how to use spices

When using spices the best advice is to be prepared to experiment and be adventurous, your triumphs will easily outnumber your disappointments and the results and satisfaction you derive from trying something new can be fantastic. It's all part of a learning process in building up a bank of knowledge of what works and what doesn't for your own particular taste. It is however important to use spices with discretion. I was continually told as a young chef, you can always add more but never take away, a cliche maybe but good advice. Smell and taste the spice before you add it to the dish and try and work out how it will taste with the food you're cooking and if it will complement or overwhelm it. Decide if the spice is pungent, hot, sour, or sweet and add it accordingly. You can then choose another spice that may have a contrasting flavour to balance that ingredient, such as adding fennel seeds in conjunction with chilli as the hot flavour of the chilli will be mellowed slightly by the sweet, mild fennel seed, or if you wanted to create a hot flavour add another pungent, hot spice such as ginger. Be sure to keep tasting the food, the flavour will change as the effect of the ingredients becomes either more pronounced such as adding a whole chilli like a chipotle that will slowly leach flavour and heat into the dish or is softened by long cooking such as sumac where the sourness is mellowed over time. Don't be afraid to keep adding spice to your cooking until you have the effect you were after. It is sometimes suprising which spices complement particular foods, a pinch of curry powder is superb in an otherwise plain vegetable soup, chilli is very good with fruit and cinnamon delicious in a beef stew. Read as widely as possible and follow recipes but also don't be afraid to add whatever spice you like to your cooking. Taste your food during cooking and see if you can identify the prescence of the different ingredients. Sometimes the best effects are achieved by ingredients that are barely distinguishable but would perhaps be blindingly obvious if they weren't there as they add balance and subtlety.

It is not always neccessary to roast the spices before use, this has the effect of changing the texture and flavour bringing out a stronger, nuttier flavour which may not always be desirable. In general it is important when using whole spices to crush or break them to release the aromatic oils, toasting or frying the spices is another way to achieve this.

Most importantly, experiment and enjoy the process, spices and the effects they can have are fantastic and by careful experimentation you may produce your very own spiced taste sensation!