To quote from The Food Lover’s
Companion, Third Edition: “Spices are pungent or aromatic seasonings
obtained from the bark, buds, roots, seeds or stems of various plants and trees
(whereas herbs usually come from the leafy part of a plant).”
We all have at least salt and pepper in the kitchen. Although salt is
technically a mineral, we use it to spice up our food. Pepper is a true spice
with a long and checkered past dating back to ancient Egypt. I hope you have a
pepper grinder and use it. Fresh ground pepper is a delight.
Spices enhance the flavor of food. If you take a stroll down the spice
section of the typical grocery store there are many basic choices. Stores with
bulk spice sections will usually have a greater selection of spices. If you go
to a specialty store, say an Asian or Indian market the choices become more
exotic. And of course, there are online stores selling every kind of spice
imaginable. There is usually an array of ground and whole at each venue.
I began buying whole spices many years ago to combat the short shelf
life of ground spices. I haven’t purchased ground cumin in I don’t know how
long. I buy whole seeds. When I need cumin, I toast the measure of seeds and
then grind them myself with my mortar & pestle. The flavor is fresh and
pungent. As a side note, I also grow most of my own herbs and dry those for use
throughout the year. Again, dried whole leaves from herbs keep much longer than
ground. Just rub them in the palms of your hand to crush them and then measure
them out.
Also there are spice mixes which are specialty blends for various
cuisines: curries, biryani, masalas, rubs, creole, taco, 5-spice, jerk, adobo,
pumpkin pie, chili powder…..all a combination of spices and herbs. I have no
issue with purchasing a spice blend. It’s easy buy a jar and make your dish. My
desire when cooking is to have the flavor be as full as possible. I have not
always had that experience with purchased spice blends. Or maybe after
beginning to use whole spices and making my own blends, I felt the store bought
lacking. And after reading the labels of blends I discovered that ingredients
that weren’t even spices (mostly stuff to extend shelf life, I think).
 |
| Mise en Place for Ras El Hanout |
I discovered recipes for making the blends from a spice book I
purchased many years ago. The book primarily calls for ground spices. While
wandering through various food websites I discovered recipes using whole
spices, toasting them, combining them with whole herb leaves and grinding to
fine powder. Amazing smells and flavor when the blend is so fresh.
The equipment needed is not fancy. A small frying pan, I prefer cast
iron and a method to pulverize the blend. A blender or food processor doesn’t
work for this. A mortar and pestle needs more elbow grease and will not
pulverize as well but it works. A coffee grinder works perfectly but buy one
just for this purpose. Using it for both coffee and spices will have everything
tasting like coffee.
 |
| Toast until fragrant |
I received a spice grinder for a gift. It looks like an over-sized
coffee grinder. The biggest difference is the bowl that the spices are poured
into detaches from the grinder and can be easily washed. Whereas a coffee
grinder bowl does not detach and can only be wiped out.
Here is a recipe for a Moroccan spice blend called Ras El Hanout. There
are 3 ground spices called for cayenne, ginger and turmeric. You could acquire dry
cayenne chiles to use. I did find some dried whole ginger at a local specialty
market but usually what we find is fresh or ground available. I suppose one
could slice up the fresh ginger, dry it and then grind it. Same with tumeric.
Something to try.
Ras El Hanout
1 whole nutmeg
1 4" cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon anise seed
4 large dried arbol chiles
1 teaspoon peppercorn
3 whole cloves
6 allspice berries
5 green cardamom pods
1 black cardamom pod
1/2 teaspoon grains of paradise
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground ginger
¼ teaspoon saffron threads
1. Using a meat mallet, whack the nutmeg and cinnamon to break them apart. Measure out
all the ingredients except cayenne, tumeric, ginger and saffron, into a bowl to
prepare for roasting. Remove the husks from the green and black cardamom.
2. Heat a 10" heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium
high heat. Roast the spices in the hot skillet until just fragrant. Return the
spices to the bowl to cool.
3. Pour all the roasted spices into a spice grinder or blade coffee
grinder. Grind all ingredients to a fine powder. Add the cayenne, turmeric,
ginger and saffron. Grind for a few seconds to combine. Store in an air tight
container. Now go make a tagine…..
And start using whole spices.
