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Cous Cous, Tagines & Spice Mixes
Have you ever wondered what makes tagine’s and curries taste so great? Why you love salami so much? Even the flavours in gin that are so prominent yet subtly complex. It is all in the spice. Spices have been used for preparing food, drinks and medicine for over 4000 years and hold within some of the greatest secrets is cookery. When you know which spices to use and how they are best treated your local supermarket can offer you a lot more than meat and three veg.
The first and most important distinction to make is between spicy and hot. One of the most common questions asked by customers is “Is that spicy?” Often the dish their asking about is very spicy but not hot at all. This is because the spices used are only aromatic.
If you were to break spices into two very simple categories, hot and aromatic, you would find that most spices are only aromatic.
Spices that come from peppers and chilis are the main ones that add heat. Some of the hottest include paprika, cayenne pepper, dried chili and black or white pepper.
The aromatic spices are the ones that add flavour complexity. Their flavours are usually in the oils that they contain and often need to be heated to release.
Spices also work best when combined with other spices. One of my most loved styles of
cooking and one dependant a varied use of spice is North African cuisine. A very special spice mix used extensively in North Africa cooking is Ras el hanout. Translating roughly as ‘top of the shop’, this mix gets it name from the spice houses that blend there own believing that it is the premium spice mix there shop has to offer. Ras el hanout is made up from over 20 different spices including the infamous Spanish fly adding an aphrodisiac property.
Spices not only work best when combined with other spices they are great with herbs. The basic difference between a herb and a spice is that herbs generally come from soft leafy plants where as spices come from a variety of sources including roots, seeds, bark and flowers. Spices often require slow cooking and should be added at the beginning of the cooking process where by herbs are best chopped roughly and added at the very end or even as garnish.
Like herbs, spices are best used when fresh. It is easy to know if a bunch of parsley is fresh, it will be bright and not wilted, but it can be a little harder to tell if a dried spice is fresh. The easiest way to tell if your spices are fresh is use your nose. Smell them, they should be strongly scented and when crushed or heated release intense aromas.
Always check the used by dates on spices at the store and try and get ones with a used by date as far in the future as possible. Don’t keep more than you need in your cupboard as they will loose there flavour and end up tasting like dust. Remember to store all of your spices in air tight jars.
Have you ever wondered what makes tagine’s and curries taste so great? Why you love salami so much? Even the flavours in gin that are so prominent yet subtly complex. It is all in the spice. Spices have been used for preparing food, drinks and medicine for over 4000 years and hold within some of the greatest secrets is cookery. When you know which spices to use and how they are best treated your local supermarket can offer you a lot more than meat and three veg.
The first and most important distinction to make is between spicy and hot. One of the most common questions asked by customers is “Is that spicy?” Often the dish their asking about is very spicy but not hot at all. This is because the spices used are only aromatic.
If you were to break spices into two very simple categories, hot and aromatic, you would find that most spices are only aromatic.
Spices that come from peppers and chilis are the main ones that add heat. Some of the hottest include paprika, cayenne pepper, dried chili and black or white pepper.
The aromatic spices are the ones that add flavour complexity. Their flavours are usually in the oils that they contain and often need to be heated to release.
Spices also work best when combined with other spices. One of my most loved styles of
cooking and one dependant a varied use of spice is North African cuisine. A very special spice mix used extensively in North Africa cooking is Ras el hanout. Translating roughly as ‘top of the shop’, this mix gets it name from the spice houses that blend there own believing that it is the premium spice mix there shop has to offer. Ras el hanout is made up from over 20 different spices including the infamous Spanish fly adding an aphrodisiac property.
Spices not only work best when combined with other spices they are great with herbs. The basic difference between a herb and a spice is that herbs generally come from soft leafy plants where as spices come from a variety of sources including roots, seeds, bark and flowers. Spices often require slow cooking and should be added at the beginning of the cooking process where by herbs are best chopped roughly and added at the very end or even as garnish.
Like herbs, spices are best used when fresh. It is easy to know if a bunch of parsley is fresh, it will be bright and not wilted, but it can be a little harder to tell if a dried spice is fresh. The easiest way to tell if your spices are fresh is use your nose. Smell them, they should be strongly scented and when crushed or heated release intense aromas.
Always check the used by dates on spices at the store and try and get ones with a used by date as far in the future as possible. Don’t keep more than you need in your cupboard as they will loose there flavour and end up tasting like dust. Remember to store all of your spices in air tight jars.
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