I wonder sometimes who first thought to pick the herbs we use most frequently today and decide to eat it. I’m certainly not complaining. I love my food with lots of flavor. How bland eating might be if all we had was salt and pepper or nothing but the meat, veggies and grains we cook. But I do wonder who was genius and courageous enough to explore the natural vegetation amongst them and pop it in their mouth for a little try.
If you’re not someone who cooks with a lot of spices like rosemary, thyme and sage; you might be wondering how people even know how to incorporate these into their cooking. I know I did before I started adding them into mine.
The key to understanding how to use spices when you cook is two fold…
- What kinds of spices do you like?
- What foods taste best to you with each spice?
When exploring what kind of spices you like, you need to use more than just your palate. When you taste something, you use several senses. Obviously you use the sense of taste. You also use the sense of smell and the sense of touch.
Foods must not only taste good, they also need to smell good and they need to feel good for you to like and desire them.
As an example…I make delicious candied carrots with just a hint of spice. My grandson loves the taste of carrots. He also loves the taste of brown sugar (as most kids do) and cinnamon. The first time he had them, he sniffed them and said “ooohhh, number bramma”. Then he shoved one in his mouth and got a big smile on his face. The taste was pleasing to him. But the moment he began chewing, he also began gagging and that was the end of his love for bramma’s candied carrots. You see, my grandson has a thing with certain textures. He can and does eat crunchy raw carrots. But cook them and the instant he feels that mushy texture on his tongue is the moment his gag reflex kicks into overdrive.
Taste is about much more than a foods flavor. When you pair a spice with different foods, it can take on a completely new flavor. For instance, I absolutely love rosemary. I would venture to say it is my favorite spice. But put rosemary on a perfect medium rare, juicy cut of filet mignon and it’ll ruin the entire meal for me. I don’t like the flavor combination of rosemary and steak – any kind of steak. Now, if you want to add it to stew, that’s great! But not a steak.
The lesson here is that learning to cook with spices is about exploration. Its one of the most incredible adventures you can take in cooking. Once you discover what spices you like and what foods you like them with, cooking with them becomes an adventure and much more fun. It becomes an event of exploration and discovery and our minds crave this kind of activity.
So…I challenge you to begin discovering what flavors and flavor combinations you like. Because when you know this, it becomes easier to look at a recipe and say “ooh, that looks good. But I think I’ll try it with sage instead if thyme and I think I’ll add in a some paprika and maybe a little cayenne too.”
Let’s be cooking buddies! 👩🍳
Food Crush Cooking Connection 