#spices in cooking

[petermorwood]

Here’s a dish from French Cooking Academy, another of my subscribed YouTube channels.

I like the business of stuffing each chunk of beef with a bit of garlic and bacon; I’ve done this with lamb, using garlic and lemon. Another interesting detail is the use of cinnamon, suggesting a way-back-when influence either from the Moors or having access to spices as they passed through from Dpain Spain or North Africa on the way to somewhere else.

Kokkinisto (Greek) and Tajine (Morocco) also use cinnamon - and cloves, and nutmeg, and ginger etc. etc. depending on recipe. I’ve made both, they’re really excellent.

@dduane​ and I got Very Interested because the use of what Mum used to call “cake spices” is also quite medieval and, in DD’s case, adaptable for the Middle Kingdoms project.

The Corsican one recommends rigatoni, cannelloni or similar large hollow pasta (presumably to hold lots of sauce!) For a more medieval approach I’d try Loseyns from late-1300s cookbook “The Forme of Cury” (that’s “cookery” without the k, so “coo’rey” not “curry”.)

*****

These are often regarded as Richard II-era ”lasagne”, though I wonder if there’s also an association with heraldic “lozenges”, easily created by cutting a sheet of pasta dough slantwise...

Either way, here’s “Tasting History with Max Miller” (subscribed of course!) having a go at Loseyns, which turn out like mac & cheese with extra spices.

Max ended up eating them with a stick because forks hadn’t been introduced yet, but IMO a better utensil would be the historical eating pick, like one of these.

...or even a spoon, especially if the loseyns were cut small with that in mind.

However eating pasta with the fingers - like many other foods - may have been done in the 1300s; it was certainly recorded in paintings from the 1600s...

...right up to the 1800s...

...though I don’t think these were dressed with anything more than oil or butter and some grated cheese, and the potential for messy eating was still pretty high. Eating small pasta rather than dangly strands with the fingers was probably much tidier, especially if diners knew the proper etiquette for doing it...

Finally, here’s something from our own store-cupboard, bought out of curiosity during a recent visit to Polonez in Dublin.

This is pasta cut into little squares; both the front and the back of the pack calls them łazanka...

...and according to Google Translate, this just means “pasta noodles”.

However...

Can any followers tell me if "łazanka” has any relationship to “lasagna” or “lozenge”? An enquiring mind wants to know! :->

ETA: @seriously-mike​ says “...łazanki were brought to Poland in 16th century by queen Bona Sforza (so) the relationship with lasagna might be there.” See his Reply for more info.

ETA (2): A little bell went off in my head about the shapes in the bag and I suddenly remembered seeing them as something call “torn pasta” - the Italian word is “maltagliati“ - which were made using re-rolled scraps of dough from “formal” shapes; more info at that link.

[bishy437]

he won

bonus:

[sleepymccoy]

This is also a bit of a culture query, cos these are all in my house so I genuinely cook with these all (except chicken salt, that's been in my cupboard for ages)

But I'm not from the USA and most people here are, so I wonder if that's similar! Maybe your cupboard is identical to mine. Maybe we use the same stuff but call it something else. Maybe USA has a different relationship with pre mix spices and you use none of it. Maybe you've never heard of pre mix spices. I dunno. That's why I'm asking!

I use plain herbs and spices as well. Especially when making a complex meal I'll do it myself. But I use pre mixes other times, so I'm voting. Voting for a pre mix doesn't mean you don't also use paprika! If you genuinely have no pre mixes in the kitchen tho, then hell yeah, tell me!

Also, I know I haven't listed everything in the world. One, that's impossible. Two, this is a bit of a culture thing so I just checked my kitchen and used those. This selection is representative of me only

(you don't have to be from the USA to vote, obvs, we just all know that's how the results will end up. Please tell me about your spice mixes in other countries!!)

Morrison spice blend: Pepper, tumeric, ginger, cardamom, parsley, salt

Chinese five spice: Star anise, cinnamon, clove, fennel, Sichuan pepper

Chicken salt: Salt, chicken stock, garlic, paprika, pepper, onion, celery

Gluhwein gewurz: Orange peel, cinnamon, lemon peel, star anise, hibiscus, clove

Chimichurri: parsley, garlic, oregano, vinegar, chilli, salt, pepper

Za'atar: thyme, cumin, coriander, sesame seeds, sumac, salt, chilli

Garam masala: coriander, cumin, cardamom, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg

[foldingfittedsheets]

I have a friend who, like me, does not have “heart feels” when cooking. We need measurements. We need exact replicable steps. Cooking should be more like baking where if I follow instructions precisely I’ll have the same meal each time.

So when he asked his mom for her recipes he was vexed to find that she’d say one thing but use a lot more or less than the spice she’d said. Her approximated recipes were much less vibrant that the real food she made.

His solution: he weighed her spices before and after the meal while noting all the steps she took. Finally. A recipe that was true.

[adooble]

spice tolerance

[animentality]

[huriita]

More interactions between Burning Spice's lackeys

All of them being half animal (?, hybrid cookies opens so much opportunities to make jokes

[daily-deliciousness]

Pumpkin cheesecake cookies

[seasonalbakery]

autumnal backdrop of leaves and cool breeze is implied

[fuckingrecipes]

Food Myth: Roast your spices before using to 'Release the Flavor'

Truth: Dry Roasting your spices will CHANGE their flavor.

A raw sesame seed tastes different than a roasted sesame seed, just like a raw onion tastes different than a roasted or caramelized one.

There's chemical reactions happening in there. Aromatics aren't just released to be used, they're also broken down into OTHER flavor compounds.

Indian cooking exemplifies this: recipes will have WHOLE RAW spices, GROUND RAW spices, and ROASTED WHOLE spices. The same seed may be used in the recipe in 3 different states, and this is important because each different state will give your mouth a different interaction.

For example: Coriander (cilantro seed)

Raw coriander is floral and lemony. The roasted version is grassy and earthy - it's a totally different flavor!

A ground-up version will infuse the whole dish with an even flavor.

Leaving the seeds whole will impart the dish with some flavor and you get little bursts of intense flavor when your teeth crush a seed. Whether that's a burst of earthy or floral/lemony depends on if you roasted it or not.

Don't roast pre-powdered spices, because they burn easily and break down too fast.

BUT! You can Roast a seed first, and THEN grind it!

[ahjiing]

Baby girl and his wife 🥰

[crnl-chicken-tots]

on god i am COOKED wip

[hisui-dreamer]

thinking about jamil who's trying to impress you with his cooking, trying all sorts of dishes, different spices, different ingredients, spending hours cooking in the kitchen just to try and coincidentally tell you he's accidentally made too much food again, and it'd help so much if you could take it off his hands

you always do, smiling gratefully and accepting the food with both hands, your words of gratitude spilling freely from your mouth and it'd make him so happy-

but he's never seen you eat the food.

he's a bit confused, he's heard you mention to others that you don't get a lot to eat from the headmaster, and he's always seen you readily eat food others give you, the tarts you get from trey, the apples epel gifts you, even the dubious mushroom dishes jade offers... (no he wasn't keeping count!)

so he gets the courage to ask you one time, making it seem like it was another coincidence when he finds you at the library, making casual conversation before asking you what you thought of his food

"oh! i think it was delicious! grim seemed to really enjoy it!"

you... think?

he asks if you'd had any of the food, and you avert your eyes, seemingly hesitant

"ahh.. i haven't... i have awful spice tolerance you see..."

oh.

oh.

the next time he gives you "leftovers", he makes sure to tell you he made a non-spicy variant of curry, so you should be able to enjoy it

what you don't know is that he spent a few nights trying to perfect a non-spicy dish, researching different cusines and ingredients before finally setting on an eastern variant of curry that seemed to suit your tastes

but it's all worth it, the way you stared at him in awe, maybe realising this wasn't a leftover at all, and the way your eyes sparkled as you excitedly asked-

"oh!! do you mind if i try it now?"

[dragonpyre]

Cal Kestis headcanon: because of his years of unsupervised living on Bracca, he has horrible eating and sleeping habits. He'll be up at 2 am chugging caf for no reason and thinking ration bars count as a meal. Greez is having an aneurysm. Cere is horrified. Merrin sees nothing wrong with this.

[lavender-butterfly-cookie]

Hollyberry: Hey, how ya-

Beast cookies: *Feral growling*

White Lily and Pure Vanilla: *screams*

Golden Cheese: Get yo f#ckin' dog, b#tch!

Y/N cookie: It don't bite-

Dark Caccao: YES IT DO!

[myokk]

💘