BooksandMovies Spice Exploration

I have been researching how to make various season blends from various regions and countries to primarily use in legume and meat soups. This research was initially started in an attempt to broaden soup recipe choices that I enjoy but also to try other cuisine blends that I might not otherwise have the opportunity to try.

The more I research the more I have discovered various blends I had not previously been aware. Many of these blends are combinations of very common spices or can be substituted with very common spices.

Also, I have pondered if a lot of these seasoning could inturn be used to make salad vinegrete, creamy salad dressings, dry rub, sauce and in some cases salsas, pestos, chutneys, etc.

I have decided to write some observations as I try various spice blends.

When I saw the title of your thread I got all excited about books and movies that talked about spice blends. lol!

One of my favorite blends is berbere from Ethiopia. Not sure I spelled it correctly. I love it on popcorn, vegetables, meats, stews, soups and more.

LOL can totally see that.

I have read about that spice blend but have not tried yet.

>2 MrsLee: We mix Berbere into store-bought hummus, with garlic powder and a little extra olive oil and lemon juice. Delicious.

>4 Marissa_Doyle: This does sound good.

Baja seasoning

I occasionally watch Pati's Mexican Table TV show. On one episode she was visiting the Baja region and tasting and cooking foods from that region.

I looked up out of curiosity if there was a spice blend from that region. I came across various marinades, but I wanted to try a spice blend since wanting to use in soups. With a bit more research I did find Baja spice blends.

I ended up using the recipe from blog site Kitchen Encounters with a few tweaks to the recipe.
* Removed the salt since the soup broth I use has salt in it
* Don't have Mexican oregano. So I subsituted with dried cilantro which i read from another blog site is a good subsitute
* Mexican style chili powder. I did not have. It is not the same thing as Chili seasoning. I researched and found a subsitute on Foodly.tn blog.

I did a sample testing and enjoyed it, so I have put into soup 2 or 3 times so far. It has a warm tast with complexity that doesn't over power each other.

Jambalaya seasoning

I had heard about this dish for years including listening to Fats Domino version ofJambalaya (On the Bayou) and I had tried a prepacked Jambalaya rice. I remember it tasted good but extremely salty tasting. Since this dish is not served in any restaurants where I am at, making it is my option for tasting this dish fresh. (I know this is likely hard to believe for those that live in Louisiana and surrounding areas where this is extremely popular.)

I researched to see if others had made into a soup, it has been. Typically it appears to be more of a rice dish. From research it appears usually consists of Holy Trinity (onions, bell peppers and celery), protein (either or all sausage, chicken, or seafood), rice, and the seasoning.
There are two types. Very broadly it appears:
* "Red Jambalaya" which is a Creole version that has tomatoes.
* "Brown Jambalaya" which is Cajun version that has no tomatoes and sometimes have beans.

I ended up using the recipe from blog site Texas Real Foods with a few tweaks to the recipe.
* I used chicken only for my protein
* I did not add the additional peppers called.
* Used diced tomatoes not tomato sauce
* Used instant box rice that added towards the end
* Used chicken broth powder instead of bouillon powder

I have put into soup. It has an herby tast with a subtle spice undertone that blends well with the tomatoes and does not overwhelm the dish.

>7 BooksandMovies:

Zatarain's packaged jambalaya, which is all I could find outside Louisiana, is indeed so salty there's no point in making it. From scratch is the way to go.

>8 LolaWalser: Yeah after you mentioned Zatarain's, I think that was the brand I tried as well.

Montreal Steak Seasoning

A while back I was looking at a way to give a "Hamburger Soup" recipe that I found more flavor. I had tasted Montreal Steak Seasoning that was store bought before and thought a version of it might be good in the soup. I was out of this blend and thought making it would have less salt.

(For anyone unfamiliar Hamburger Soup is a type of soup that is very popular for the homecook in some areas. This usually consists of ground beef. Although there are a lot of other soups/stews that have ground beef, in this soup the ground beef is the main focus usually with tomato base, various vegetables, and seasoning that brings out the meat flavor. Often times there is a bit of worecestershire sauce.)

Montreal Steak Seasoning is from Montreal, Canada. The original version is reported to be from the Montreal deli Schwartz. Although this has evolved and there are various ways this is made. This normally consists of black pepper, dill seed, corriander, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Originally this seasoning was used on meat, but today, people use it in various course dishes.

I ended up using the recipe from Epicurious recipe website with a few tweaks to the recipe.
* Black pepper instead of black pepercorn
* Ground mustard instead of mustard seed
* Reduced the dill seed
* Ground coriander instead coriander seed
* No salt
* Garlic powder instead of dried minced garlic

For the Hamburger Soup, I did not use worecestershire sauce.

The first few times I made this I did not have coriander. Having the coriander helped mix more the flavors together. I did a sample tasting with the coriander and enjoyed it.

This recipe version has a very warm taste that gets warm in the back of your throat. If you enjoy spicy foods, don't get heartburn, and don't have sore throat you might enjoy. Otherwise I would go with milder version that does not have as much black pepper or red pepper.

Herbes de Provence

A while back I came across a soup recipe that called for Herbes de Provence. Although Herbes de Provence is available in many grocery stores. I figured out this differed from the blends that are marketed in France where this blend originated. According to Label Rouge, quality standard certificate issued by France's Ministry of Agriculture, Herbes de Provence defines it as "19% thyme, 27% rosemary, 27% savory, and 27% oregano"
.
I kept this same percentage except substituted savory with more easily accessible sage.

This blend blended really well with soup that had Canalleni beans and chicken along with other ingredients. Had verb herby and savory taste.

Baharat spice mix

A while back I came across this type of spice blend while looking at spice blends. From an initial look it kind of reminded me of the Chili seasoning (used in Chilli con Carne) and a holiday spice, but not exactly. It made me curious. I have not utilzed cinamon or nutmeg in too many main course dishes, but I had tried this in a Greek season blend, so I knew that either be good or too strong. This spice blend apparently is popular in Greek and around the Persian Gulf/Arabian Gulf. At that time I did not have critical spices, so I put this off to the side.

I reevaluated and saw I had most of the ingredients and have tried this with a chicken and beef broth base. This is a very intense flavor like Chili seasoning and overwhelmed the chicken broth. It blended better with the beef broth. I also assume it will blend better with a intense legumes like red beans or dark lentils, but I have not tried this yet.

I used the recipe found on The Healthy Table blog site.
I kept all promotions the same except
* Removed the salt
* Subsituted cardamom with ground allspice

Sazon seasoning

I had seen this seasoning off and on for years in the grocery store, but did not know what it tasted like. I saw this once in a smaller size cheaper and was about to try it but noticed it had MSG and decided to pass.

I saw a recipe online for it and researched it further. Sazon is apparently used frequently in many Latin countries. I gathered there is slight variations between sazon from different countries or between different families.

Since I have not had the opportunity to taste much Cuban style food, I decided to try it the Cuban way.

I decided to utilize the sazon recipe found on A Sassy Spoon blog from a young lady that is first-generation Cuban-American from Miami, Florida. I made the following tweaks:
* Removed the salt
* Used paprika instead of other choices given
* Removed onion powder, since I was going to utilize onion in the dish

I knew I wanted to utilize in a bean soup. I thought black beans was a thing in Cuban cuisine based on travel shows, but was not sure. So I researched and saw it was. I ended up with recipe that was from this bloggers beloved father in law for Cuban Black Beans from recipe blog Adriana's Best Recipes. I made the following tweaks:
* Reduced the garlic to 1/8 teaspoon
* Reduced bay leaf to 1
* Subsituted for common sweet peppers
* Removed olive oil
* Added a little bit of chicken
* Used chicken broth

If you want a slight savory flavored layers without heat, this would be a good blend to try.

Pizza Hut breadstick seasoning

Pizza Hut are chain pizza restaurants that started in the United States that has restaurants now in multiple countries.

One of the dishes they are known for and I have eaten are their breadsticks. They serve these with and without cheese. (I personally prefer those with cheese.) I came across a copycat recipe for their breadstick seasoning on the blog site The Tortilla Channel. I cut out the salt. I tried this seasoning on thick butter toasted sandwich bread. This mixture is too garlicky for regular bread. A denser bread like the breadstick are needed for this seasoning blend.

Curry Powder

I had seen this seasoning off and on for years in the grocery store and seen in some cookbooks and recipes from the United States. Most of the recipes I saw just had a little bit of seasoning and it was not the dominant flavor. It was not really associated in my mind with a culture, if anything I associated it more with the south because it seemed like there were more dishes I saw with curry powder that were southern themed cookbooks. There was a recipe that called for curry powder, so I decided I wanted to try this.

From research a while back I discovered that this is was orininally a spice mixture that was marketed to British traders leaving India that were returning back home that wanted something similar to the Indian food that they tasted. Although it has similarities to some Indian spice mixes curry powder is not used in traditionally Indian dishes. However, for years it was viewed as authentic Indian cuisine. This has been debunked and many now view this simply as a spice blend. However there is still confusion by some that this is authentic Indian. There was one Indian heritage recipe blogger I remember coming across once that had explained that used to get very frustrated because of this confusion. However they explained over time they came to the resolution that if trying curry seasoning gets people to ease people into trying authentic Indian food, then it was fine.

One thing I noticed is that curry powder has evolved over time and each cook has their own slight variation. However most versions have turmeric as the predominant spice.

The version I found was from the food blog Curious Cuisiniere.The only tweak I did was subsituted chili powder with red chili flakes.

The recipe I tried this in was a flop. The other ingredients in the recipe were not to my taste and I thought the seasoning would cover it up. Although the seasoning is strong it did not cover it up.

This is such a unique taste to me that I am trying to decide how I would use it.

1st amendment to the Curry Powder: For a trial sample of 2/3 tsp curry powder, I tried this with 1/16 tsp garlic powder. This helped round it out more.

My go-to books for curries are Indian Delights for Durban-Indian traditional recipes and My Cape Malay Kitchen for Cape Malay (descended from Indonesian) ones. The former uses spice mixes "from first principles", the latter often adds a bit of curry powder to the mix. Both are still in print and should be quite easy to find.

Thanks!
I will definitely be adding these to my list of cookbooks to lookover.

Beau Monde

I saw a recipe in the cookbook that called for Beau Monde, so I searched for this recipe. I did not search extensively before I picked out one.

I tried my recipe, which was a bust, because of another ingredient that was too strong. Then I tried the seasoning with a broth base and enjoyed the seasoning.

I then researched this blend a bit more and made a discovery. So this blend although has a French name it appears to be from the United States. Furthermore there are two types of seasonings that have developed that are both referred to as Beau Monde that has caused disputes on food blog comments. There is a type that has been trademarked by Spice Islands spice company then there is a version that has evolved from the Elbow Room Steak House in New York (state).

* Spice Islands spice company -- uses onion powder, celery powder, and salt. This appears to be the most wide spread

* Elbow Room Steak House --- which has more spices. This appears to be the version the recipe I picked out was mimicking. I used the recipe from the food blog The Spruce Eats.

I altered by:
* Cut out the salt
* Took out the Bay Leaf, since making a small trial blend
* Cut out Celery Seeds, since I don't know if recipe I end up with will have celery

I am still need to determine the right mixture of ingredients for my recipe

Okay getting on my soap box for a couple of minutes... regarding reducing salt content.

I know the human body needs a small amount of salt to function and in some coking and baking methods salt is critical and I respect that. However a lot of us are getting more salt than needed no matter their age or overall health.

But after looking at recipes closer and food labels, I have come to realize that often times salt is just added in without careful consideration. Reducing your salt content is getting easier if you make your meals. (I do personally realize it is still hard to try reduce it substantially if you are going out to eat.)

Here are a few manageable ways to reduce salt intake. Yes you can reduce this further, but the following I have observed work long term without driving yourself completely bonkers.

* With your season blends mix your own or buy salt free blends, which are becoming more commonly sold in stores and online.

* With the vegetables, legumes, or fruits that you buy canned buy low salt or no salt. Buy fresh produce when a good price and when not possible buy frozen. Use your favorite spices to stir fry, roast, or simmer amazing flavors.

* (Provided you are not allergic) With your nuts buy low salt or no salt.

* With your chips buy low salt or no salt chips.

* Reduce your drinks that have salt soda intake. A few have lots of salt.

* Reduce your lunch meat consumption and compare salt content when you do buy.

* Reduce your cheese consumption to ocasional shreaded cheese to top at the end and keep it to one slice of cheese on the sandwich.

* Reduce your bread and sweet content.

* Finally any pre made items that you decide to buy compare salt content. Expand your recipe knowledge when practical. The more you make the greater you can control your salt.

One amendment to the Curry Powder.

For a trial sample of 2/3 tsp curry powder, I tried this with 1/16 tsp garlic powder. This helped round it out more.

One comment for anyone considering expanding their spice collection and concerned about cost.

* Before buying looking around at prices and selection.
* Don't overlook the cheaper off brand. (These usually sell quicker, so sometimes fresher.)
* Unless you have very large family, start with the regular size container, at least until you figure out how quickly go through.
* Start out with spices you have tried before and like and then slowly venture out. (You will have more success and stay inspired.)
* Start out with spices and then venture to try mixing spice blends.
* With spice blends always reduce the recipe to 2 Tablespoons at most, so if it is not good you will not waste as much seasoning.
* Experiment on the weekend and do the tried and true on the work week
* Expand your selection to one or two new spices a month. (You will have more time to research and decide which ones you want to try and this will be a cheap splurge for you.)

Here's something I learned yesterday about spiced. If you have whole seed spices and decide they are getting old and need to be replaced, sow them in some dirt and keep moist. You may end up with a crop of cilantro from coriander seeds, or cumin, etc. I haven't done this myself, but saw photos from someone.

>22 MrsLee: Very interesting. This makes logical sense, but I had not thought of that either.

Chimichurri

I came upon on this recently. Technically this is considered a condiment rather than a spice blend. That is very much a vinegrete that has parsley pieces in it. But I gather many people use this as a dipping sauce in Argentina and Uruguay, especially for their beef.

I tried dipping beef in this mixture and it was good. However, we discovered it was really good on pasta. With it being a highly vinegar mixture I think at least in many parts of the US this would go over even better over spriral pasta and served as a pasta salad or over a regular salad.

I tried the recipe found on the blog site, Cafe Delites.com. I substituted olive oil with vegetable oil and did not add salt.

>24 BooksandMovies: In spite of loving vinegar, I have not yet found a chimichuri that I love. It is ok, it doesn't send me. That being said, I've only tried making it once, and I tried a prepared one once.

>25 MrsLee: Oh another vinegar lover out there. :)

I don't think I would have personally liked it as much if I still had the salt and hadn't substituted the olive oil with vegetable oil. I think for some people that is the attraction. Without those dominate layers, I felt like I could enjoy the other flavors and it be a tad bit healthier.

So last year I skimmed over several old cookbooks that are in the public domain.

I was not researching new spice blends in particular at that time. There are a few observations I noticed when thinking back:

* A lot of cookbooks did not call out spice blends per say. (Ocassionally you saw a common known blend of herbs or a spice blend used in spice baked goods)

* Many other times it was one one or two spice or herbs and sometimes they simple put season to taste.

* A lot of times it seemed like they used herbs that could be grown easily and maybe spices that were widely accessible.

* There were not as many tomato based soups. Instead the soups to be more broth or creamy texture

* Roux was discussed more extensively and creamy texture seemed to be viewed as a much as texture as a taste

>27 BooksandMovies: "There were not as many tomato based soups."

For a given value of "old" there may be a good reason for that. It's only relatively recently (say, in the last 200 years) that the Old World realised that tomatoes are edible and not poisonous. And it's much more recently that Italian tinned tomatoes became ubiquitous and the preferred way of adding them to a dish. However, I still cringe at the idea of a tomato soup. When I was a year or two from the end of school, there was a local travel agency that did a roaring trade in six-week schools tours to Europe. My parents sent me on one when I was 15-going-16. Every lunch and every bleep dinner for six weeks started with tomato soup! As the next course was almost invariably veal, I tend to avoid that, too.