@harvid1@mcanavino Practically, if you divide the size by 8, you’ll get the average load for a tube. Looks like the salt is about 11/8 oz per tube, the gin o’clock is about 3/8 oz and the rest are roughly 3/4 to 1 ounce. Your mealage may vary.
I’m a sucker for spices, but are these tubes just offering a dash of any given spice? And are any of the spices so exotic that I won’t find it at Publix when I’ve run out of it?
@AaronLeeJohnson Because their best-by date is November of this year, I’m happy that they don’t come in large quantities. As for Publix, I’d guess no for the blends since the names don’t usually indicate a particular mix of spices across brands.
Some of the spice blends look interesting, but gift sets in general – and this one in particular – tend to be rather impractical.
It flips the way most cooks think about preparing a dish, as instead of asking what spices one needs for a recipe, one’s left to ask what recipe(s) could I make with this blend?
Add to that the very irregular container shapes which are unlikely to coexist with anyone’s spice rack, plus they look very awkward for measuring out a set amount.
Very likely most spices would sit unopened for years until given away or tossed. Even if you absolutely loved one of the blends, they’re proprietary and the only apparent option for a refill is to purchase another gift set from them: https://www.spiceinspired.com/collections/all
Not a bad price if you just want to try out a set or two, but long-term, you’re better off buying bulk spices from a company which has been around a while and will likely continue to have what you’re looking for. I personally use MySpiceSage.com.
@ciabelle Almost completely agree other than the measuring… pouring some spices from those test tubes looking things seems like it would be fairly easy. My measuring spoons don’t fit in my spice bottles so measuring for me is always slightly challenging. But then I am always a bit awkward around the kitchen.
@ciabelle As a person who is paralyzed by the “what’s for dinner” question, I don’t think finding a recipe is the hard part. With the exception of The Salt Pack, I’d imagine many of these you could toss on some chicken thighs, add rice and call it a day. Or Google “spice name” + protein. Really, all I want is the Za’atar.
@ciabelle Most pre-blended spices are impractical… but I went with two sets I knew I would use.
I always “add by taste” when cooking, so the chili varieties when I want to add heat will work for me, I’ll add some to whatever I’m cooking to get the heat up and adjust from there.
The smokehouse varieties sounded like all would work well on air-fry potato wedges or meat rubs.
@ciabelle@Joedetroit Yeah, I actually kind of think it’s pretty genius. Fill up a test tube with… say… 3 tablespoons. And test tubes are dirt cheap, easily closed and open, easy to clean with a bottle brush, and you can leave the big bottles in the cabinet since test tubes take up no space and have tons of options for easier storage, including rotating storage for labs.
@ciabelle Years ago, I got my SiL a set from a different company as a gift. He loves to cook and enjoyed trying them out here and there.
They don’t cook at home much anymore, so it would be less useful for them.
I think it would be a great gift for a young couple just settling in to their cooking style.
Now the set I gave, was very much more expensive and came with a set of recipe ideas as well,
And I get my spices from Penzys. yeah, blended in some cases, but I never reorder any I didn’t like. I get some from farmer’s markets as well. Or have bought at various foodie shows. Loved the Artisan Cheese festival back when I lived closer to Sonoma.
@ciabelle I used to buy all of mine from Penzey’s, and I still get some there, but when Bill Penzey went full-on Resistance (which is okay with me) the prices went out of reach in many cases.
@Cerridwyn@ciabelle Yes, a nice gift for a person or couple who like to cook, but the “shotgun” approach to spices is impractical. Proprietary blends are hard to replace, these are probably old and tired, and most will go unused.
I buy all my herbs & spices from Penzeys.com which has tons of basics and blends, in amounts from trial size to large bulk bags. And a great company to buy from.
@ciabelle@werehatrack actually penzey’s becomes more affordable when you stack the discounts. The gift card sales… $50 for $35, then as usual, wait for the government to do something stupid, Bill gets pissed off and gives away or puts stuff on sale.
@werehatrack I’m on Penzey’s email list. Once a week or so, Penzey’s offers a discount on certain spices and/or herbs or throws in a freebee, usually with a small order. Might be worth reconsidering them…
@stolicat I might turn them into humming bird feeders depending on how the lids attach. Could 3D print a base that will attach to them. I find most commercial humming bird feeders to be impractically large.
@mediocrebot The misspelled “Beginnner” is so appropriate. Is the bot learning multi-level humor?
Could have also captioned it “Crap! I meant the drinking type of spirits!”
Meh. I wonder how old these spices are? Old enough perhaps to be offered at a steep discount on Meh, perhaps?
In any case, a year or two back I decided to learn to cook some Indian dishes. In the process, I refreshed and added to our already well stocked spice collection.
With few exceptions, if one is interested in spices at reasonable prices, skip the local grocery and head for an Indian grocery store. There you will find a cornucopia of spices, some of which you will have to familiarize yourself with. But, hey, that’s part of the fun!
The only collection in this offering that held any but the briefest interest was the gin collection. When I looked at the tubes, I realized that I had copious amounts of everything in that collection except the hibiscus flowers. And I bought some of that off eBay last year as a part of a gift for my son who was interested in formulating and brewing various bitters and flavorings for drinks and cocktails. I am sure that I could get some of those back from him if I ever felt the need. (So far, I haven’t.)
Like most people, or maybe not, I don’t like bland food.
Currently my favorite spice to cook with is cardamom. My favorite lifetime table spice is black pepper. How about you?
Historically, spices have been at the center of more wars and murders than perhaps even gold. Look it up, if you don’t agree. Control of spice sources was and is big business even today.
So, can anyone list the three most expensive spices** in order?
(**With the exception of the fictional “Spice” aka “melange” obtained from giant Sand Worms in Dune, which is supposedly a…“valuable and potent drug that prolongs life, enhances vitality, and, in some, unlocks prescience, allowing for the navigation of folded space and other extraordinary abilities.”)
How about your most favorite ten spices?
In no particular order, I like black pepper, cardamom, Ceylon cinnamon (not Chinese cassia), nutmeg, ginger, thyme, oregano, coriander, caraway, and fennel. I also like mace, star anise, fenugreek aka methi, Kashmir red chili, tarragon, lavender, rosemary, etc. etc.
@Jackinga It’s a little tricky because there are herbs like garlic, rosemary, and thyme I often use like spices as opposed to parsley and basil that are straight herbs for me. I really like savory but I guess it counts as an herb? Otherwise I like all the peppers (black, white, and red), ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, and I’d put MSG in there depending how you categorize it.
@Jackinga I discovered some interesting spices/herbs to cook with following Indian recipes. My favourite (I tend to use in everything)
Nigella (also called black onion seed or Kalonji)… it’s got a taste of it’s own… but somewhere between cumin, black pepper and onion and it goes with almost anything savory. Curries, salads, stews, etc… all good.
@Jackinga
I grew up with pepper being the main cooking spice. Back in those days, people didn’t have a ton of them and I had first my maternal grandmother ,then my paternal grandfather on what was then called salt free diets So my mother didn’t cook with it. But she loved pepper.
We had that and oregano and cinnamon only afairemember.
Our palates as a whole are more diverse than they were 60 years ago. The town I grew up in had I am sure Mexican restaurants, but non-Mexicans didn’t go there. When you went out to dinner it was never casual and the only fast food was A&W
I use a lot of pepper, either fresh ground and cracked or if I want ultra fine the Penzeys Best (I Have found it one of the best preground). And pepper blends are the bomb.
one of my current likes is Mignonette Pepper (A classical blend of cracked Tellicherry black pepper, Muntok white pepper and coriander.)
And yes, I could do it myself…
@Jackinga I know saffron is the most expensive and I’m pretty sure vanilla is second, but I can’t think of what might be third. Now I’m going to look it up, but I won’t share it here because that would spoil the fun.
Other than cinnamon and oregano, my favorite spices (and herbs) are all blends, usually from Penzey’s, like Chicago Steak Seasoning, Mitchell Street Seasoning, Northwoods Seasoning, Florida Seasoned Pepper, and Za’atar.
@Jackinga In looking over the comments this morning, I see that I omitted one of my favorite spices, viz., cloves.
I also didn’t address the category of herbs, which if one stretched the notion of things used as flavor agents would significantly expand the list. I don’t know as I’m no botanist (and I don’t play one on TV), how and when to differentiate herbs from spices.
Here’s what Google AI has to say about herbs vs spices
Herbs are typically the aromatic leaves of plants, often used fresh or dried, while spices are derived from other plant parts like seeds, bark, roots, or fruits, and are usually dried and often ground.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown**
Herbs**: Primarily the leafy, green parts of plants. Examples: Basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, cilantro, mint. Often used fresh or dried, and can be added to dishes at the end of cooking to maintain their delicate flavor. Tend to have a more subtle and delicate flavor profile compared to spices.
Spices: Derived from various parts of plants other than the leaves, including seeds, bark, roots, fruits, and flowers. Examples: Cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, star anise, turmeric, cloves, cumin. Typically dried and often ground, and can be added earlier in the cooking process to allow their flavor to fully develop. Known for their stronger and more pungent flavors.
So in my list of things I like, I included lavender, thyme, tarragon, and oregano, which are considered herbs whether fresh and green or dried along with a lot of other things in the mint family, which includes basil and its many hybrids, the many hybrids of mints besides spearmint and peppermint, and on and on.
From an academic POV should things like the alliums (garlic, onion, shallots) be included? IDK.
And I am an enthusiastic user of MSG (monosodium glutamate, a natural and essential amino acid, responsible in large part for the sensation of umami or the fifth taste.) So where does that go along with salt in the panoply of spices, herbs, and flavoring agents?
With all of that being said then, am I any more interested in purchasing one of these “spice” kits, now that I know a bit more.
@Cerridwyn I couldn’t agree more about how it was back in the days of yore. We simply didn’t have access to the variety of flavoring agents available today. S&P along with chili peppers and a few garden herbs was about it.
Your mention of mignonette pepper is intriguing. I have all the components ready at hand. Perhaps, I’ll grind up a bit in a mortar and pestle and see what I can use it for. Thanks for the suggestion.
@Jackinga One of my favorite seasonings (an herb rather than a spice) is shiso leaf, which I’ve only had fresh, but I guess people use it dried as well. It has a neat fresh flavor that’s delicious with sushi.
Another herb I’ve only had at a Vietnamese restaurant, in a curry, is fresh cumin LEAF, which has a taste similar to the seeds but milder and subtly different.
@Jackinga yes, can put it in salads and goes really nice in some Italian pasta sauces too… Like, I use it when I make sausage and pepper cavatappi rustica. Or in my ziti sauce. I put it in my chili when I make Chili too.
@Kyeh Funny you should mention shiso (Perilla) (pronounced “she - so”), aka “Japanese basil”.
About ten years, ago, I bought a packet of shiso seeds from an eBay seller. When it arrived there were exactly five seeds. I was a bit disappointed then, but being fresh out of beans and wanting my very own beanstalk, I planted them anyway. Nope, I didn’t trade in or swap a cow for my shiso seeds.
Well those five seeds were the start of a shiso invasion – little did I know at the time. Now I have shiso volunteers sprouting around the yard and an annual overly abundant crop of shiso every year. Late in the summer, the stalks sprout heavy heads of seed pods, which the birds apparently spread.
While I like the leaves well enough, I don’t like them that much to be able to use even a fraction of what I have sprouting. The younger leaves are the best.
I must say that I just looked up 43 ways to use shiso. So it would appear that I haven’t been trying nearly hard enough. Maybe I can do better this year, eh?
One dish where one can use shiso and which I recommend is called Mille Feuille Nabe (pronounced millie fuh-yuh nab-ee) or Japanese hot pot. Here’s another link, which uses kale and napa cabbage.
While there are many variations, the one I like best uses both napa cabbage and shiso leaves along with layered thin sliced meat (pork belly, bacon, beef as used for shabu-shabu) with mushrooms and thin sliced ginger cooked briefly in a dashi-sake broth.
The napa cabbage and thin sliced shabu-shabu is readily available at a nearby Korean Farmer’s Market. I have more than enough shiso on hand as a rule during the growing months. If you don’t have such near you, napa cabbage is not all that uncommon at grocery stores these days, and then all you would need would be thinly sliced pork belly or bacon along with the makings of some sort of broth and whatever mushrooms you can find locally.
I have occasionally made Mille-Feuille Nabe hot pot and served it to guests. This is a meal with a high “WOW!” factor as a rule.
Got a couple of these for the holidays this past year. About half of the vials arrived broken. What I ended up with were good though. I’d highly recommend meh put extra Texas air in when shipping these!
For real though, fuck how they edited the Top Chef: Wisconsin finale. When Tom is tweeting at the end of the episode that it was all wrong, you know you messed up.
@Cerridwyn I had to go there too to see what was in the sets (and not all are on there). Meh posted lots and lots of pictures, but very few of the photos give a clear shot of what actually comes in the package so had to google elsewhere to decide what to get.
@Cerridwyn - Thanks! That is super informative, tells where you can use each blend.
Just wish anyone included a banana for scale, the weight is not much help.
Specs
Product: Pick-Your-2-Pack: Eat.Art Spice Tube Sets
Model: 6006570000536, 6006507008079, 6006507006716, 6009686792142, 6006507008093, 6009686792166, 6006507008208
Condition: New
The Spice Route
Smokehouse
Salts Of Africa
Chilli Addict
Gin O'Clock
Curries of Origin
African Spirit
What’s Included?
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Apr 10 - Monday, Apr 14
OH MY GOD THEY A-SALT-ED GLEN!!!
Eat.Art
You mean like this?
@ybmuG Too pricey for Meh.
I’m sneezing plenty this time of year on my own, thanks
“AI” eats art and shits out garbage.
@DrunkCat I have seen A.I. results better than your comments.
@DrunkCat @yakkoTDI Is there a bot spitting out these anti AI comments?
@yakkoTDI you fool, those are my comments stolen from the glorified autocomplete
@DrunkCat @yakkoTDI So have I, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.
it won’t let you just buy a single packet of 8. i tried… the system is smarter than a 5th grader.
/giphy unadorned-radiant-sack
Gotta catch em all!
First time in a while that all of the terrible puns are actually pretty good.
/showme lyrical surprised spot
How many servings per tube?!
@harvid1 that’s the thing about spices, you can use as much as you want
@harvid1 @omally In other words. 1 serving per tube.
@harvid1 Don’t eat the tube.
@harvid1 @mcanavino Practically, if you divide the size by 8, you’ll get the average load for a tube. Looks like the salt is about 11/8 oz per tube, the gin o’clock is about 3/8 oz and the rest are roughly 3/4 to 1 ounce. Your mealage may vary.
I’m a sucker for spices, but are these tubes just offering a dash of any given spice? And are any of the spices so exotic that I won’t find it at Publix when I’ve run out of it?
@AaronLeeJohnson That is my concern. Might love one and never come across it again. OR just make one meal.
@AaronLeeJohnson @harvid1 Since they’re blends, yes, you’d have some trouble finding an exact match for most of them.
@AaronLeeJohnson Because their best-by date is November of this year, I’m happy that they don’t come in large quantities. As for Publix, I’d guess no for the blends since the names don’t usually indicate a particular mix of spices across brands.
definitely wasn’t expecting a blurb about ToC on meh…
Some of the spice blends look interesting, but gift sets in general – and this one in particular – tend to be rather impractical.
It flips the way most cooks think about preparing a dish, as instead of asking what spices one needs for a recipe, one’s left to ask what recipe(s) could I make with this blend?
Add to that the very irregular container shapes which are unlikely to coexist with anyone’s spice rack, plus they look very awkward for measuring out a set amount.
Very likely most spices would sit unopened for years until given away or tossed. Even if you absolutely loved one of the blends, they’re proprietary and the only apparent option for a refill is to purchase another gift set from them: https://www.spiceinspired.com/collections/all
Not a bad price if you just want to try out a set or two, but long-term, you’re better off buying bulk spices from a company which has been around a while and will likely continue to have what you’re looking for. I personally use MySpiceSage.com.
@ciabelle Almost completely agree other than the measuring… pouring some spices from those test tubes looking things seems like it would be fairly easy. My measuring spoons don’t fit in my spice bottles so measuring for me is always slightly challenging. But then I am always a bit awkward around the kitchen.
@ciabelle As a person who is paralyzed by the “what’s for dinner” question, I don’t think finding a recipe is the hard part. With the exception of The Salt Pack, I’d imagine many of these you could toss on some chicken thighs, add rice and call it a day. Or Google “spice name” + protein. Really, all I want is the Za’atar.
@ciabelle Most pre-blended spices are impractical… but I went with two sets I knew I would use.
I always “add by taste” when cooking, so the chili varieties when I want to add heat will work for me, I’ll add some to whatever I’m cooking to get the heat up and adjust from there.
The smokehouse varieties sounded like all would work well on air-fry potato wedges or meat rubs.
@ciabelle @Joedetroit Yeah, I actually kind of think it’s pretty genius. Fill up a test tube with… say… 3 tablespoons. And test tubes are dirt cheap, easily closed and open, easy to clean with a bottle brush, and you can leave the big bottles in the cabinet since test tubes take up no space and have tons of options for easier storage, including rotating storage for labs.
@ciabelle Years ago, I got my SiL a set from a different company as a gift. He loves to cook and enjoyed trying them out here and there.
They don’t cook at home much anymore, so it would be less useful for them.
I think it would be a great gift for a young couple just settling in to their cooking style.
Now the set I gave, was very much more expensive and came with a set of recipe ideas as well,
And I get my spices from Penzys. yeah, blended in some cases, but I never reorder any I didn’t like. I get some from farmer’s markets as well. Or have bought at various foodie shows. Loved the Artisan Cheese festival back when I lived closer to Sonoma.
@ciabelle I used to buy all of mine from Penzey’s, and I still get some there, but when Bill Penzey went full-on Resistance (which is okay with me) the prices went out of reach in many cases.
@Cerridwyn @ciabelle Yes, a nice gift for a person or couple who like to cook, but the “shotgun” approach to spices is impractical. Proprietary blends are hard to replace, these are probably old and tired, and most will go unused.
I buy all my herbs & spices from Penzeys.com which has tons of basics and blends, in amounts from trial size to large bulk bags. And a great company to buy from.
@ciabelle @werehatrack actually penzey’s becomes more affordable when you stack the discounts. The gift card sales… $50 for $35, then as usual, wait for the government to do something stupid, Bill gets pissed off and gives away or puts stuff on sale.
@werehatrack I’m on Penzey’s email list. Once a week or so, Penzey’s offers a discount on certain spices and/or herbs or throws in a freebee, usually with a small order. Might be worth reconsidering them…
It’s pretty much worth the price just for the 16 nice glass tubes with caps. Reminds me of the glass cigar tubes of yesteryear.
/giphy tasteful-horrific-beginner
/showme tasteful horrific beginner
@stolicat I might turn them into humming bird feeders depending on how the lids attach. Could 3D print a base that will attach to them. I find most commercial humming bird feeders to be impractically large.
@mediocrebot The misspelled “Beginnner” is so appropriate. Is the bot learning multi-level humor?
Could have also captioned it “Crap! I meant the drinking type of spirits!”
@OnionSoup @stolicat
This should help
/showme An impractically large hummingbird
@mediocrebot Hmmm
@stolicat And the tubes don’t stink of cigars.
@stolicat @werehatrack
Cigars don’t stink til they are lit…
Oh well. Another coupon. $11 for some interesting salts and a set of spices that we’ll never use…
/image sliced-brutal-malt
/giphy sliced-brutal-malt
/showme sliced-brutal-malt
@mediocrebot
Not sure how it depicts that phrase, but at least it’s some pretty neat looking abstract art!
@shahnm I already used all my $5 coupons. I would have been in for $11, but I’m out for $16.
Meh. I wonder how old these spices are? Old enough perhaps to be offered at a steep discount on Meh, perhaps?
In any case, a year or two back I decided to learn to cook some Indian dishes. In the process, I refreshed and added to our already well stocked spice collection.
With few exceptions, if one is interested in spices at reasonable prices, skip the local grocery and head for an Indian grocery store. There you will find a cornucopia of spices, some of which you will have to familiarize yourself with. But, hey, that’s part of the fun!
The only collection in this offering that held any but the briefest interest was the gin collection. When I looked at the tubes, I realized that I had copious amounts of everything in that collection except the hibiscus flowers. And I bought some of that off eBay last year as a part of a gift for my son who was interested in formulating and brewing various bitters and flavorings for drinks and cocktails. I am sure that I could get some of those back from him if I ever felt the need. (So far, I haven’t.)
Like most people, or maybe not, I don’t like bland food.
Currently my favorite spice to cook with is cardamom. My favorite lifetime table spice is black pepper. How about you?
Historically, spices have been at the center of more wars and murders than perhaps even gold. Look it up, if you don’t agree. Control of spice sources was and is big business even today.
So, can anyone list the three most expensive spices** in order?
(**With the exception of the fictional “Spice” aka “melange” obtained from giant Sand Worms in Dune, which is supposedly a…“valuable and potent drug that prolongs life, enhances vitality, and, in some, unlocks prescience, allowing for the navigation of folded space and other extraordinary abilities.”)
How about your most favorite ten spices?
In no particular order, I like black pepper, cardamom, Ceylon cinnamon (not Chinese cassia), nutmeg, ginger, thyme, oregano, coriander, caraway, and fennel. I also like mace, star anise, fenugreek aka methi, Kashmir red chili, tarragon, lavender, rosemary, etc. etc.
@Jackinga Without looking, I’d say saffron is #1.
Okay now I’ll see if I guessed right.
(#2 surprised me …!)
@Jackinga I just recently learned that cinnamon comes from actual trees. I never knew it was the bark of a tree scraped off.
@Jackinga It’s a little tricky because there are herbs like garlic, rosemary, and thyme I often use like spices as opposed to parsley and basil that are straight herbs for me. I really like savory but I guess it counts as an herb? Otherwise I like all the peppers (black, white, and red), ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, and I’d put MSG in there depending how you categorize it.
@Jackinga I discovered some interesting spices/herbs to cook with following Indian recipes. My favourite (I tend to use in everything)
Nigella (also called black onion seed or Kalonji)… it’s got a taste of it’s own… but somewhere between cumin, black pepper and onion and it goes with almost anything savory. Curries, salads, stews, etc… all good.
@Jackinga
I grew up with pepper being the main cooking spice. Back in those days, people didn’t have a ton of them and I had first my maternal grandmother ,then my paternal grandfather on what was then called salt free diets So my mother didn’t cook with it. But she loved pepper.
We had that and oregano and cinnamon only afairemember.
Our palates as a whole are more diverse than they were 60 years ago. The town I grew up in had I am sure Mexican restaurants, but non-Mexicans didn’t go there. When you went out to dinner it was never casual and the only fast food was A&W
I use a lot of pepper, either fresh ground and cracked or if I want ultra fine the Penzeys Best (I Have found it one of the best preground). And pepper blends are the bomb.
one of my current likes is Mignonette Pepper (A classical blend of cracked Tellicherry black pepper, Muntok white pepper and coriander.)
And yes, I could do it myself…
@Jackinga I know saffron is the most expensive and I’m pretty sure vanilla is second, but I can’t think of what might be third. Now I’m going to look it up, but I won’t share it here because that would spoil the fun.
Other than cinnamon and oregano, my favorite spices (and herbs) are all blends, usually from Penzey’s, like Chicago Steak Seasoning, Mitchell Street Seasoning, Northwoods Seasoning, Florida Seasoned Pepper, and Za’atar.
@Jackinga Oops, I was wrong. Vanilla is the third most expensive. The second is one I’d never heard of.
@Jackinga In looking over the comments this morning, I see that I omitted one of my favorite spices, viz., cloves.
I also didn’t address the category of herbs, which if one stretched the notion of things used as flavor agents would significantly expand the list. I don’t know as I’m no botanist (and I don’t play one on TV), how and when to differentiate herbs from spices.
Here’s what Google AI has to say about herbs vs spices
Herbs are typically the aromatic leaves of plants, often used fresh or dried, while spices are derived from other plant parts like seeds, bark, roots, or fruits, and are usually dried and often ground.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown**
Herbs**: Primarily the leafy, green parts of plants. Examples: Basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, cilantro, mint. Often used fresh or dried, and can be added to dishes at the end of cooking to maintain their delicate flavor. Tend to have a more subtle and delicate flavor profile compared to spices.
Spices: Derived from various parts of plants other than the leaves, including seeds, bark, roots, fruits, and flowers. Examples: Cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, star anise, turmeric, cloves, cumin. Typically dried and often ground, and can be added earlier in the cooking process to allow their flavor to fully develop. Known for their stronger and more pungent flavors.
So in my list of things I like, I included lavender, thyme, tarragon, and oregano, which are considered herbs whether fresh and green or dried along with a lot of other things in the mint family, which includes basil and its many hybrids, the many hybrids of mints besides spearmint and peppermint, and on and on.
From an academic POV should things like the alliums (garlic, onion, shallots) be included? IDK.
And I am an enthusiastic user of MSG (monosodium glutamate, a natural and essential amino acid, responsible in large part for the sensation of umami or the fifth taste.) So where does that go along with salt in the panoply of spices, herbs, and flavoring agents?
With all of that being said then, am I any more interested in purchasing one of these “spice” kits, now that I know a bit more.
Nope. So "meh’ it still is.
@Cerridwyn I couldn’t agree more about how it was back in the days of yore. We simply didn’t have access to the variety of flavoring agents available today. S&P along with chili peppers and a few garden herbs was about it.
Your mention of mignonette pepper is intriguing. I have all the components ready at hand. Perhaps, I’ll grind up a bit in a mortar and pestle and see what I can use it for. Thanks for the suggestion.
@OnionSoup I use Kalonji in Indian Rxs all the time, but never thought to add it to things like a salad.
@Jackinga One of my favorite seasonings (an herb rather than a spice) is shiso leaf, which I’ve only had fresh, but I guess people use it dried as well. It has a neat fresh flavor that’s delicious with sushi.
Another herb I’ve only had at a Vietnamese restaurant, in a curry, is fresh cumin LEAF, which has a taste similar to the seeds but milder and subtly different.
@Jackinga yes, can put it in salads and goes really nice in some Italian pasta sauces too… Like, I use it when I make sausage and pepper cavatappi rustica. Or in my ziti sauce. I put it in my chili when I make Chili too.
@Kyeh Funny you should mention shiso (Perilla) (pronounced “she - so”), aka “Japanese basil”.
About ten years, ago, I bought a packet of shiso seeds from an eBay seller. When it arrived there were exactly five seeds. I was a bit disappointed then, but being fresh out of beans and wanting my very own beanstalk, I planted them anyway. Nope, I didn’t trade in or swap a cow for my shiso seeds.
Well those five seeds were the start of a shiso invasion – little did I know at the time. Now I have shiso volunteers sprouting around the yard and an annual overly abundant crop of shiso every year. Late in the summer, the stalks sprout heavy heads of seed pods, which the birds apparently spread.
While I like the leaves well enough, I don’t like them that much to be able to use even a fraction of what I have sprouting. The younger leaves are the best.
I must say that I just looked up 43 ways to use shiso. So it would appear that I haven’t been trying nearly hard enough. Maybe I can do better this year, eh?
One dish where one can use shiso and which I recommend is called Mille Feuille Nabe (pronounced millie fuh-yuh nab-ee) or Japanese hot pot. Here’s another link, which uses kale and napa cabbage.
While there are many variations, the one I like best uses both napa cabbage and shiso leaves along with layered thin sliced meat (pork belly, bacon, beef as used for shabu-shabu) with mushrooms and thin sliced ginger cooked briefly in a dashi-sake broth.
The napa cabbage and thin sliced shabu-shabu is readily available at a nearby Korean Farmer’s Market. I have more than enough shiso on hand as a rule during the growing months. If you don’t have such near you, napa cabbage is not all that uncommon at grocery stores these days, and then all you would need would be thinly sliced pork belly or bacon along with the makings of some sort of broth and whatever mushrooms you can find locally.
I have occasionally made Mille-Feuille Nabe hot pot and served it to guests. This is a meal with a high “WOW!” factor as a rule.
Upon first glance, I thought they were selling spicy cigars for a dollar apiece.
@harborvu Maybe in the Mehrathon tomorrow.
@harborvu I thought so too!
Got a couple of these for the holidays this past year. About half of the vials arrived broken. What I ended up with were good though. I’d highly recommend meh put extra Texas air in when shipping these!
“Clean this mess up or we’ll all end up in jail, those test tubes & the scale, get’im all outa here…”
@Joedetroit Is there gas in the car?
@IAMIS @Joedetroit Only if you use the spices to flavor your cabbage or brussel sprouts.
For real though, fuck how they edited the Top Chef: Wisconsin finale. When Tom is tweeting at the end of the episode that it was all wrong, you know you messed up.
Interesting mix of art and spice.
/showme A rhinoceros eating art
Hey @mediocrebot! It’s eating not painting. Hmmm… but maybe the rhinoceros in the background is eating grass…
My father-in-law loves stuff like this. In for an easy Father’s Day gift of Salts of Africa and Smokehouse.
/giphy lofty-drab-base
I found a website that gives a bit more detail on the various sets,
https://www.spiceinspired.com/collections/spice-gift-sets
@Cerridwyn I had to go there too to see what was in the sets (and not all are on there). Meh posted lots and lots of pictures, but very few of the photos give a clear shot of what actually comes in the package so had to google elsewhere to decide what to get.
@Cerridwyn - Thanks! That is super informative, tells where you can use each blend.
Just wish anyone included a banana for scale, the weight is not much help.
@Cerridwyn @OnionSoup I’d recommend two books for learning more about spices and how to select and use them.
On Spice by Caitlin Penzey Moog (yes, that Penzey family) ISBN 978-1-5107-3525-5
The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg ISBN 978-0-316-11840-8
@Cerridwyn Thanks for that link
They also have a bunch of recipes using the different mixes.
The Flavor Bible is an essential book as a human being imo
@Cerridwyn @ItalianScallion @OnionSoup
@meh “Tumeric Clapton” should be spelled “Turmeric Clapton.”
Hoping they don’t arrive broken…
/giphy oval-magnetic-cucumber
Ok. I remember some of the Spice Girls names. There’s:
African Spirit Spice
Smokehouse Spice
Gin O’ Clock Spice
Salty Spice
Sweaty Spice
Old Spice
Smelly Spice
Is that all of them?
@Trinityscrew I was going to say Baby Spice, but you already got that covered with Smelly Spice.
@Trinityscrew And Toto sang about one of the other packs:
I bless the salts down in Africa
@OnionSoup @Trinityscrew
/giphy immaculate-gilded-corsair
Sweet jars and interesting spice mixes. I bought a bunch for me and a bunch for my father
I love gin but…
… there’s no way I can drink 16 bottles of gin before this goes off… I go through maybe one bottle every 18-24 months
showme/ witty-futuristic-oven
@LilSatan (move the slash to the beginning)