For years my diet consisted of very few things cooked with virtually no creativity and flavor was added with bottled sauces after cooking. Occasionally (perhaps even as an afterthought) some seasoned salt was thrown on to change things up. If you are a picky eater, one thing that can broaden your taste experince without adding anything you won’t eat is spicing your food differently. This does not necessarily mean hot and spicy.
Looking at my spice selection at home turned up seasoned salt, oregano, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. I knew I would need more and since most of these were many years old so I discarded them and started from scratch. Spices come in a huge variety of flavors. A quick pass through your market’s spice section will show many dozens of potential spices, but buying them like this can break the budget as each small bottle costs several dollars.
It is far easier and less expensive to just buy a spice rack. I purchased a rack complete with 20 bottles for about 25 dollars. This works out to 1.25 per spice and was enough to get me started. Since then I have added spices as recipes call for them.
Now that I had the basics it was time to learn how to use them. Much has been written on the subject, but there is no substitute for actually tasting them on food. I did this by cooking a small amount of chop meat with some of each spice and taking notes. This should also be repeated with ground chicken as many spices taste different with poultry.
Once you have the basics of the spices down, further experimentation can be used to develop spice combinations you enjoy. Even the most variety challenged diet will seem greatly expanded with proper use of seasonings. You will be amazed at the difference.
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