What Are the Basic Rules When Seasoning Food?

In order to season food tasty, you need a basic set of spices in your kitchen. This includes, of course, salt and pepper, as well as paprika and chili powder, curry, nutmeg, cayenne pepper and cinnamon. If you like Indian cooking, cumin and coriander should not be missing in your cupboard next to the curry. In addition, you should always have a few dried herbs such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram, tarragon, lovage, bay leaves, and savory on hand. Plus, there’s no harm in having vanilla beans in the spice rack for desserts. Grated lemon or orange peel as well as ginger, aniseed, cloves and cardamom for Christmas cookies also go well with pastries.

One of the most important basic rules when seasoning is: that herbs and spices should underline the aroma of the dishes, but not whitewash them. This means that you should neither overdose on individual spices nor combine too many different spices. You can certainly add mild curry or sweet paprika powder to the food by the teaspoon, but you should be careful with very hot spices such as chili, cayenne pepper, or very aromatic powders such as cumin or nutmeg. It is better to use the tip of a knife for this purpose or the first dose on the palm of your hand. When you dose in this way, you also prevent the steam from the saucepan from moistening the spice powder in the can and causing it to clump together.

Spices usually need some time before they develop their full aroma. Therefore, the following sequence is generally advisable when seasoning: Season a little, stir, wait a moment and finally taste. Seasoning can then still be done, while food can only be enjoyed to a limited extent if the quantities are too large or if there are too many different spices. If you still want to save oversalted food, you often have to put in a lot of effort.

You should only add most of the spices to the food just before the end, as they lose their flavor if the heat is too high. Some spices, such as paprika powder, can become bitter if the temperature is too high. Exceptions are bay leaves and juniper berries, they can be cooked. You should rub dried herbs between your palms a little so that they develop their full flavor. You should cut fresh herbs with a sharp knife for a full flavor and not chop them, this will preserve the essential oils.

To keep spices fresh and aromatic for as long as possible, you should follow a few rules when storing them. Store them in a dry, cool place away from light, heat, and moisture. Accordingly, the storage location should not be above or directly next to the stove. The rising fumes from the pots can solidify the spices or affect the aroma.

Did you know that food needs to be seasoned differently on an airplane? Due to various factors, our sense of taste changes at altitude.