In combination with each other, spices can make the simplest food tasty and appetizing, and unsuccessful spice combinations can easily spoil even a gourmet dish.
Blends of spices and herbs, sometimes referred to as condiments, are undoubtedly essential ingredients to create amazing dishes. They are able to turn ordinary food into an incredible masterpiece in taste.
Today there are thousands of different books on spices, but they hardly mention mixtures. This book focuses on the various aspects and nuances of making spicy combinations. In it, we will not analyze in detail spices and spices, but only mention some of them, focusing on spicy combinations.
Many aspiring chefs and hobbyists are familiar with this situation: they follow the recipe, use fresh products and quality ingredients, but the dish they cook wants to taste better. Do you know this situation? Why do we often adhere to a clear recipe, strictly monitor the cooking time, and the taste of the dish turns out to be bland and tasteless? We begin to analyze the whole process and understand that we did everything right. So why did the food we cook turn out differently than we expected?
The answer lies in the following: we are afraid and do not know how to use spices and herbs in our daily cooking. I am sure that you have several, and perhaps even dozens of spices and seasonings stored in your kitchen. So why don’t you use these gifts of nature to prepare a truly delicious and healthy dish and then enjoy it?
In this book, you will find the solution to the problems of many chefs. It contains specific instructions on how to learn the art of mixing spices and create unique, aromatic, spicy combinations that can enhance, emphasize and add incredible flavor to any dish.
This book will be equally useful for those who confidently mix spices and know how to use their unique purpose. You will definitely find a new mixture and combination of spices for yourself, which you will certainly add to your favorite dishes.
Almost all spices and herbs come from plants. Some have absorbed the entire plant as a whole, while others only have their individual parts: flowers, roots, bark, leaves, stems, or seeds. It is in them that all the flavoring and aromatic components of spices are hidden.
Freshly cooked spices – lightly pan-fried, crushed in a mortar, or ground into a powder in a coffee grinder – exhibit incredible aromas both individually and in combination.
Experienced cooks never buy concoctions and condiments in the store. They make them themselves in their kitchen. And it does not matter whether this mixture is simple for marinating beef and dressing for pilaf or well-established, universal, homemade combinations are much cheaper, more aromatic, and most importantly, healthier than those which are presented on store shelves.
Another important advantage of home cooking is the fact that you can make a small amount of the mixture and not buy a whole package of seasoning that will be stored on your shelf for many months, which only contributes to the weathering of aromas and loss of rich flavor.
In this book, you will find recipes for mixes from around the world. You will learn how to create truly incredible culinary delights filled with an abundance of flavors and aromas from various cuisines of the world.
The possibilities of spice combinations are truly endless, and the abundance of flavors and aromas from each mix you make will allow you to refine the same dish an infinite number of times.
For example, applying a bit of Carne Asada rub can massively enhance the flavor of your dish. You will get acquainted with a wide variety of dry mixes and spicy pastes, ranging from the most popular to rare combinations. After studying the material, you will be able to play with the aromas and flavors of dishes like never before.
Having the necessary spices and herbs in your kitchen, you can easily make any of the mixtures presented here. Nowadays, most spices can be bought at any store, but you will have to look for some in specialized stores in your city.
I recommend using only whole spices. Before grinding, in most cases, the seeds or spice grains should be slightly warmed up. In this case, essential oils are released, which greatly enhances the taste and aroma.
LIST OF EQUIPMENT FOR WORK WITH MIXTURES
Making the perfect spice mixture or pasta is not difficult. And below, I will describe various tools that will make it easier for you to create spicy combinations.
It is great for mixes that require the course of a sea to medium grind. You just need to crush the seeds with a pestle to the desired grind and mix with the other components of the mixture. Use a mortar to prepare the spices for fine grinding or powder. First, grind the spice seeds, cloves, or cinnamon in a mortar and then place them in a coffee grinder.
This process will help you prevent an incomplete grind in the grinder, as not every appliance can handle this task and create the perfect powder. Chunks of un-milled spices may remain in the grinder without preliminary preparation. Also, the mortar is indispensable for fresh ingredients such as chili, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, etc., which are part of spicy pastes. Avoid substandard and wooden mortars. Get a wide stone mortar,
