Cooking with spice mixes, pastes and sauces

Alex Cramer, 2018

This cookbook is about the art of mixing herbs and spices.– You will get acquainted with the main theory of mixing the spices and herbs.– You will discover the 35 most popular spices and herbs.– You will find out a description of the 35 most popular varieties of chili peppers.– You will learn many more useful information.And finally you will plunge into the world of spicy combinations and get acquainted with the recipes of more than 300 dry spice mixes, pastes and sauces, as well as their variations.Step by step you will learn the art of fragrant spice balance and the taste's magic of spicy combinations!

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF SPICES AND HERBS

Spices can be added as a separate part to the dish as well as an ingredient to the whole mixture, which will play fragrant and flavor compositions along with other ingredients.

Each individual spice modifies the mixture and adds new hints of flavors and aromas. Just one spice can alter the whole mix beyond recognition adding a new color to it and thus diversify your favorite dish.

Hereafter I will briefly describe the 35 most popular herbs and species that are commonly used in blends. You surely are familiar with each of them but you also might find out completely new ones. Having learned different kinds of spices you can buy it and easily prepare favourite mixture from this book or create your own unique combination for your favorite dish.

In addition to a brief overview, you will find out which spice goes together with other and which products it is blended with.

After reading chapter, you will learn the basics of spice blending art and creating seasoning mixes. You will familiarize yourself with dosing and creating your own unique blends for meat or vegetables, for salads or desserts, for shish kebab or grilling, chicken, fish and seafood.

This does not necessarily mean that one particular spice cannot be combined with something else: this is an approximate and simplified list. But it will help you to combine seasonings and spices with one another and create successful, fancy, balanced and aromatic combinations.

ALLSPICE

It is also known as Jamaican pepper or pimento pepper. This Central America native has flavors and aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper all in one single spice. An incomparable warm and, at the same time, spicy stream of flavors and aromas explain its name. The spice is quite strong, it gives the dishes powerful aroma and changes their taste. Therefore, you should use it carefully. Despite this, it is very slow in giving its flavor to liquid dishes, therefore, it should be added in the beginning of cooking process. Allspice is an integral part of such mixes as baharat and berbere. Also, it is used in various spicy combinations in Jamaican and Caribbean cuisine.

Allspice pairing:

Fruits and vegetables: pineapple, eggplant, peas green, pear, zucchini, cabbage (including sauerkraut), potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, peach, tomato, turnip, beetroot, currant, pumpkin, apple.

Protein product: lamb, beef (stewed, boiled, fried), game (especially quail, rabbit), legumes (peas, buckwheat, rice oats, pearl barley, chickpeas), goat meat, sausages, seafood, nuts, poultry (chicken, turkey), fish (especially fried; herring marinated), pork, eggs.

Other foods: pastry, mushrooms, lemon juice, honey, beverages, biscuits, pies, soups and broths, dough, minced meat and meatballs, fruit compotes and jams, chocolate.

Seasonings and spices: cloves, mustard, ginger, cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, bay leaf, onion, marjoram, nutmeg, black pepper, chili, rosemary, thyme, caraway, garlic.

Cuisines and dishes: English cuisine, Middle Eastern cuisine, curry dishes, Indian cuisine, Caribbean cuisine, Mexican cuisine, North American cuisine, Mediterranean cuisine, Jamaican cuisine.