Cooking With Spices

Hello Fishmomma. I love cooking with herbs and spices. I also use some for healing as well. Sage thyme and Rosemary for poultry and pork dishes. I found a Tones combination of rosemary,garlic,onion, black pepper and some lemon peel to be good for chicken noodle soup and other chicken dishes. I have to get this at Sam's club. Haven't found it any where else.I also use it if I'm eating some top ramen noodles. I do like Italian seasoning too. Basil chives and parsley are other favorites. We also bought a spice rack with the herbs on it. I guess it is an herb rack since there aren't any spices on it. for spices I like to use turmeric in some rice and chicken dishes. Right now I can't think of very many spices that I use,. I looked up Herbes De Province and learned they are a combination used in the area of Province in France. They are a combination of marjoram, rosemary, thyme and savory, basil and chervil sage, fennel seeds, oregano, chopped bay leafs, tarragon and mint. Fennel seeds are not included in all recipes, lavender or orange zest can also be included. This combination is used with chicken or a roasting joint of lamb, beef or veal; it s also used for used to flavor pizza sauce, salads, cheeses, stews, soups and sauces. After reading about this herb combination I just might start using it more often. I love learning about herbs and their uses. I like a herb called horehound for my throat and for congestion in my lungs. i make a tea and add lemon and raw honey. it takes a while to get used to but now I find it quit tasty.

I always mean to get sea salt. Do you happen to know why it's better for us than regular salt? I've always wondered. My spices are limited just because of budget. I have salt, pepper, cinnamon, and celery salt. Not too many. I did have some kind of Italian seasoning, but it was gross. It wasn't just regular Italian seasoning, which I like. It had something else in it I can't remember.

I use Mrs. Dash...salt free. Besides pepper its about the only one I use alot. In making soups though I do use rosemary...it gives the soup a special flavor.

I don't have room for a spice rack, but I add garlic and onion powder to almost anything savory, along with black pepper and perhaps some paprika or basil. I don't use salt if I can help it, but when I do I use LiteSalt, which is half salt and half potassium chloride. I generally have fresh ginger and five spice powder on hand as well, and I'll add fresh garlic and onions as well as the powders if I have them. Cinnamon and nutmeg end up in most of the sweet dishes, along with vanilla and perhaps fresh orange peel. Recently I've been getting more into curry powders and turmeric, as I've been learning to cook vegetarian and vegan foods to serve at parties.

Hello Fishmomma, I use spices in my cooking too, being an Indian I just cannot do with spices. I use spices like Black and white peppercorns, cardamoms, cinnamon, bay leaves, star anise, fennel, carom, caraway seeds, cumin seeds and many more etc on a daily basis. I have only now started using oregano in my cooking and really like its flavor and aroma. Rest other spices we dry roast and grind them in various combinations and proportions and use them as the recipes demand.

I was interested to hear which spices you use the most. I thought it would be salt too but you must make some different dishes that use italian spices instead. I don't cook but I would like to try a different array of spices when I learn how to cook.

I prefer simple spices to mixed spices, as there are certain herbs and spices I generally do not like the taste off, I generally use sea salt, I have a pepper salt shaker where I add fresh ground pepper to salt and it is really great. The herbs I use most are oregano, thyme and parsley, the spices are pepper, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric and nutmeg. I think herbs and spices give character to dishes, there are certain meals that if for some reason a herb or spice is missing seems incomplete. Well I hope you try the remaining spices one of these days and they work out well.