Cooking with Herbs/Spices

Lesson 1: An Herbal and Spice Primer

Purchasing & Useful Equipment

My favorites piece of advice on purchasing herbs, by Chef Judy Rodgers from the Zuni Café, is to “choose herbs as you would flowers”, i.e. if they’re pretty and fragrant and avoid any that are wilted and bruised. This advice highlights the single most important fact of this lesson.

The flavor impact of herbs in cooking comes from their oils. Knowing how and when to release these oils maximizes the herbal taste in the finished dish. A strong, full aroma in the leaf or stem means the oil is at its most flavorful.

The best advice on purchasing spices is to purchase them whole. “Freshly ground pepper” has become an ubiquitous listing in all recipes in cook books – but the difference between fresh and old ground pepper is acute. Grind some pepper and leave it out a few days. Then grind some fresh pepper and compare the two. The fresh pepper will be much more potent. This is true of all spices. Only by buying them whole can you control the freshness. Also, as an added benefit, whole spices are usually less expensive to buy than ground spices.

Of course, there is the problem of convenience when buying spices whole, i.e. they usually need to be ground before using. There are two pieces of cooking equipment that I find very useful. The first is a pepper grinder that works. I don’t know why so many don’t work. Over the years I have bought at least a dozen good quality pepper grinders, all of which eventually didn’t hold the grind level or broke. Finally, I bought one that does work. The Vic Firth peppermill was designed by a member of the Boston symphonic orchestra. The peppermills come in a variety of styles; see the bibliography for a source. I have one for black pepper, and one in which I keep white peppercorns.

To grind whole spices, or blend combinations together, the best piece of equipment is a small, electric coffee bean grinder. I have one I use exclusively for spices. You can find them for $30, see the bibliography. It really is best to reserve the grinder for spices; otherwise the spices and coffee beans will flavor each other.

One final purchasing advice. Unless you live in a large urban area and can go to a specialized herb and spice store when you are sure of turnover, it is very worthwhile to buy herbs and spices by mail order. I’ve listed two great sources in the Bibliography. This way, you are sure not only that the herbs and spices are fresh, but that they are high quality and accurately labeled. If you pay for Tellicherry pepper, you want to know that it’s top grade and from India.

  1  2  3  4