What Are Spices?
Source of Recipe
ws
Recipe Introduction
Spice Blends
List of Ingredients
Barbecue Rub
Serious students of the barbecue have their personal, secret recipes, but commercial formulations, some excellent, are available at retail. Ingredients are endlessly variable, but they almost always have both sweet and salt elements. A typical example will contain: salt, sugar, pepper, cayenne, chile powder, paprika, mustard powder, and cumin.
Barbecue rubs can be used to marinate and season almost anything that can be cooked in a barbecue or on a grill.
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Curry Powder and Pastes
The word curry comes from the South Indian word 'kari', whose approximate meaning is 'sauce'. In the West, curry is any dish that tastes vaguely Indian and has some pungency.
Curry powder, as a commercial product, is an English invention, formulated for English cooks wishing to recreate dishes experienced during the Raj.
In India cooks rarely, if ever, use curry powder. Each family will roast, grind, and blend a selection of as many as 20 spices and herbs which will vary according to the nature of the dish being cooked, the geographical location, and personal preference.
The most commonly used spices include: cardamom, chilies, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seed, cumin, fennel seed, fenugreek, nutmeg, pepper, and turmeric. Cumin is usually the dominant flavour, and the distinctive colour is supplied by turmeric.
The term garam marsala means 'hot spice', and is probably what the English were attempting to make when they came up with curry powder. It can be purchased, but, like curry powder, is much better when made to order. It typically includes a selection of roasted and ground: coriander seed, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, star anise, and cumin.
Curry paste is a blend of curry powder and ghee (clarified butter). The butter oil prevents the spices from becoming oxidized and thus tends to maintain its flavour and freshness longer; otherwise, use as for curry powder.
Commercial curry powders vary in quality and strength. 'Madras' and 'Vindaloo' are guaranteed to be hot; 'Kashmiri' blends are mild.
Thai red and green curry pastes derive their colouring from red and green chilies respectively. They have the characteristic dominant Thai flavours of galingale ( a ginger-like rhizome), kaffir (lime) leaves, and lemongrass. As Thai ingredients are perhaps more difficult to find than Indian spices, and as Thai curry pastes are usually excellent, these pastes fulfill a very useful role for anyone attempting authentic Thai cuisine.
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Chile powder
A mixture of ground spices traditionally used for chile con carne, its many North American versions, and also in a range of other recipes. It contains dried chilies, cumin, garlic, oregano, and cloves.
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Chinese Five Spice
A Chinese spice mixture that contains star anise, fennel, cloves, cassia bark, and Szechwan pepper. It may also contain ginger and cardamom. The flavour of the star anise is dominant. It is used, sparingly, to flavour meat, poultry and fish, and as a marinade.
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Harissa
Harissa is a fearfully hot North African ingredient made mostly from pounded chilies and added coriander seed, caraway, garlic, and salt, and moistened with olive oil. It is used as an accompaniment for savoury dishes, especially couscous.
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Montreal Steak Spice
Originally used by Eastern European immigrants to flavour and preserve meats, Montreal steak spice contains spices typical of that part of the world: pepper, garlic, chilies, onion, mustard, and coriander seed.
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Piri-piri
Originating in Angola and Mozambique, both former Portuguese colonies, this chili-based sauce is perhaps the sub-Saharan version of Harissa. It is made from vegetable oil, cayenne pepper, minced hot chili peppers, and salt, moistened with vinegar or lemon juice. Any number of additional ingredients may be added.
It can be used to flavour and marinate any meat, poultry, or fish, but it reaches its finest expression in Frango Peri-Peri (chicken piri-piri) which has become almost a national Portuguese dish. Recipe
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