Favorite spice

[researchgal]

h=thyme

s=red pepper flakes

[CathyL]

Herb: thyme

Spice: smoky Spanish paprika

Me too. I use more hot pimenton than sweet.

Cakewalk, Kyocera makes a ceramic ginger grater that will save your knuckles. It's pricey but useful for other tasks as well. Mine came from PCD. Click here.

[jhlurie]

Sporty Spice? Baby Spice? Sexy Spice? I can't decide.

[Dave the Cook]

no, i do not consider frish herbs such as mint & rosemary "spices".  nor do i consider them as such when they're in their dried forms.  they are leaves harvested from plants & are "herbs".  my favorite herb is definitely thyme.

my favorite spice is comino, as i call it in spanish.  cumin in english.  coriander rivals it on some days, but i just try & let them complement each other, something they do well.

If you like cumin and coriander, you'll like cilantro.

Joke, right?

[Spoonful]

Sporty Spice?  Baby Spice?  Sexy Spice?  I can't decide.

How about Old spice

[mhadam]

How about Old spice 

*happy sigh* old spice deodorant... *deep inhale* but that's another thread

spponful -- thanks for the recipe... i don't like chutney's so I'll pair it with some baked apples and pears, haricots verts and the basmati rice tinted with tumeric for a glorius color

[aaustin]

Thought it might help to have a list of spices --even though this list is surely missing a few.

http://www.elkadergeneralstore.com/spices_list.htm

[mhadam]

Thought it might help to have a list of spices --even though this list is surely missing a few.

http://www.elkadergeneralstore.com/spices_list.htm

Thanks for the link -- it shows something I never considered a spice, even in dried form -- mushrooms.

[aaustin]

That is interesting! And odd. But they also list bacon bits and butter powder as spices, which is pretty hysterical! I really posted a great link....

So... the spice I use all the time in all sorts of things is celery salt, which I'm not sure is a spice...but it's especially good in rice. Not very exciting, but it's good. I also really like anise seed in marinara sauce--I usually make a tea of sorts out of it so I don't have to get the seeds in my teeth....

Herbs: both fresh cilantro--in all my Asian cooking, and basil, which I cannot get enough of. My basil plants are starting to get black with the cooler weather, so I'm using them up with the last of my tomatoes....

[mhadam]

So... the spice I use all the time in all sorts of things is celery salt, which I'm not sure is a spice...but it's especially good in rice. Not very exciting, but it's good. I also really like anise seed in marinara sauce--I usually make a tea of sorts out of it so I don't have to get the seeds in my teeth....

What does the celery salt make the rice taste like? Is there a noticeable change in the rice? *very curious, i am*

the anise seed in marinara would be nice.

[aaustin]

I don't know how to describe the taste of the celery salt in rice...it just gives it a little something more than kosher salt.

I have this theory--I used to cook for a living, but was never formally trained, so I'm sure this isn't only my theory--that in every good dish there is usually some layering, a complexity. When a dish doesn't have it, usually you'll hear comments like, "this needs something."

So the trick might be a twinge of cinnamon in a lime marinade for chicken, but it can also be a bit of celery salt in otherwise plain rice. It's that "what is that? it's good!" thing.....

[Nick]

I keep changing as time goes by. Sometimes it's been oregano, sometimes cumin, sometimes the two of them together. Many years ago I really got into tumeric. Right now it's thyme. And here and there, rosemary and parsley. Now that I'm forced to think of it, I really don't have a favorite. It depends on what I'm cooking - though I think I'm going to look into allspice soon. And coriander.

[stefanyb]

This thread got me to think about Ashkenazi cooking. The only spice I can think of would be paprika and the only herbs, dill and parsley. Am I wrong about this? (And should someone tell the "chef" at Sammy's that he/she needs a refresher course in cooking?)

[torakris]

spice: cumin

herb: basil

I find I turn to these the most, they work in the widest variety of dishes.

As to my absolute favorites, these change weekly. Right now it would have to be ground ancho chili pepper and mint.

[Jinmyo]

spice: cumin

herb: basil

I find I turn to these the most, they work in the widest variety of dishes.

As to my absolute favorites, these change weekly. Right now it would have to be ground ancho chili pepper and mint.

[KarenS]

Favorite herbs: tarragon, thyme, basil, and cilantro

favorite spice: vanilla bean (Tahitian or Hawaiian)

I love nutmeg too- the smell is wonderful.

Cilantro IS corriander (in France it is called that). In Hawaii it is called "Chinese Parsley". The dried seeds from Cilantro (or corriander) are what you find in the markets as corriander seeds.

[Nick]

Cilantro IS corriander (in France it is called that). In Hawaii it is called "Chinese Parsley". The dried seeds from Cilantro (or corriander) are what you find in the markets as corriander seeds.

You got me to thinking about that, so I did a little search and came up with this. Looks like an interesting site. Thanks.

Gernat Katzer's Spice Dictionary

Here's the link to coriander -

http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/eng...l?Cori_sat.html

[jhlurie]

Favorite Herbs as well as Spices now too?

The only guy named Herb I know is Herb Alpert, and I'd hate for him to be my "favorite".

[Suvir Saran]

You got me to thinking about that, so I did a little search and came up with this. Looks like an interesting site. Thanks.

Gernat Katzer's Spice Dictionary

It is indeed a very good site.

I have been visiting that site for some years now.

This man know a lot about spices.

[cakewalk]

This thread got me to think about Ashkenazi cooking.  The only spice I can think of would be paprika and the only herbs, dill and parsley.  Am I wrong about this?

I think good Ashkenazi cooking has quite a bit more (it at least has the addition of garlic and pepper), but your post pretty much describes the way my mother cooked. Paprika and salt were the only two spices, and dill and parsely were the herbs, and they were used in chicken soup only (they came with the "soup greens" my mother bought every week). And that was it.

[Spoonful]

spponful -- thanks for the recipe... i don't like chutney's so I'll pair it with some baked apples and pears, haricots verts and the basmati rice tinted with tumeric for a glorius color

Sounds delightful! How did it turn out?