2008 October 9Why does everything I cook taste the same?
I used to be the bulk manager for a food co-op and ever since I’ve bought all my spices in bulk. I’ve been collecting empty jars at yard sales so now I keep a pretty diverse set of fresh spices on hand for not much money. Every so often I go through and re-label bottles and throw out old stale remnants, today I just I made a list of wht I’ve got on hand.
- allspice
- I got this last Thanksgiving when we were out of cinnamon, and the supermarket I went to buy some more at was also out of cinnamon. I’ve always thought that there’s nothing allspice can do that cloves and cinnamon can’t.
- anise
- Anise is pretty close to fennel. I’ve had this a long time.
- basil
- Fresh is better, but this is for those long winters when there’s no fresh around.
- black caraway
- I got this when I used to live around a bunch of Armenian stores. Don’t really know how to use it, though.
- black cardamom (elache)
- I stick one of these pods into the water when I make basmati rice. They have a great smoky and sweet flavor, but it looks like a big nasty cockroach fell into the rice when it’s done cooking.
- black pepper
- One of the few objects that I have from my mother’s house growing up is a 70s mushroom-shaped salt shaker/pepper grinder. To fill it with peppercorns, you have to empty out the salt from the top and turn it upside-down and slowly coax them in one at a time through a small hole in the bottom. Fresh ground pepper is far superior to stale pre-ground pepper, but I still begrudgingly attend to the maintenance of this heirloom pepper mill with the same bad attitude I had as a child.
- cardamom pods
- I love cardamom. Somebody should make a bathroom cleanser that smells like cardamom so I could buy it.
- cayenne
- The go to spice for adding heat.
- celery seed
- The big soup stand-by.
- chipotle
- One of my favorites. I get the bags of dried peppers at the bodega for a dollar and grind it up myself.
- cinnamon
- I’m not a big cinnamon fan, but I still go through a big jar of it every year because I add it to black beans. I love black beans.
- citrus
- Made this myself. Dried out a grapefriut peel and a couple of orange peels and then ground them up. It’s the key ingredient for making a convincing General Tso’s sauce.
- clove
- One of my favorite smells, but difficult to cook with without overpowering the food. I buy these whole and grind them as needed.
- coriander
- About everything I make gets this.
- cumin
- When I first started making food in large batches to freeze I used to make a lot of chili. I was big into chili and then discovered cumin. Whoa. More chili followed.
- curry
- Maybe I should find a more potent variety or mix my own, but I usually add an inordinate amount of curry to a dish before I’m satisfied.
- dandelion root - toasted
- I usually use this as a bailout if I get to the end of making something and it it tastes too thin or too spicy. Dandelion adds richness without beeing too imposing.
- dill
- Looks and tastes great on cucumbers.
- elder berries - dried
- These are pretty unobtrusive flavorwise. Good for when you need random tiny black specks in your food.
- eyebright
- In a softheaded wiccan moment I bought this to counteract the effects of staring so long at a computer monitor all day.
- fennel
- Jeanie started adding fennel seed to curries, which was a great idea. Usually this just sits around unused.
- garam masala
- I keep thinking this would be good in muffins. That, or if I ever made two curries at once, this would be the second one.
- ginger
- I always have fresh on hand, so I only use this for baking.
- ginkgo
- I got this in bulk on the upper east side. I spent a dollar fifty on it and still don’t know what to do with it.
- lemon pepper
- I made my own. We had a bunch of organic lemons and I dried out the peels in a metal strainer for 2 weeks by a window that gets good sun. Then ground them up with some black peppercorns. I smells way better than anything I ever bought from the store.
- marjoram
- This became one of my favorites a few years ago. The smell invokes fresh laundry for me. Savory fresh laundry.
- mint
- I’ve never used this. I keep thinking I might make a raita or something. Not yet.
- mustard seed
- See elder berries.
- nettles
- See eyebright.
- nutmeg whole
- Fresh grated nutmeg has a bright, citrus quality absent from stale nutmeg powder. You gotta add a pinch to anything cream based and lately, I’ve been adding it to tomato based things, too.
- oregano
- The Mediterranean workhorse.
- paprika
- Pretty mild. Makes things redder. If I was ever going to sell cayenne on the streets, I would cut it with paprika to increase my profits.
- red pepper
- Not the usual dried seeds and shell, this is some oily deep red mojo I got from the Armenian place in Watertown, MA.
- rose hips
- Tart like cranberries and packed with vitamin C. Good in pies.
- rosemary
- This used to be one of my favorites, but now it just tastes like pine trees. I could come back around one day.
- saffron (crude)
- I wish I could remember where I got this because I’m running out. I got a big bag of it for super cheap. Saffron is just the stamen of the crocus plant, but these had the whole pistil too. They had a really subtle flavor, and it totally kicked ass to have tiny red flowers floating in my soup.
- sasparilla
- Kind of a wintergreeny - root beer flavor. Good in pies.
- thyme
- I keep thyme in a bottle.
- unmarked savory herb
- I usually buy in bulk so once I forget what the name of something is, that’s it. I cook by smell anyway. Tarragon?
- white pepper
- White pepper is spicy and transcendent like butt funk or beeswax.
Sorely missing: bay leaf. Are there any spices you have something to say about? Everthing I cook tends to taste the same so I’m looking for some new ideas. Thanks for commenting!
