Let’s Get Spicy: Getting the most out of your Herbs and Spices.

One of the most influential parts of any dish or meal lies within the subtle nuances of the spices and herbs we use to season our dishes. The most basic of these seasonings, such as kosher salt and freshly ground pepper can help to bring any meal the flavor profile we want to achieve. A majority of people don’t understand how to use these spices and herbs to elevate their culinary game, but here I am to give you the basics so that you don’t fall victim to that mile long spice rack we see in the local grocery store.

-Basic Seasoning-

• Salt

  The first seasoning we are going to look at is salt. No matter what meal or dish you plan on creating, having the right type of salt is crucial. There are plenty of different choices when it comes to salt, but a few of these choices are definitely a better choice. Iodized table salt has been something that every person has had in their kitchen for years, yet most people don’t understand that table salt should only be used in baked goods, because it is a fine salt that doesn’t provide much for flavor for how terrible it is for you. Kosher salt is one of the most versatile salts in our arsenal, being able to easily take a pinch to season anything from steaks to that soup stock you plan on making. You can also substitute a fine ground sea salt for that table salt in most of your baking recipes. Sea salt can also be used for many different recipes where you could also use kosher salt.

• Pepper

  Pepper is one of those seasonings where freshness is key. Getting yourself a pepper mill and buying whole peppercorns is ideal, because you can control the grind size, and the fresh taste of pepper that was just ground is better than pre ground pepper from a shaker any day. There are different types of pepper too, such as black, white, and specialty peppers such as pink. Black pepper is the go to for most people, because it is the most readily available, but I would highly suggest getting white pepper as well, so that you can season a béchamel, mornay, or lighter colored foods without seeing the black specks of pepper in it. One side note is that white pepper has a more subtle flavor than black pepper, so you will need to use a little bit more than the black counterpart.

-Spice Rack Basics-

This section is going to go over basics when it comes to storage and use of herbs and spices. The main difference between an herb and a spice is that an herb is the leafy part of a plant, while a spice is a seed(generally, with exceptions).

• Spices should be purchased whole, not ground, and stored in a dark, cool place, in an air tight container. Spices should also be used within six months of purchase to ensure freshness, since some spices may lose freshness, and/or become stale. Some recipes call for a “cracked” spice, which you can do yourself with the backside of a pan, a kitchen mallet or any blunt kitchen object. You may be asking, “what about ground spices, how can I do that,” and the answer is fairly simple. You can used one of the old style push top coffee grinders to grind your spices. These are affordable, and excel at achieving whatever grind you want, whether it be coarse, medium or fine. This style of grinder is ironically terrible at grinding coffee, but is definitely a good choice for herbs and spices. A food processor may also be used for this purpose, or even a mortar and pestle.

• Herbs Should also be purchased whole and fresh. Storage for most herbs consists of placing them in a container of sorts and storing them in the chill chest. Herbs also go stale much faster than spices, being the leafy part of the plant. When searching for herbs, look for vibrant colors on most herbs, and make sure they don’t have any rot, or dead spots on the leaves. Herbs will generally keep well for about a week before starting to go downhill, so if you want to preserve your herbs, place them on a baking sheet and slide into the oven/toaster oven at the lowest temperature your hot box can handle, until the herbs are good and dry. If your oven is equipped with convection(fan) turn that on to circulate the air.

• Powders can stay out of the kitchen. Between garlic and onion powder, it is always ideal to use fresh garlic and onion. Garlic paste can be made from fresh garlic in a matter of a minute or so. Start by crushing and peeling your garlic, ad a pinch of salt and start rocking your knife over the garlic over and over until it creates a paste. When you want the flavor of garlic or onion, but don’t want the flavors to be overbearing, use shallots. Shallots are in the same family as onions, and provide a well balanced flavor to meals.

The general idea between herbs, spices, and seasonings is that fresher is always better. If you can’t find a spice or herb fresh, you may use the jarred counterpart from the big box store, but make sure you use it relatively fast, or risk losing most of the flavor benefits that these pre-ground herbs and spices provide.

You also have to know when to use your herbs and spices in your recipes. Some spices will burn when high heat is applied, so for that reason we add them at the end of our recipe(e.g. pepper. pepper will burn and won’t taste right if burnt, so add the pepper at the end of your cooking, such as with steak, or eggs). Salt should be used at most steps of our cooking process, especially when cooking meats. Salt will season a meat, drawing moisture out and redistributing the moisture within the meat. Eggs are one of the only exceptions to seasoning with salt prior to cooking, since they will lose the golden color of the yolk to a greyish color, and become watery. This is why we season our eggs when they are just about completely done. we can adjust salt and pepper levels at the end of most recipes to ensure the best tasting food. Herbs and spices are a little trickier than the basic salt and pepper needs of a dish. herbs infused into butter is a way to enhance meats without burning the herbs, while you can use herbs and spices in stocks and broths and simmer them for hours without burning them, but extracting all the flavor you can.

I hope this little intro to basic herbs, spices, and seasonings helped give you the basic knowledge behind how to use these flavor enhancers in your every day life, and get the most out of them. Please feel free to leave a comment to let me know anything you would like to dive into a little deeper surrounding the world of spices. Thank you for coming, and As Always. Stay Happy. Stay Healthy. Stay Cooking.

Nobrega’s Kitchen LLC