In many cookbooks and recipes you will find advice on which herbs to combine with what. I’m not going down that road.
While there are certainly marriages that are tried and tested,
like tomato and basil or lamb and rosemary, the reality is
that the use of herbs is as much a matter of
taste like any other aspect of the kitchen.
So what I want you to do is try as many herbs as you can and try to match the flavors with the foods you know. That is not as difficult as it seems. He closes his eyes and thinks about it.
You will find, after a while, that you will instinctively know
what flavoring to use, when to use it, and how much of it
need.
Do this with fresh and dried herbs. Smash a little between
forefinger 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 no better than dried, they just impart a
different flavor. There are two important exceptions to this.
One is mint, which has a strange musty taste when dried, and
the other is chives, which are so delicate that the flavor rarely survives cooking. Therefore, using dried chives is nice.
Useless.
Another point to keep in mind is that some dried herbs can
it remained inedible even after complete cooking. Rosemary is a very good example of this and should be filtered out of any liquid in which it has been used as a flavoring.
In any case, fresh or dried, it is better to chop such herbs.
like this before using them.
Using herbs in cooking
Many herbs, such as basil and coriander (sometimes called
Chinese parsley and cilantro in the US) are fantastic simply shredded in salads. Please note that I said ripped and not cut; only cut herbs if you intend to cook them.
It is important to recognize that some herbs lose flavor with
prolonged cooking, even in its dry state. Fortunately it is
easy enough to spot what they are.
Hard-leaved herbs such as bay leaves can be safely added at first
cooking time and will retain their flavor. In fact, they
may need to be in the food as long as possible so that
its flavor to fully develop.
Herbs with light, delicate leaves, however, will lose their
flavor very quickly once in contact with heat. To use basil in a soup, for example, I needed to add it, not to the hot liquid.
as expected, but to the hot plate you intend
serve the soup inside. Then for the soup on top.
Alternatively, just sprinkle it on top of the soup and leave it
over there. It will make an attractive decoration and impart a
wonderful aroma as you bring the soup to the table.
What’s that? You want to use a tureen and serve the soup in
table? No problem. Sprinkle the herb in its raw state over the soup anyway. The effect, when removing the cap, will be the same. Just stir it while you serve.
the spices of life
Most people, including most professional chefs, use spices that
have already been prepared.
That is, they have been ground, ready to use. the main
the exception to this is probably black pepper, which should
always move. Is not difficult. you can buy a pepper
grinder almost anywhere and peppercorns are available in any supermarket.
Of course you can, if you wish, go to the trouble of buying a
pestle and mortar, tracing the raw spices and then grinding
Themselves.
If you do this, you will be richly rewarded with deep and
pungent flavors. It is also possible that you get tired of doing it very quickly. However, I would highly recommend it for a special occasion or wet weekend in Bargo.
Generally speaking, though, the store-bought variety is fine,
as long as you don’t leave them hanging around in a cupboard for too long. They will lose their flavor.
As with herbs, it is very important that you learn the flavor and
smell of each individual spice and, only, its pungency. East
The last item is one that is frequently overlooked, even by
experienced cooks.
Almost everyone knows that chili should be used
carefully for obvious reasons. But for some reason they don’t pay the same attention to turmeric – which is quite delicate – and, say, star anise that can strangle an unsuspecting palate at a hundred paces.
Both give themselves away, however, if you just take the lid
from the jar and smell them.
spice mix
Generally speaking, it is rare to add more than one pair
of spices to the same dish. The obvious exceptions to this are
Asian and Indian dishes, where the carefully blended mixture of
the flavors will be both traditional and subtle.
You have a choice with these. Either you follow a recipe, or
use one of the many great prepared pastas now available. I lean towards the latter option, although
I still mix my own spices from time to time.
You should do the same. it’s fun and you learn a lot
about which spices mix well and which ones are best preserved as
individual flavoring.
However you choose to cook with spices, treat it with respect and
always add it little by little, tasting as you go.
Remember also, that the flavor will change with the duration of
Time to cook. It can deepen, or it can diminish in its effect.
Only experience will teach you what each individual species does and how quickly it does it.
An excellent way to test the effect of adding spices is to cook
your rice with something like cardamom seeds. these enter
small pods that needed to be opened and the seeds extracted.
Do this by placing them on a stable surface, place the flat side of a
Cut blade over them and apply a little pressure. They will do it
open easily. Use about two pods for a bowl of rice.
You could also add a bit of turmeric to the same rice dish. East
it will turn it yellow and also add a subtle flavor that complements the pungency of the cardamom. Call it saffron rice if you want, very few people will be able to tell the difference.
Rice is a great way to sample any number of flavors. personally
I find it a bit boring on its own, and often add
something to cheer him up a bit. Experiment. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the difference a new flavor can make.
You will also be pleasantly surprised at your growing
reputation.