Termyn8or
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Joined: 11/12/2005
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"Oh goodness I don't know, my moms got a whole bunch of spices, things like the usual paprika, chilly powder, which I don't like spicy things, so those are out, Kosher sea salt, chopped sage, dill dried lemon, those kinda things, they got a shit load of spice bottles."
So what is in a properly equipped kitchen ?
SALT. This is obvious unless you have a certain condition and you can't have any at all. Most important is to avoid the regular stuff that never clumps. Salt that is not bad for the body will usually say on the bottle "WARNING : This salt will clumop up if left uncovered" or something like that.
Too much sodium is no good even if it's the best salt, so other than in soups or potato dishes, it should chiefly be used when cooking meat. Salt affects the way most meat cooks.
PEPPER. You either like it or you don't. It should be fresh though. Use in many dishes containing potatoes or cheese. Not all.
ONION POWDER. Not onion salt. It's a bit more expensive but worth every penny. Use it sparingly, VERY sparingly. Shake a little onto your hand before putting it in or on the food. Smell it.
GARLIC POWDER. Same as the onion powder but triple. Some people can't stand it, others will crave it but in VERY small amounts. Too much is a fate worse than death.
MSG. Modern MSG is garbage and if you have it, use it about twice a year and no more. I'd like to find a source for the real old style stuff but things are not looking too hopeful. Actually a much better alternative which is close somewhat is KELP. It's not the same as MSG but it's the best we can do. KELP is made from seaweed, or at least it used to be.
CAYENNE PEPPER. For heat if you like things hot. Also there is "crushed red pepper" which has a different heat. The two have different flavors if you're into that, but if not just get the cheyenne and the bottle will probably last you a lifetime.
THYME. This is used on pork and especially chicken. You can use it on other things but it's really indicated for the pig and the bird. Also in stuffing.
SAGE. Sage does certain cuts of pork really good. It is in sausage actually. You can use just a teeny bit on chicken, and I just don't think it should be used on beef, but you do what you want.
WHITE PEPPER. This mainly goes on chicken. The flavor is that of pepper but mild, and it has other flavor to it than just heat, and it is VERY NOT hot. You can use it on pork but you have to use alot and it is not all that cheap.
PAPRIKA. Now technically this is pepper, but it is Hungarian, so get it from Hungary. The junk they sell in the US is just about food coloring in most cases. I got some Szeged sweet and some Bende hot. I mix them when I make chicken paprikash. I make chicken soup even more rarely but those two dishes are the cheif uses for paprika. Well beef stroganoff too but what else ? You CAN use it in alot of things. I am sure it would be great in a bunch of potato dishes. It's an ingedient in potato salad usually and actually goes good on top, I use it whenever I eat potato or macaroni salad.
ZEST. Now for chicken or pork, ZEST is bad to the bone. You don't actually have to buy it. Want lemon zest ? Wash a lemon and then find something to scrape the yellow off it. Same with an orange which then would yield orange zest. You don't want the white, just the colored part of it. You just let that dry somewhere and once that's done it is great on chicken and pork.
DILL. Seed or weed, the only thing I use this on is the KCS (killer chicken sandwiches) which are fried in bacon and VERY spicy. If you want to use it, get it finely ground. One pinch too much and you can wreck a gallon of something. But used just right it is good.
MUSTARD. It's a little hard to use because it is so strong. I can stand it but to spice at a level normal humans can handle you have to be careful. Mainly again the spice is used on meat. You can put it in a marinade for chicken for example, or just sprinkle it on some pork. Because it's so strong, you have to be really careful or mix it.
You can get a small bowl and mix these spices and then they get applied equally across all the food. But in doing so what you do is to simply make your own spice mixture, like adobo, chicken rub, or anything of that sort. If you come up with the right combionation maybe you'll be the next Colonel Sanders.
But do add to the list. Aot of people are oput there doing cooking different ways and I think it would be good to share some of this. As you think them up, post it and tell what it's used for.
T^T
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Spices. Inspired by another thread - 
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