Pelican Parts Forums - Favorite / most used spices / seasonings

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Nutmeg....in my Kahlua!

Health:
Garlic- blood thinner, topical antiseptic
Rosemary- topical flea repellent
Mint- respiratory
Cilantro- detox heavy metals (from welding/cigs/etc)
Cayenne/spicy- anti-inflammatory for joints

Quote:

Originally Posted by imcarthur (Post 9146644)

Szeged paprika is the one.
Ian

Yes!
Hot and Sweet Szeged paprika.
Their rib rub is quite good as well.

Kosher salt or sea salt. Iodized salt kind of ruins stuff...

Fresh ground black pepper.

I use a lot of black pepper. I like Tony Zachery for premix spices, paprika and chili powder if I don't want as much salt. I seem to use a lot of lemon or orange juice. Squeeze a few oranges into your pulled pork, yeah. If I am doing a flambe I will use some ground cinnamon, to be flashy. Pinch of cinnamon in your pot of chili is all right.

Does bacon count as a seasoning?

Lots of good/interesting stuff folks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobra (Post 9147097)

Does bacon count as a seasoning?

Depends if that's bacon grease, or actual bacon. :D

I use montreal steak seasoning...

If you are cooking Indian food, you can't be without

Nihari masala
Karahi gosht masala
ghost do pyaza
garam masala
badi elaichi or Black Cardamom
jeera or Cumin
dhania or Coriander seeds
fennel seeds
cinnamon stick
cloves
hing or Asafoetida

Schrieber's 12 Pepper Blend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otter74 (Post 9146253)

I will take a slightly expansive view of what "spice" means to also include interesting, punchy flavor ingredients:

Aleppo pepper - it's fantastic, and I use like black pepper, so I use lots of it.

Pimenton de la vera - spanish smoked paprika, available sweet, bittersweet and hot. I have all three, like hot the best. Best "paprika" ever and I look for reasons to use it.

Berbere - an Ethiopian chile-based spice. I can get this locally, and also have some somewhat different (there's no one recipe) an largely-unground berbere from another place.

Harissa - this usually a paste rather than a dried spice. Moroccan red pepper-based spice, there are, as ever, different ways to make it. I have a couple of versions, both in refrigerated jars

Urfa pepper - this is another terrific pepper. Urfa pepper is a dark, smoky pepper from Turkey. I have flakes that I get locally, and paste that I got in Istanbul.

Speaking of Turkey, Turkish pepper and tomato pastes. You can get this in the US in jars, but it's not as good as what you can get for $$cheap$$ at a market if you happen to be in Turkey.

Za'atar - middle eastern (Egyptian, maybe); different ways to make it (surprise) but generally herbs like thyme and oregano with sesame seeds, sumac and salt

When I want chile powder, I make my own. Easy to get a dozen kinds of dried peppers from a Mexican market. toast in pan, add other ingredients, grind in coffee grinder.

Mint - dried, fresh, whatever. Dried mostly in Turkish stews, fresh in salads and etc.

Pomegranate molasses

Preserved lemons - these pack a fantastic amount of punch for their size.

For sweet-ish spices, I adore cardamom. I use green cardamom pods in savory stuff, too.

Parsley, mint, cilantro, basil, dill, chives growing in the back yard.

I am fortunate to have a terrific spice store near me in Chicago, a great middle eastern market on the north side, and other sources for more or less anything I can think of that I might want. All of the above may correctly suggest that I love (!) to cook and really, really like northern Mediterranean, north African, Levantine, Turkish, Sephardic, Persian, etc. food.

cool list. We may travel in the same stores. I grow chives, tarragon, basil, parsely cilantro, origanno and sage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6 (Post 9147240)

We have many/most of those, but sadly, we don't cook much Indian. Fortunately, we have a couple of good Indian restaurants where we can get it.

Old Bay. Comes in a little yellow can. Excellent on seafood.

I like http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1465069301.jpg

I really like
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1465069329.jpg

But it's hard to beat the gold standard:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1465069379.jpg

I know I know, but Who TF am I trying to impress?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcommin (Post 9147274)

cool list. We may travel in the same stores. I grow chives, tarragon, basil, parsely cilantro, origanno and sage.

Indeed. I use the Spice House in Old Town, the middle eastern market at Foster and Clark in Andersonville, sometimes one of the Indian markets on Devon, and sometimes Zingerman's in Ann Arbor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum (Post 9147298)

We have many/most of those, but sadly, we don't cook much Indian. Fortunately, we have a couple of good Indian restaurants where we can get it.

Lot of good Indian restaurants around here too but using all of those, and a few other things, and some goat, I made the best (subjective) Indian food I've ever tasted using a recipe from a friend from Mumbai. I honestly can't understand, especially here in Cambridge, why there isn't better Indian food to be had.

With her help, I could open a kick-ass, high end Indian restaurant that people would flock to to get flavors you can't get anywhere else.

I find it funny how certain spices become the de jour flavor for a while. It used to be cilantro. Now the hip and trendy spice is sriracha. Ghost pepper is starting to show up a lot too. These spices become the Neru jacket of the spice rack (if you are a boomer you understand).

For me, I mostly use the basics:
Salt, black and cayenne pepper,
garlic, onion,
caraway, poppy seed,
parsley, oregano, basil.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otter74 (Post 9147713)

and sometimes Zingerman's in Ann Arbor.

Only a block to the west is: Ann Arbor Spice Merchants - 16 Reviews - Herbs & Spices - Kerrytown Ann Arbor - Ann Arbor, MI - Photos - Phone Number - Yelp
They have everything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul K (Post 9147325)

Old Bay. Comes in a little yellow can. Excellent on seafood.

Try some Old Bay with green onions (the white part), mixed into mayonaisse and dabbed onto fresh hot french fries with a bit of sea salt and a cold premium lager. I'm telling you, that's living.

SAffron is my favorite.

i rarely use it. i have a tin of great stuff, but i kinda hoard it.

+1 on Tony Chachere's - I used to live in Louisiana and iit was the go-to spice mix for the locals. My neighbor was a second cousin of Tony - same last name.

Tony's is the only spice mix I use and most times it is when camping. At home I use my own set of spices and herbs. It is part of the fun throwing them in there to see what they do.

Now I am hungry!

G