Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spice

Thanksgiving Vodka?

The Whelk — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:42:50 -0800

Vodka That Tastes Like Fall? Since I do my Thanksgiving a week or so after everyone else, I have time to infuse a massive jug of vodka with seasonally appropriate flavors for the festivities. What infuses well and tastes like fall/thanksgiving/etc? I was thinking cinnamon/apple but that almost seems too trite. Maple? Nutmeg? Do nuts infuse well(or at all?) if you mash them into a powder?

I've been grating a le~mon~, all the live long day~

wiretap — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:48:05 -0800

Fresh Lemon Zest - so yummy yet so annoying to grate. There must be an easier solution! My first experience with using fresh lemon zest is in a lemon sugar cookie recipe which asks for 2T of it, in a doubled recipe (4T total. egads). After carefully grating away the skin of a couple lemons and having my hands become tender and sore from the lemon oils and still not having enough lemon zest, I'm starting to feel like avoiding dessert recipes that include lemon zest at all.

Googling "lemon zest substitute" suggests a spice aisle product known as "dried lemon peel" which is similar but apparently is not as good as fresh lemon zest (I'm guessing it is less flavorful?).

My questions:

1. Is there a *better* lemon zest substitute that I can easily purchase at a grocery store?

2. If not, and dried lemon peel is the only close choice, should I add a little lemon flavoring to the reconstituted peel? And how much flavoring per t/T of peel should I include?

3. Could I just use lemon flavoring and fake the color in the recipe with yellow food dye? And again, how much flavoring would equal 1t or 1T of fresh lemon zest?

I like sugar and spice, but which ones are nice?

filthy light thief — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:10:31 -0800

I like cooking, and I have a variety of spices, but I have never learned how to really use them. How should I learn to use them? What are some tips for trying things out? Do you have any any good recipes that highlight particular spice blends in traditional or unusual ways? There are some good dish-specific spice posts from the past, but it seems most folks have some understanding of what the spices will do to the dish. I am mostly clueless, relying on recipes without understanding what each ingredient adds to the end product, and as such, I am hesitant to toss in a pinch of this and that and see what happens. To date, I usually use salt, pepper, plus onion and garlic powder. I'd love to make my own spice blends instead of relying on store-bought mixes. Thanks!

She Who Controls The Spice, Controls The Universe

jbenben — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:52:57 -0800

Indian spice recipe -- please give me your tastiest! Following up on my Chicken Tikka Masala recipe question, I'm stumped by what spice combination will give me the flavor I desire.... Last week I asked this question about making Chicken Tikka Masala at home. Because there is no "set" recipe for Tikka Masala, I found it difficult to implement your advice. I couldn't decide what spices to use.

Please help me decide what flavors and spices I want on hand in my home kitchen to replicate that Indian restaurant flavor.

I realize I am probably looking for a curry combination informed by Mughlai cuisine. When you cook Indian food at home, what spice combinations do you reach for most often?

Thanks in advance for your input!!

Identify this herb/spice!

lisawin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:36:42 -0800

Please help identify this herb/spice! one, two

As you can see in the pictures, it's sort of... soft? Fluffy? The smell isn't sweet or spicy, just... different. And sort of strong, too. It just sort of looks (but doesn't smell) like potpourri, but it was given as a gift with a few other herbs/spices/seeds, so I'm going to go ahead and assume that this is (supposed to be) edible, too.

Furthermore, how do I cook with this, and what can I do with it?

Om Nom Burning!

Phalene — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:30:21 -0800

Edible filter: I've discovered that my experience of peaches burning, and peach fuzz being like a cactus, is an allergy that came along with puberty. Essentially what should be sweet and tart tastes sweet, tart and spicey. I don't mind the afterburn, but what happens if you keep eating allergy triggering food? I ask this because of the stories that pop up now and then, of how peoples lives dramatically improved when they discovered a gluten allergy or whatever, and removed the food from their diet. However, peach cobbler and the like just taste like they've been peppered, and I don't get hives all over, trouble breathing or lousy digestion. I haven't noticed any improvement in health and well being when I don't eat peaches. Are there other risks (like an increased allergy over time) or am I just giving my immune system a harmless false alarm every time I tuck into nummy burning goodness? Certainly I'd eat curries with more kick.

Kill me with spice.

cjorgensen — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:29:58 -0800

Hot food suggestions. This question got me thinking. I love spice. Love heat. Like proving my manhood with food. I consider the "hot" warning on salsas to be false advertising. I can eat jalapeños straight.

So knock me out.

I've had food so hot, that like Paul Muadib, I thought I could see through time. I want more. Burn me until my eyes turn blue! I am pretty sure I can take it. The higher the Scoville Unit the better.

I don't eat red meat, I consider pork to be a red meat, and I still like a bit of flavor (so pure capsaicin oil is out).

Would love to be able to order suggestions online. Prefer non-perishable. Prefer complete food items, not just spice (but don't limit your answers to these).

Bonus points if it's premade (but don't limit your answers to this). TV dinner type food, dried, in a jar, don't care, as long as I can buy it and pop it in the microwave or boil it on the stove.

I am talking the type of food that you wash your hands three times after eating before putting your hands anywhere near your eyes, and four times before using the bathroom.

I've occasionally gotten food close to being hot enough as some Indian or Thai restaurants, but only after insulting the cook's ancestry. Ok, seriously, never did that, but have had the cook come out and check on me too many times to count to see if the white boy was still a standin'.

I live in Iowa, so "This place on Southwest 14th in New York..." won't be helpful (unless they have mail order).

What else can I grind in a pepper mill?

Lizc — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:21:38 -0800

What else can I grind in a pepper mill? I have an extra Olde Thompson Pepper mill with nothing to grind in it. The product description says "Carbon Steel grinding mechanism is fully adjustable from a coarse to a fine grind." - so I'm wondering what else I can use in this mill. I'm guessing seeds of some kind - what would YOU use this for?

Picklers of the world unite!

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:28:26 -0800

What's your favourite pickle recipe, and why? And what advice can you offer to a novice pickler? I've embarked on a cautious foray into the world of DIY pickles. So far I've mostly limited myself to trying to replicate the ones I grew up with, i.e. Dutch-style gherkins and onions. They're nice, sure, but not very imaginative.

So in the interest of adventure, let's hear it! What's your favourite pickle? And if you know how it's made or if you've made it yourself, please share! I know I'm not alone in my pickle frenzy, so let's not be coy about these things, shall we.

Some personal quirks:
-I like pickled vegetables. Fruit... not so much. Previous successes include gherkins/cucumbers, onions, carrots, sweet peppers, and celery. I'm very open to pickling other vegetables.
-I really, really like strong tastes. Anyone remember boo_radley's story in MeTa a while ago? That's me. Basically, the pickles I've made so far have come straight from hell. This does not please everyone, however, and they don't have to be super hot or sour or garlicky or anything. But I do like strong flavours. More specifically, I'm looking to add some meat to my pickles, or say a darker / more umami flavour.
-Most of what I've made and/or read about concerns European- and American-style pickles. I'd be interested to hear about other varieties, such as those from our Asian cousins.
-Relishes to relish! Let's not forget about these pulpier, more spreadable citizens of Pickleland (which I'm pretty sure actually exists).
-I'm also interested in advice a pickle master would give to a novice, such as "cold infusions are for total wusses" or "the amount of mustard seeds should never exceed the square root of the amount of coriander seeds". Of course, I'm totally making these up, but I'm sure you catch my drift.

Then again, feel free to ignore the above, as certainly your suggestion will benefit someone.

Thanks in advance, fellow pickle freaks, and stay sour!

Pimp my too-spicy chicken!

unixrat — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:52:13 -0800

Following a recommended recipe, we cooked a number of chopped chicken breasts in a sauce that contained a large amount of "buffalo" sauce - you know, the hot stuff that people put on wings. After serving them we discovered that the sauce was actually the 'fire' version and the chicken was inedibly spicy-hot. We now have two pounds of fire-engine red, top-notch, ultra-buffaloed chicken breast sitting in the fridge. I'd hate to waste this much food - especially high-quality breasts like the ones we purchased. What can we do with this chicken? The chicken is in 'chunks' - not breast-sized, but not cubed either. The family does like 'buffalo wings', but these are just too hot to eat as-is. I'm a good cook(*), so feel free to suggest anything.

* But not a very observant one, apparently. :)

Hot rabbit recipe

tellurian — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:15:00 -0800

A chilli rabbit recipe from a 'Hemphills Herbs and Spices' book. I once had a recipe book that was essentially a promotional tool for 'Hemphills Herbs and Spices' (an Australian herb and spice purveyor, natch). A4 size, paperback, and (from memory) had a picture of Ian and his mother, Rosemary, standing in front of hedge with an armful of herbs - it was a very green picture. It had a recipe for cooking rabbit with the main ingredients being chilli*, garlic and tomato. The recipe I'm seeking DOES NOT CONTAIN BEANS. Does anyone have this book and is willing to share the recipe? Or, if not this exact recipe, one that DOES NOT CONTAIN BEANS but has chilli, garlic and tomato as the main ingredients.
*I fear my search has been severely hampered by the variants in the spelling of chilli, chili and chile.

spanish spices for home fragrance?

bukvich — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:29:56 -0800

Is there some spice or combination of spices from the Spanish market that I can get for home fragrance purposes? I just moved to a new neighborhood which has a large fraction of Spanish people. In the produce section at the supermarket, the spice cart smells good enough to knock you over. The most noticeable scent smells to me like cinnamon. But when I hold up the cinnamon right under my nose, it seems like that is not it. My first thought was they had some synthetic fragrance they were stashing near the cart to attract the shoppers' attention, but I don't know. Maybe there is some chile-cinnamon interaction that is causing the effect on my nose.

Does anybody use Spanish spice for home fragrance? What do you use?

tea/infusions/tisanes - How hard is it to mix your own spice teas?

Karmakaze — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 07:41:45 -0800

tea/infusions/tisanes - How hard is it to mix your own spice teas? Note, in common American English usage, tea refers to pretty much any leafy/herby mixture steeped in water. Some people use tea to mean only stuff made with leaves from the tea bush (Camellia sinensis) and everything else is a 'tisane' (or 'infusion' or 'herbal tea'). I tend to refer to everything as tea, and qualify black/green/white tea (for 'real' tea) and herbal tea (for everything else) as context requires.

A few years back I discovered that every time I failed to drink coffee for a couple of days, I had a nasty migraine-like hangover. It happened often enough that I let the withdrawal run its course, and chose to thereafter limit my caffeine intake. I was primarily drinking coffee (provided free) at work to overcome the excess air conditioning, so all I really needed was an alternate hot beverage. I don't like the taste of cheap-o free work coffee enough to drink it decaffeinated, and decaffeinated black tea tends to taste like stewed cardboard.

I quickly learned that you can only drink so much mint or chamomile tea (in fact, I don't even like chamomile that much. I only keep it around to pass to co-workers with upset stomachs.) I find I don't much like rooibos/redbush, but most other herbal teas are either bland or sour (sour's ok, but not on an empty stomach). I found a brand (Yogi Tea) with some flavors of the non-caffeinated category that I like, but my favorites tend to require a trip to a fancy supermarket. Recently, even the fancy supermarket didn't even have the varieties I was looking for. Sadly, I live in deep suburbia, so it's hard to find anything like a proper tea shop.

It occurred to me that the India Spice tea is basically the spices that go into spice chai, except without the black tea included. I already know how to make a ginger tea by pouring hot water over a little grated ginger root. We have spices all over the house (whole nutmeg, all that sort of thing). So, in theory, it shouldn't be too hard for me to either mix up a spice tea from scratch, or to doctor up something I already have that just needs a kick.

What spices are soluble, and how do you make them more soluble for these purposes? Are there tricks to figuring out the right proportions of spice-to-other-spices or spice-to-water? Should I just bite the bullet and try to find an affordable mail-order house?

Hot wings eating contest

exhilaration — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 12:27:14 -0800

I need tips for winning, surviving, and recovering from a hot wings eating contest. They're the spiciest hot wings I've ever tasted and I'll be eating as many as I can handle on Saturday. I think we're going to go with a "no water" rule. Any tips to help me? How can I prepare beforehand? Any drugs that'll help me cheat? I've never taken an antacid in my life (I'm 26), should I take one before? Or after? What brand is best? Will this give me the runs? We're doing this at lunch time, so should I skip breakfast?

I hate to ruin a good chili with excess cheese just because I'm too weak for it!

e^2 — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 12:06:38 -0800

Is there an easy yardstick for judging spiciness pre-cooking? Especially re: chili recipes I'm working on developing my own chili but every time I try I wind up with a dish that's too hot for me. I'm a beginning cook and there a lot of ingredients that I just don't have a good feel for yet. I know the best way to get that is to keep experimenting and trying different variations, but there's so many recipes out there!

I am somewhat of a wimp about these things (I like chorizo sausage but andouille kicks my ass; generic "hot" Italian sausage from the grocery store is okay for spaghetti but only with a tall glass of milk; I can only eat Thai if they're kind enough to make it "mild" or maybe "mild-plus" for me, etc.) I have had a look at some of the other chili threads and am intrigued by the Cincinnati chili and this Texas-style chili with beer, but, again, how hot on a scale of spicy are these likely to be?

Rub-a-dub-dub

Smart Dalek — Sun, 05 Sep 2004 14:31:23 -0800

Rub-a-dub-dub: any unique ideas for herb/spice/marinate combos?
(Bird, beast, or fish, it could be any dish.)

What do you know about saffron?

riffola — Fri, 19 Dec 2003 13:54:40 -0800

What does saffron taste like? Also what are the differences between Greek, Indian, Iranian and Spanish saffron? Also which is the best? I've grown up in Mumbai, my mum's a great cook, so I've had saffron in my meals and Indian sweets and even the mandatory saffron and almond milk during winters. I know we usually use Spanish Mancha Saffron. I am very familiar with saffron, I just don't know to describe the taste.