCormick’s in the supermarket, and it’s much fresher.
P.S. Most basic advice mentions sage in conjunction with poultry or pork, but I love it with white beans, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil, or even better, with mushrooms sauteed with onions, garlic, and a bit of sour cream mixed in at the end (and sherry, if you have it - throw in a tablespoon or two).
Yum! I love these foods. Sage can be overdone, but with these it is marvelous.
Another thing that’s really yummy is dipping sage in a simple batter and deep frying it.