Power To The Kitchen! (Spice Up Your Life)
Are you a bit careful or clueless with spices?
Let me share my experience with playing around with spices, and give you my ultimate spice rack list!
Bland, or red hot?
Those are not your two options. Spices are wonderful, amazing, magical - and probably a bigger part of why you love certain dishes than you realise. A well-seasoned meal is truly, so much of the time, what will make guests go “what is your secret?” And the awesome thing is; it can even stay a secret if you wish, because once the spice goes in, it’s pretty much invisible! …Apart from turmeric, maybe.
So what spices should you have in your cupboard? Honestly - I can’t really give you a straight up list. Okay, I am going to at the bottom of this page, but keep reading. What you “should” have really depends if you are in to proper hot spicy food, or at least like to flirt with it, what kind of cuisine you are a fan of and so much more. The great news is, spices, at least dry, ground versions, are usually really, really cheap. And I mean, insanely cheap, if you keep track of how long you have some of these in your cupboard. So if you are curious about playing around with spices - and let me just emphasise - this may be the best way for you to learn to cook unique dishes, then I would just grab two or three new ones for the next handful of shopping trips you take. Do a tidy of your kitchen cupboard first though, and check what you have so you don’t get any duplicates (you may have some saffron that you’ve neglected for the last two years, and it’s probably still fine!). If you have a lovely meal at a restaurant and you can’t put your finger on what smells or tastes so good, you are allowed to ask the waiter or chef what that lovely fragrance or flavour is. Unless they are extremely protective of their recipes, they will most likely just be flattered and share with you.
What I’ve found fun is discovering how different cultures love the same spices, but use them quite differently. I was super frustrated when I was trying to find cardamom (or cardamon/cardamum, if you prefer - same thing) when I started cooking, living in the UK. One of the most distinctive smells from my childhood is cardamom; we use it a lot in baking and in cooking of sweet dishes, like Norwegian waffles (the BEST), sweet buns, and other pastry. But in the UK cardamom is associated with Indian cuisine (and yes, I am sure they used it before us Norwegians! Don’t come for me in the comments please) - and the cardamom you could buy here would only come in pods, rather than ground as I was used to. The reason is that in savoury dishes you might not need very much at all, and you’ll just throw in a couple of pods to add flavour like you would with bay leaves, or you’d ground one or two and put the powder in. When making sweet, Norwegian desserts with cardamom however, you sometimes use up to a teaspoon, and that’s a lot of work grounding the seeds from the pods every time! Anyway, I am going on about something pretty niche here, but my point is that I had to go on a bit more of a hunt for one of my more beloved spices, but once I did I ordered a big batch which will last me a long time. Most of the other spices I use I’ve bought from my local supermarket, most shops have a pretty big selection, actually! So get a few new ones and test them out - you might recognise the smell and be like “oh so THAT’s what that is! I love that!” - I’ve had that experience a few times on my amateur cooking journey.
So, what about those spice mixes you can buy from the shop then, Everyday Spice, Taco mix, jerk seasoning, curry powder and similar? Hey - I use those. There’s no shame in that, and I hope I’ve made it clear by now that The From Scratch Body is not about joining some “from scratch cult” where a high pitched alarm goes off the second you use something ready made. Not. At. All! Some of those spice mixes are magical, I can often not put my finger on exactly what makes them so delicious (which makes me a bit wary of them too) and they often have a great mix of all the things you need for your favourite dishes. You will see some of them pop up in my recipes, and you are welcome to use a mix yourself or mix it together from scratch.
What I will say is this: mixing it yourself will put you back in control. Especially of how much salt you use. We often season something with salt and pepper, and then add a spice mix, which, most likely has a lot of salt in it as well (often why it’s so tasty; salt brings out flavours and that’s why we love it). But it might not be the highest quality salt that is best for your heart, and your meal might be tasty, but you find yourself dehydrated afterwards without understanding why - you didn’t put that much salt in, right? Also, for some of us, there might be some preservatives and other not-quite-natural ingredients in those mixes that don’t agree with us, and I want to direct your attention to it, as you might forget about that when trying to identify how you felt after a meal. Maybe chilli is fine for you, but maybe not in a mix of other spices and preservatives and flavour enhancers. This can be different for all of us, and even vary from day to day.
Lastly, you really do feel like a badass master chef when you use a big ol’ dash of cumin, a bit of garlic, a pinch of chilli, some smoked paprika and some cayenne pepper instead of a bag of taco spice mix. Because what I listed there, is pretty much what that is. Grab a glass of cumin and smell it, you will understand what I mean. And this is the quickest way to learning what spices you love: just read the ingredients on the back of the pack! And then try to recreate it yourself. You can get pretty close, even if it’s not entirely identical.
With all that being said, here are my suggestions for some of the staple spices that can really elevate your from-scratch cooking:
The rest of this list will consist of dried, ground spices but I will definitely recommend having a good bit of garlic and some chillies in your cupboard (I store garlic in the cupboard and chillies in the fridge). They last a long time and nothing beats chopping up some of the real stuff and adding it to your dishes.
Garlic powder - as a nice backup if you’re out of garlic this is a nice, quick and easy way to add some flavour.
Chilli powder - I use it all the time
Salt: sea salt, both fine and course - these will come up in so many recipes and are much better for you
Cumin - great for a huge amount of dishes, Mexican and Indian-inspired especially, in my experience
Cayenne pepper - gives a lovely, but kind kick
Pepper - both black and white - hey, have you ever stopped to notice how great pepper makes food? Do!
Ground cardamom - if you’re wondering why, you didn’t read above. Go back, you cheater!
Paprika, regular and smoked - the former is very mild but gives a gorgeous colour, latter is tasty and fun!
Onion salt/onion powder - this really elevates so many dishes, it’s brilliant
Oregano (/mixed herbs) - oregano makes my heart smile. You wanna cook-a Italiano? You must-a have!
Garam masala - just absolute must have for any curry/Indian dishes - and more!
Some mixes that are nice to have: Everyday Spice, Hot/Mild Curry Powder (depends on your preference), and yes, even a taco mix you like is totally fine, I won’t judge, because… I use them too.
And let me finish by flying the flag for MSG: If you’re still under the impression that MSG is some mysterious, horrible flavour enhancer only found in Chinese food, let me be utterly clear when I say that this has been widely debunked and the truth is, MSG is found in tons of food that you eat without realising and probably, without feeling bad afterwards. You can even buy it yourself and cook with it, it is totally safe - and delicious! Of course as I have experienced myself, we all react to different types of food and I cannot guarantee that you won’t react to MSG (I’m not your doctor!), but you are just as likely to react to any other type of food. So please, don’t ask your local Chinese takeaway to not use MSG, it’s just silly and frankly, insulting. And try to cook with a pinch of it yourself!
Where do you stand on spices? Can you handle the heat, or do you just like a little taste of flavour? What are some of your favourite spices in the kitchen? Share your thoughts in the comments or on Instagram and tag me @TheFromScratchBody and use the hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!
