What are your favourite spices to cook with?

Cumin by far for me. Love its aromatics and the number of ways it can be used - occasionally roast it, then pound it to a powder with a mortar and pestle and then use it to add some really intense flavours in dals and other lentil-based dishes. For stir-fry dishes or most Indian vegetables dishes with pretty much anything on a pan - love throwing a little bit of cumin powder or seed into some hot oil straight away to release the aromatics and start the dish.

I also love white pepper - I don't use it enough and don't know enough dishes to use it in (help? anyone?), but I find the aromatics really intoxicating and love the kick it adds to whatever dishes I use it in.

What are yours?

Cloves

Black pepper After that, it's probably coriander in all of its forms, especially the leaves that inspire such love and hate.

Mark Lipton

Probably good black pepper.

[Jenise]

Cumin is indispensable in your native cuisine, also Mexican food. And though I adore it and it's irreplaceable at being what it is, I am more a Mediterranean cook and would posit that black pepper and fennel seed are are far more indispensable to my cooking.

Cumin is indispensable in your native cuisine, also Mexican food.

True, but I just love using it even otherwise and will sometimes try and sneak a little into some other east Asian dishes even if it's heresy.

And yes Mark, coriander's great - although I strictly cook with it (either the leaves or powdered seed), I'm generally not a fan of the raw leaf as a garnish. But earlier today I did have some samosas with an incredibly intense, fragrant chutney of coriander, green chillies and mint leaf that was really stunning.

I lean towards the warm spices of clove, allspice, nutmeg...Does salt count????

Salil, Maida Heatter does a Lemon Ginger Pound Cake with white pepper. Pretty much to die for..Here's an unofficial link: http://www.grouprecipes.com/69175/maida ... -cake.html

It's from her Great American Desserts book--a great baking book.

b

Personally a huge fan of cumin, but I have to rein back for the brains of the operation. On balance it's my favourite.

Also like Cloves, but to be handled with care, ditto Cardamon. Cinnamon is very useful, often with nutmeg. Coriander gets used rarely but I like it, tamarind I don't. Chilli - yes in moderation. Pepper, yes it took me many years to realise pepper wasn't that crud that comes in cruet sets with the holes in. I use it lots now. Australian native pepperberry is excellent and IMO makes a better option than Juniper. Ginger is good, but I find it a more challenging match. Star anise good, but I rarely use it.

regards

Ian

Does Herbes de Provence count? If so, that would certainly be #1 at my house. If not, black pepper.

Cumin, red pepper flakes, red chile powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika...does garlic count as a spice?

Richard

Richard
Thanks for mentioning the smoked paprika. Sooooo useful yet so cheap.

regards

Ian

black pepper first, of course; followed by nutmeg and saffron.

Well, since garlic is not a spice, I would have to say, red pepper flakes, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, saffron, chili powders ...there are so many!

I am currently completely addicted to fennel seeds. Also love caraway (but no-one else here does), and the cumin/coriander/fennel Malaysian curry mix combo. We also use lots of paprika.

black pepper, chiles, salt

Cumin, red pepper flakes, red chile powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika...does garlic count as a spice?

Richard

What he said.

salt, thyme, bay leaf, red pepper flakes.

It's not necessarily a spice, but I use a lot of lemon zest.
As spices go, we are not really spice fans in general. I think they often cover up the good natural flavors in food. Not always, but a lot of times. (For example, I don't use any spices, even cinnamin, in my banana bread as I much prefer the banana and walnut flavors to shine through.) I do use red pepper flakes quite a bit, and of course "coarse" black pepper. I do like a hint of allspice in my chicken noodle soup, but Len doesn't so I just sprinkle it on afterward. Also, nutmeg in any white sauce is a given. I almost always add curry powder to my chicken salad. So, there are some very specific dishes for which spices are applicable, but otherwise, I don't usually use them.
Now, grilling or smoking meats/chicken is another story, which we do quite often. I make and keep on hand a spice rub of paprika, cayenne, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, garlic and onion powders, brown sugar and Lawry's or celery salt, and we season with that quite liberally. Len is known for his smoked back ribs done on the BGE. The rub is also excellent on beer can chicken.

Richard
Thanks for mentioning the smoked paprika. Sooooo useful yet so cheap.

regards

Ian

Just recently getting into it, but agree 100%.

Two favorites are probably cumin and smoked paprika. I use much more black pepper than either of those, though.

Like Jenise and Celia, I'm into fennel too. I even put seeds of fennel into my salt grinder and get those lovely anise-y aromatics every day.
Apart from that and salt and pepper, it is the ground cumin, ground coriander and ground cinnamon that is most often replaced. I use cumin and coriander together a lot but one day I accidentally added cinnamon instead of one of the other C's from the identical looking jars on the same spice rack in the pantry. Found the three together quite intriguing. Nice to add to flour to make a coating for chicken pieces of fish, or in marinades.
Another spice I quite like is anise - it's actually quite sweet and I imagine it would be best used in desserts or cookies - but the seeds are delicious to eat straight from the packet. Breath cleansing too.

Paprika for savoury and Cinnamon for sweet. Love Pepper, tumeric, and ginger too!