In any number of cookbooks and recipes you will find advice on
which herbs go with what. I’m not going to take that route.
While there certainly are marriages that are tried and tested,
such as tomatoes and basil or lamb and rosemary, the reality is
that the use of herbs is every bit as much a matter of personal
taste as any other aspect of cooking.
Consequently, what I want you to do is to sample as many herbs
as you can and try to marry up the flavors with the foods you
are familiar with. That’s not as difficult as it sounds. Just
close your eyes and think about it.
You will find, after a while, that you will instinctively know
which flavoring to use, when to use it and how much of it you
need. Do this with both fresh and dried herbs. Crush a little
between finger and thumb and smell it. This is much more
important than your sense of taste.
Something magical will happen. You will come to realize that
fresh herbs are not better than dried ones, they simply impart a
different flavor. There are two major exceptions to this.
One is mint, which has a strange musty flavor when dried, and
the other is chives, which are so delicate that the flavor
rarely survives cooking. Using dried chives is therefore pretty
pointless.
One other point to watch out for is that some dried herbs can
remained inedible even after thorough cooking. Rosemary is a
very good example of this and needs to be filtered out of any
liquids in which it has been used as a flavoring.
In any case, fresh or dried, it is better to chop up herbs such
as this before using them.
Using herbs in cooking
Many herbs, such as basil and coriander (sometimes called
Chinese parsley and cilantro in the USA) are terrific simply
torn up in salads. Note that I said torn up and not cut; only
cut herbs if you intend to cook them.
It’s important to recognize that some herbs lose flavor with
extended cooking, even in their dried state. Fortunately it’s
fairly easy to spot which those are.
Tough leaved herbs such as bay can be safely added at the start
of cooking time and will maintain their flavor. In fact, they
may need to be in the food for as long as possible in order for
their flavor to fully develop.
Herbs with light and delicate leaves, however, will lose their
flavor very quickly once in contact with heat. To use basil in a
soup, for example, you needed to add it, not to the hot liquid
as you might expect, but rather to the warm plate you intend to
serve the soup in. Then pour the soup on top of it.
Alternatively, simply sprinkle it on top of the soup and leave
it there. It will make an attractive decoration and impart a
wonderful aroma as you take the soup to the table.
What’s that? You want to use a tureen and server the soup at the
table? No problem. Sprinkle the herb in its raw state on top of
the soup anyway. The effect, when you remove the lid, will be
the same. Just stir it in as you serve.
The spices of life
Most people, including most professional chefs, use spices that
have already been prepared.
That is to say they have been ground up, ready to use. The main
exception to this is probably black pepper, which you should
always grind yourself. Not difficult. You can buy a pepper
grinder just about anywhere and the peppercorns are available in
any supermarket.
Of course you can, if you wish, go to the trouble of buying a
pestle and mortar, tracking down the raw spices and then grind
them yourself. If you do this, you will be richly rewarded with
deep and penetrating flavors. You may also find that you get
tired of doing it very quickly. However I would highly recommend
it for a special occasion, or a wet weekend in Bargo.
Generally speaking, though, the shop bought variety are fine,
providing you don’t keep them hanging around in a cupboard for
too long. They will lose their flavor.
As with herbs, it’s very important that you learn the taste and
smell of each individual spice and, uniquely, its pungency. This
last item is one that is frequently overlooked, even by
experienced cooks.
Just about everybody is aware that chili needs to be used
carefully for obvious reasons. But for some reason they do not
pay the same attention to turmeric,– which is quite delicate,–
and, say, star anise which can strangle an incautious palate at
a hundred paces. Both give themselves away, however, if you
simply take the lid off the jar and sniff them.
Mixing spice
Generally speaking, it is a rare thing to add more than a couple
of spices to the same dish. The obvious exceptions to this are
Asian and Indian dishes, where the carefully blended mix of
flavors will be both traditional and subtle.
You have a choice with these. You either follow a recipe, or you
use one of the many excellent pre-prepared pastes that are now
available. I tend towards the latter choice, although I do still
mix my own spices from time to time.
You should do the same. It’s fun and you learn a great deal
about which spices mix well and which are best kept as an
individual flavoring.
However you choose to cook with spice, treat it with respect and
always add it a little at a time, tasting as you go.
Remember also, that the flavor will change with the length of
cooking time. It may deepen, or it may lessen in its effect.
Only experience will teach you what each individual spice does
and how quickly it does it.
One excellent way to test the effect of adding spice, is to cook
your rice with something like cardamom seeds. These come in
little pods that needed to be cracked open and the seeds
extracted. Do this by placing them on a stable surface, place
the flat of a cleaver blade over them and apply a bit of
pressure. They will open easily. Use about two pods for one dish
of rice.
You could also add some turmeric to the same rice dish. This
will turn it yellow and also add a subtle flavor which
complements the pungency of the cardamom. Call it saffron rice
if you like, very few people will be able to tell the difference.
Rice is a good way to test any number of flavorings. Personally
I find it a bit boring on its own, and I frequently add
something to it to jazz it up a little. Experiment. You will be
pleasantly surprised at what a difference a new flavor can make.
You will also be pleasantly surprised at your growing reputation.