Herbs and Spices and How to Use Them

If I didn't have my spice cabinet, cooking and eating would be pretty bland. I'm sure you feel the same way. I'm glad I live now and not two hundred years ago, when one had to be wealthy to enjoy even something as common today as black pepper. Fortunately for us, however, herbs and spices are as common as toothpaste, and just as simple to learn how to use.

You can buy many fresh herbs in small quantities in the grocery store, but at pretty high prices per ounce. Try growing your own. Even if all you have is a small patio or balcony, you can have a successful herb garden, and for the price of one plant from the garden center you’ll have fresh herbs all season. Some herbs are perennial; annual herbs can often be cut and rooted. I’ve had great success with basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, and rosemary, though I don't have any growing right at the moment.

I've read that it's even possible to cultivate the crocus sativus, the flower that is the source of the most expensive spice in the world, saffron, but I haven't tried that. Maybe you have and would like to comment about it.

My list here includes the herbs and spices I use the most and the ways I use them. Incidentally, the difference between herbs and spices is this: herbs are fresh or dried leaves and spices are dried seeds, berries, bark and roots. I’d love to hear about your favorite seasonings and how your use of them differs from mine.

Allspice

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Allspice, ground or whole. Despite its name, allspice is not a combination of spices. This one spice, however, does contain the flavors of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and juniper berry. It is great sprinkled on toasted nuts or used anywhere you would use cinnamon, clove, or nutmeg.

Almond extract comes from bitter almonds and adds a subtle almond flavor to cakes and cookies.

Basil

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Basil, sweet; fresh and dried. It goes well with tomatoes, fish, and eggs. It’s also good in many savory meat dishes. Here’s a simple and delicious way to eat basil.

Stacked Caprese Salad
For one serving, stack on a plate: ½-inch thick tomato slice (from heirloom or Roma tomatoes), barest pinch of kosher salt, 1 or 2 whole basil leaves, and a thin slice of smoked mozzarella cheese. Drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil. Repeat layers two or three times.


Bay leaves, whole. Use in meat or vegetable stock, all kinds of sauces, and marinades. Be sure to remove the leaf before serving.

Bouillon cubes, beef and chicken. I use them only in emergencies, when I’ve run out of store-bought stock or broth, because of their high sodium content. Buy low-sodium varieties if they’re available.

Capers. These tiny buds are usually sold in brine in small jars. They have a very sharp, piquant flavor. I use them in chicken picatta.

Cayenne pepper, ground. Its blistering heat has no real flavor, in my opinion, but when you want to increase the heat of a dish without compromising the flavors you already have from, say, chipotle or red pepper flakes, use a pinch of cayenne.

Celery

Celery. I always have it on hand; I always use the stalk and the leaves. I use a whole stalk whenever I make long-simmered gravy. I finely chop a stalk and cook it with onions and garlic for tomato sauce for spaghetti. I use it in soup, with potatoes, with just about every savory dish. Celery somehow rounds out the flavors.

Chili powder. This blend of ground chiles comes in a range of colors, from bright red to very dark, depending on the types of chiles used. Taste it before you put it in a dish. It’s good in chili and eggs, on beef or chicken.

Chipotle. Chipotles are smoked jalepenos. Where a fresh jalepeno can have a bitter aftertaste, chipotles have nothing but smoke and heat. I buy then two ways, in a can in adobo sauce and in powdered form. Use the canned kind to make chipotle butter or mayonnaise, or chop it and add it to fresh salsa. Use the powdered kind in a dry rub for steaks and pork chops. Also wonderful in Spanish rice.


Sweet and Smoky Spice Rub
1 tablespoon chipotle powder
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon black pepper, ground

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. To use as a rub for grilled meats, first pat the meat dry. Rub mixture on both sides and allow meat to rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with kosher salt and grill.

Cilantro

Cilantro. These are the leaves of the coriander plant, considered by many sources to be the world’s most widely consumed fresh herb. It's also Kevin's favorite herb. The odor and flavor are somewhat pronounced. I use cilantro in fresh tomato salsa; it’s also good with chicken or sprinkled over eggs scrambled with cheese. Finely chop the leaves, not the stems. Add to cooked dishes at the last possible moment, before the leaves begin to lose their flavor and aroma.

Cinnamon, ground and stick. You know how to use ground cinnamon—in cookies and cakes and sprinkled with sugar on toast. Stick cinnamon is classic in hot apple cider. But try using the tiniest amount of ground cinnamon in spaghetti sauce or chili, or in a dry rub for beef. Just a tiny amount. See how you like it. I also like to use stick cinnamon with an orange-worth of peel, a palmful of cloves and water to cover simmered all day on the back of the stove, with more water added as needed, for potpourri.

Cloves, whole and ground. They are the dried immature flower buds of the clove tree, native to Indonesia. Clove-studded ham is an American Christmas staple. Cloves are also good when you are poaching fruit and making pickles. A very small amount of ground clove is good in a beef dry rub. Add an onion studded with a few cloves to stock or stew; remove before serving. Though you may grind many spices (such as allspice, coriander and others) yourself, don’t grind your own cloves. They are so oily they will make your grinder difficult to clean.

Coriander seeds

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Coriander, ground or whole. These are the seeds of the same plant that gives us cilantro. Coriander is often used in gingerbread and with sautéed apples, but I use it in savory dishes, too, mostly chili and other Mexican-influenced dishes, like ground beef tacos. I think it has a licorice flavor, but I could be wrong.

Cumin, ground or whole. Cumin is very widely used in Mexican and Indian dishes. It has a little bit of heat to it, and, I must be honest, a somewhat offensive odor (at least to me), but I use it anyway in Mexican dishes. They wouldn’t be the same without it.

Curry powder. Curry powder is a blend of spices, not a single spice, and there are many ways of putting it together. Most commonly it contains ginger, coriander, cardamom, red pepper and tumeric. You can mix up your own to be more authentic, but it’s easier to buy it already mixed. I like to sprinkle it on chicken drumsticks and then broil them. Curry powder definitely has a pronounced flavor; a little goes a long way.

Dill. I use the leaves, sometimes sold as “dill weed” in potato salad and tossed, with a little olive oil and salt, with vegetables.

Garlic, fresh. Another one I always keep plenty of. This is such a versatile seasoning. Minced raw, its heat gives a bite to salsa. Roast whole heads drizzled with olive oil for 30 minutes at 350˚. When cool, slip the clove out of its papery skin, mash and spread onto bread or stir into mashed potatoes. Cook it with onions and celery as a base for gravy for just about any sautéed meat. Mince it and sprinkle it on potato chunks for roasting. Crush cloves with the flat side of a chef’s knife and cook in olive oil over very low heat for about 20 minutes to make garlic-flavored oil. This is useful if you like the flavor of garlic, but you don’t like to eat it. When garlic is roasted or cooked over low heat, it loses its harsh notes and becomes mellow and sweet. I also keep powdered garlic on hand, but I don’t use it often. I find its flavor sharper and more bitter than fresh. A little goes a long way.

Ginger, fresh, ground, and crystallized. Ginger is the rhizome (an underground stem) of a certain lily. To use it fresh, peel it, and then slice it thin or grate it. You can keep it in the freezer and hack off a 1-inch cube whenever you need it. Ground ginger is good in cookies and gingerbread, of course. Crystallized ginger is cubes of fresh preserved in sugar. You can use it as you would fresh ginger; just scrape off the sugar if it’s a savory dish.

Nutmeg, ground or whole. Nutmeg is a seed from the fruit of an evergreen tree native to Indonesia. (Incidentally, mace comes from the same tree. Mace is the ground membrane or outer coating of the nutmeg seed.) Chefs will recommend you buy whole nutmeg and grate it yourself. It retains more of its flavor that way. It’s wonderful, of course, in baked goods. Try a pinch of it when you cook dark greens such as spinach or kale. Just try it.

Old Bay seasoning. Classic with shrimp and fish of all kinds. Its primary aroma is celery; I guess that’s why I like it.

Oregano, fresh or dried. Oregano and marjoram actually belong to the same family. They are pungent; oregano is sometimes strong and bitter. It goes well with fish, pork and chicken, tomatoes, and eggs.

Paprika. Generally sweet, though hot paprika varieties are available. Paprika is made from mild, sweet, or hot bonnet peppers which are dried and then ground. It’s good in any dishes where you want a sweet pepper flavor. Paprika scorches easily; add it at the end of cooking.

Parsley, fresh. A versatile herb, parsley adds excellent flavor to practically any meat or salad. It’s also very good when blended with other herbs, such as basil, thyme, and oregano. When I chop it, I use only the leaves; the stems are useful in soups, stews, and stocks. I usually buy flat-leaf Italian parsley because it holds up well in cooking. But curly parsley has nearly the same rich flavor and is wonderful when you plan to add parsley at the end of cooking.

Peppercorns, whole. They are actually berries. I always buy peppercorns rather than ground pepper. As soon as they are ground, their oil begins to dry up and they lose flavor and aroma. Colors range from green (unripe) to black (fermented and then dried green berries) to red (fully ripened) to white (red berries with outer shell rubbed off.) Flavors range, too. The green ones are mild, the black ones spicy, and the red and white ones the hottest of all. Of course pepper is wonderful in all kinds of savory dishes. But one of my favorite ways to use pepper is in fruit salad. Yes, fruit salad. You have to try this.

Peaches, Blackberries, and Strawberries with Basil and Pepper
(from Cook’s Illustrated, July & August 2007)
4 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil leaves
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 medium peaches (about 6 ounces each), pitted and cut into ½-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
2 half-pint containers blackberries (about 2 cups), picked over
1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled, and quartered lengthwise (about 2 cups)
1-2 tablespoons juice from 1 lime, to taste

Combine sugar, basil, and pepper in a large bowl. Using a rubber spatula, press the mixture into the side of the bowl until the sugar becomes damp, about 30 seconds. Gently toss the fruit with the sugar mixture until combined. Let stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until the fruit releases its juices, 15 to 30 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and serve.


Rosemary, fresh or dried. Strong and pungent, also very tough. Chop the leaves finely. If you use them fresh, remove the leaves and don’t use the woody stems. I use rosemary with pork; I love it sprinkled, with olive oil, salt, and pepper, on potato chunks I’m about to roast.

Sage, fresh or rubbed. The classic pairing with poultry and stuffing. Fresh sage leaves can be used whole or chopped; rubbed sage is coarser than ground and will keep its oils, hence its flavors and aromas, longer.

Salt, kosher and table. Salt brings out the flavors of other foods, even sweets and fruits. Properly salted foods will taste more like themselves, not like salt. When recipes read “salt to taste” then you should start with just a little (a pinch or 1/8 of a teaspoon) and taste the result. Add a bit more and a bit more until the food tastes right. Keep track of how much you added; over time you’ll be able to do what the chefs do—measure with your fingertips and know exactly how much salt is right for each dish. I use table salt in baking and kosher salt in cooking.

Tarragon. Though the French prize it, I have to admit I do not love it. Perhaps that is because I have never used it fresh. When it is dried, it loses its anise-like flavor and becomes tough. Dried, it does not soften when cooked. Fresh, it is reputedly excellent with eggs and fish, and is necessary to make Béarnaise sauce.

Thyme

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Thyme, fresh and dried. This one, on the other hand, I adore. I use it with beef, chicken, and pork, in potatoes and vegetables. I love it in pasta and stuffing.

Vanilla, pure extract and bean. Most often used in baking, vanilla adds a familiar flavor to cookies and cakes. When I make crème brûlèe, I use a whole bean, split lengthwise, to extract the most pure flavor. Never use imitation vanilla flavoring.


If you want to know more about herbs, spices, and everything else food, you really must read On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, by Harold McGee. (I know I've mentioned this book before; it's worth it.) It is a masterpiece of food, chemistry, history and mystery. McGee delves into the minute world of molecules, explaining what food is made of and what happens to it when we cook it. The book is a lot more fascinating than it sounds: a food science writer must be engaging who can write the following sentence: “Cooks have always been the world’s experts in the applied science of deliciousness” (3). Read the book; you’ll know what I’m talking about.