Hello my Foodie Friends. Have you ever walked into a place and smelled your favorite memories? Smells of cooking can trigger memories so strong and real it feels like you’ve been transported back in time and brings a picture as sharp as photograph of a special time in your life. Through food we exchange stories of ourselves and our families. My memories bring me back to a time when our Sunday dinners were a time of gathering around a table crowded with all of the mothers, aunts and grandmothers as they presented their cooking. Sharing food on many occasions, of a rich taste of smells, became part of our collective memories.
Spices have a way of transporting you to another place and time. Whether its memories of smelling basil or mint from the garden for the first time, or the favorite dishes that you remember cooking with them. Each spice or collection of spices has a story, and a wonderful, beautiful one at that. Spices are flavor enhancers! That might seem rather simplistic, but it really sums up how to think about spices and get the best from them. Rather than seeing these strange little bits of bark, seeds and roots as something to be used only on special occasions, or just when a recipe calls for them, look at your spice shelf as flavor enhancers to be added to your cooking (or even drinks) in small quantities at any time. You can add pretty much any spice you like to anything you cook - you’ll soon find there are NO RULES to making something taste delicious – the only way to really understand it is through trial and error.
Having said all that, you shouldn’t normally be able to clearly identify a particular spice in your cooking - if you can taste a spice clearly, the chances are you’ve added too much. If you taste your food as you go and add seasonings in small quantities your cooking will improve and your food will have more flavor. The saying ‘you can always add more, but you can never take away’ is a good one to bear in mind, so just add a little at a time, tasting all the time until you’re happy with it.
Spices can add delicious variety to the foods we eat. But spices and herbs can also be more than flavor enhancers — they are nutritional powerhouses. After all, spices and herbs come from plants which means, they are sources of plant phytonutrients. Many phytonutrients have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or even anti-cancer properties, and in the case of spices, these phytonutrients can be very concentrated. So spices do more than perk up the flavor of your food — they put a natural pharmacy in your kitchen.
For some Americans, one perceived impediment to cooking with spices is the dislike of spicy food, even though spices are not spicy hot, per se. Spices can make food richly flavorful and aromatic, but they make it hot only if you add fresh, powdered or flaked chile peppers. That heat comes with a few benefits — spicy hot food reduces the need for salt, plus it helps the body sweat and potentially remove toxins.
A handful of spices have enjoyed an elevated status, thanks to their potential to help decrease inflammation in the body: cinnamon, garlic, ginger and turmeric. None of these is a magic bullet, of course, but because they also help make food more flavorful and satisfying, there no reason not to use more of them. Cinnamon’s versatility lends itself to sweet and savory dishes. Add cinnamon to your breakfast oats, baked goods or meat marinades. Sprinkle it on roasted vegetables or sauteed leafy greens. Mix it into black bean dishes. Some initial studies claim that cinnamon helps to reduce blood glucose and bad cholesterol.
At Compliments to the Chef located at 33 Railroad Place, we offer many spices that can be used in your culinary creations that become part of your family’s memories. Remember Foodie Friends, “Life Happens in the Kitchen.”
Take Care,
John and Paula
Here are two easy recipes that fit in well with the season of Lent. The first is a hearty fish chowder recipe that includes some wonderful herbs and spices; the second is a healthy steamed fish recipe with ginger and tumeric.