Secret Ingredients

Does that seem like a lot of spices? The original Prudhomme recipe includes maybe a dozen more, including sage, curry powder, allspice, etc. When we first attempted it, I was skeptical, being of the school that wants to blend and marry a few particular elements so I can taste the way they work together. It might seem that all these flavors would “fight” on the palate, but they don’t; the mixture is surprisingly effective. There is no identifiable flavor, and the meat is sealed in a savory crust that enhances its natural taste. Sauce would be overkill.

This treatment of spices reminds me of advice I got from the Mexican culinary historian Diana Kennedy. She intended it to apply to Mexican food, but it is a magical technique that works with all dry spices and herbs: Before you add them to the pot, “toast” them. Easiest is a plain cast-iron skillet on medium-high heat. Add the spice and stir just until you can barely smell the odor, or you see a slight haze appear. Then remove from the pan and let cool before grinding.

The easiest way to test this is with cumin seed. By itself, cumin is a pungent, sour, slightly acrid flavor; pan-roasted, it is a rich, floral, aromatic one. It loses none of its boldness, but adds subtlety and élan to anything it seasons.

Now, like the pedant I am, I enumerate this column’s secrets: Angostura bitters in Bloody Marys, chicken base (along with nutmeg and American cheese) in baked macaroni, dried dill as a “rub” for meat and fish and the pan-roasting of spices. Not a bad first effort, methinks. Who knows what secrets have yet to be revealed?

Do you have “secret” ingredients and techniques you’d like to share? Send them to me at eat.your.spinach@gmail.com. If possible, please, make it something I can test myself before inflicting onJournalreaders. And let me know if I can credit you.

1 2 3 4 5 6 SHARE