These lists are terrible. Get rid of the herb/spice blends. Curry powder, cajun seasoning, ras al hanout, and herbs de province are redundant. Their base components are already included, and you're far better off mixing them based on the dish you're making
Thai should include lemongrass and shallot, among a million other mistakes in this. No reason not to include cayenne is Mexican food
I could rant for a long time. Ignore these lists, use a wide variety of spices. Prioritize fresh when you can. Spices have a shelf life even when dried
It would have been extra awesome had the spices been sorted alphabetically in each category so you could compare cuisines without having to scan each entire list
What even counts as UK food? Maybe its harder for me to say because I live here so to me a lot of it is just food. There are probably things I see as normal foods but someone outside the UK may not have heard of it and I am going to be unaware of that.
Look at regional recipes perhaps? Cornish pasty or haggis. Well both of those have black pepper and that is certainly a very common ingredient here for pretty much anything savoury.
Garlic is fairly popular, IIRC it was once considered as something for the poors because it grows easily here while the rich would have imported more exotic spices. This would likely influence a lot of recipes that get written down too, and why things like curry are pretty popular.
There's a London dish called Eel Jelly that used to popular when the Thames was full of them. I'm genuinely curious about it since I'm not British and I hear all the time "Haha colonialism they don't even use the spices" so I'm wondering what they actually use in traditional recipes. I'd guess onion, garlic and leek with pepper coming in with the Indian colonisation instead of immigrants.
It's not Eel Jelly. It's actually Jellied Eel. The difference is that with a name like "Eel Jelly" it would seem to be a dish made by adding Eel to Jelly. But Jellied Eel is actually eel cooked in such a way that it becomes jellied. Eels are naturally high in collagen, so you don't need anything special to make them jellied.
Back in the day that was a bonus because eels were poor people food, and the fact they became jellied resulted in a bit of natural preservation, which was important for poor people's food in the days before refrigeration.
As for the spices used, I imagine before colonization it was whatever naturally grows in the UK for the peasants, and whatever grows naturally in Europe for the nobility, who were often tied to or from European noble houses. Here's an article on some of the things that can be foraged in the UK. I imagine that a lot of the spices that used to be used are no longer used. They were probably replaced with better spices that don't have a bitter aftertaste, or have a stronger pleasant taste.
Not from London but found a few recipes online and it appears to always include: eels, gelatin, onion, black peppercorns, salt, vinegar. Then sometimes: bay leaves, carrots, parsley, lemon juice, cloves, fish stock.
What do you (all) think the most important things are in a spice rack?
I've used all these spices, but for a lot of them I tend to use the fresh version: fresh garlic, cilantro / coriander, ginger, and cinnamon in stick form. I like making Mexican, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Italian and often "General European" food. So, maybe for me, the powdered / bottled priority is:
Ha, that's what I'm trying to avoid. It's easy to just buy all the spices, but I'm trying to limit it to the ones I actually use. For coriander, I just use fresh cilantro / coriander. I very rarely use coriander powder. Pepper, obviously, but that doesn't live in the spice drawer.
From your setup, "Dill Weed"? Do you ever use that? Dry parsley? Dry chives? Pumpkin Pie Spice? I don't think I've ever used any of those. Also, you have celery salt, kosher(ing) salt, truffle salt and salt substitute. Do you really use all of them?
I do have to say, your setup is great. Everything in the same kind of bottle, everything labelled well (even the 3 special ones), and all alphabetically sorted. I bet your kitchen is a great place to cook.
Dill weed is great for making lemon dill roasted potatoes. They go great with spanakopita.
Dry chives I put in last weeks mashed potatoes, and dried parsley in a stew ( I like fresh but it is good as a backup).
The pumpkin pie spice is actually an imported Indian finishing spice my Indian coworker brought over for me. You put a pinch of it into the dish of say curry/lentils right at serving. I put it as Pumpkin Pie spice because it seems to be a mix of cloves, nutmeg, Cinnamon and a few other things. It reminded me of Pumpkin Pie spices enough that I skip the regular pie recipe and just put a few spoons of that into the pumpkin filling. People love it.
Celery salt, because as a vegan to get a chicken/turkey type broth soup celery and sage can trick your taste buds into tasting chicken like.
Kosher Salt is for my homemade bread, it is super course and it does a better job of letting the yeast rise (while still controlling it).
Salt Substitute is actually Black Salt (already had the label stuck on the jar). Its a sulfer like mineral salt made by burning something. Since we are vegan if you want anything to smell and taste eggy, like an eggless salad, this does exactly that. But also adds good flavour in recipes.
Truffle Salt-- hard to source here so still empty right now.
52 Comments
merc@sh.itjust.works · 51 pts · 315d
A bit lazy to list "Cajun seasoning" as one of the main Cajun spices.
epyon22@programming.dev · 38 pts · 315d
Same this with curry powder 😂. Both are basically just combinations of the other spices listed.
Cenzorrll@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 315d
And garam masala
wisemanzero@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 315d
And ras al hanout
BarrelAgedBoredom@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 315d
And herbes de province
Zombie@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 314d
And all-spice 🥁
BCsven@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 315d
You gotta add curry powder to your powdered curry spices if you want the true boss power
jaxxed@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 314d
Similarly, the North African Ras el-hanout (head of the shop) is a spice blend.
jaxxed@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 314d
From my u derstanding, za'ataar is basically just oregano.
uhmbah@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 314d
Uhm... sumac anyone?
Hegar@fedia.io · 34 pts · 315d
Thai is missing both lemongrass and chillies which are like the two main spices I think of with Thai food.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 16 pts · 315d
Thai basil (holy basil) is also different than regular basil. It should be noted that it’s not the same as Mediterranean basil.
whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 314d
And Mexican missing cilantro
Geobloke@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 314d
And galangal
Taldan@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 314d
These lists are terrible. Get rid of the herb/spice blends. Curry powder, cajun seasoning, ras al hanout, and herbs de province are redundant. Their base components are already included, and you're far better off mixing them based on the dish you're making
Thai should include lemongrass and shallot, among a million other mistakes in this. No reason not to include cayenne is Mexican food
I could rant for a long time. Ignore these lists, use a wide variety of spices. Prioritize fresh when you can. Spices have a shelf life even when dried
CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 314d
Would love a detailed, quality list, having a short hand when throwing together a meal is always ideal
dubyakay@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 315d
Hungarian:
troyunrau@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 315d
Everyone sleeping on dill. It's a travesty!
shalafi@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 314d
Accidentally killed mine this spring. What do you do with it? Figured I'd learn once I got some going.
jaxxed@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 314d
N0t in the Baltics they ain't
r4venw@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 315d
It would have been extra awesome had the spices been sorted alphabetically in each category so you could compare cuisines without having to scan each entire list
Jack@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 314d
r4venw@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 314d
Dude thats amazing. Deserves its own post
j4k3@piefed.world · 0 pts · 314d
Be the change you want in the world. That's what I'm doing hunting anon to post here
solidsmoke@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 315d
Shouldn't be regular basil under Thai, it should be Thai basil. They are different.
chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 315d
I love a nice exotic rack, especially when it's on top of some thick dark wood.
eneff@discuss.tchncs.de · 8 pts · 315d
🤔
cyborganism@piefed.ca · 7 pts · 315d
The UK:
ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 315d
olafurp@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 314d
Need to add the UK lol
fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 314d
Salt, pepper and all-purpose curry powder please.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 314d
What even counts as UK food? Maybe its harder for me to say because I live here so to me a lot of it is just food. There are probably things I see as normal foods but someone outside the UK may not have heard of it and I am going to be unaware of that.
Look at regional recipes perhaps? Cornish pasty or haggis. Well both of those have black pepper and that is certainly a very common ingredient here for pretty much anything savoury.
Garlic is fairly popular, IIRC it was once considered as something for the poors because it grows easily here while the rich would have imported more exotic spices. This would likely influence a lot of recipes that get written down too, and why things like curry are pretty popular.
olafurp@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 314d
There's a London dish called Eel Jelly that used to popular when the Thames was full of them. I'm genuinely curious about it since I'm not British and I hear all the time "Haha colonialism they don't even use the spices" so I'm wondering what they actually use in traditional recipes. I'd guess onion, garlic and leek with pepper coming in with the Indian colonisation instead of immigrants.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 282d
It's not Eel Jelly. It's actually Jellied Eel. The difference is that with a name like "Eel Jelly" it would seem to be a dish made by adding Eel to Jelly. But Jellied Eel is actually eel cooked in such a way that it becomes jellied. Eels are naturally high in collagen, so you don't need anything special to make them jellied.
Back in the day that was a bonus because eels were poor people food, and the fact they became jellied resulted in a bit of natural preservation, which was important for poor people's food in the days before refrigeration.
As for the spices used, I imagine before colonization it was whatever naturally grows in the UK for the peasants, and whatever grows naturally in Europe for the nobility, who were often tied to or from European noble houses. Here's an article on some of the things that can be foraged in the UK. I imagine that a lot of the spices that used to be used are no longer used. They were probably replaced with better spices that don't have a bitter aftertaste, or have a stronger pleasant taste.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 314d
Not from London but found a few recipes online and it appears to always include: eels, gelatin, onion, black peppercorns, salt, vinegar. Then sometimes: bay leaves, carrots, parsley, lemon juice, cloves, fish stock.
biofaust@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 314d
How is ginger in any way Mediterranean?
Jhex@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 314d
WOW, I have them all right now, and a few extra ones... except Ras El Hanout
shalafi@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 314d
How about Asians?
"Best I got is one tiny country."
Tudsamfa@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 314d
India is literally the most populous country though?
suff@piefed.social · 2 pts · 314d
Misses lemon grass
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 2 pts · 314d
...Where do I put my salt and pepper? 🤷♂️
ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 315d
Fuck yeah coolguides
merc@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 315d
What do you (all) think the most important things are in a spice rack?
I've used all these spices, but for a lot of them I tend to use the fresh version: fresh garlic, cilantro / coriander, ginger, and cinnamon in stick form. I like making Mexican, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Italian and often "General European" food. So, maybe for me, the powdered / bottled priority is:
BCsven@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 315d
That's a decent selection, but I would miss the pepper and coriander.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 315d
Ha, that's what I'm trying to avoid. It's easy to just buy all the spices, but I'm trying to limit it to the ones I actually use. For coriander, I just use fresh cilantro / coriander. I very rarely use coriander powder. Pepper, obviously, but that doesn't live in the spice drawer.
From your setup, "Dill Weed"? Do you ever use that? Dry parsley? Dry chives? Pumpkin Pie Spice? I don't think I've ever used any of those. Also, you have celery salt, kosher(ing) salt, truffle salt and salt substitute. Do you really use all of them?
I do have to say, your setup is great. Everything in the same kind of bottle, everything labelled well (even the 3 special ones), and all alphabetically sorted. I bet your kitchen is a great place to cook.
BCsven@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 315d
Dill weed is great for making lemon dill roasted potatoes. They go great with spanakopita.
Dry chives I put in last weeks mashed potatoes, and dried parsley in a stew ( I like fresh but it is good as a backup).
The pumpkin pie spice is actually an imported Indian finishing spice my Indian coworker brought over for me. You put a pinch of it into the dish of say curry/lentils right at serving. I put it as Pumpkin Pie spice because it seems to be a mix of cloves, nutmeg, Cinnamon and a few other things. It reminded me of Pumpkin Pie spices enough that I skip the regular pie recipe and just put a few spoons of that into the pumpkin filling. People love it.
Celery salt, because as a vegan to get a chicken/turkey type broth soup celery and sage can trick your taste buds into tasting chicken like.
Kosher Salt is for my homemade bread, it is super course and it does a better job of letting the yeast rise (while still controlling it).
Salt Substitute is actually Black Salt (already had the label stuck on the jar). Its a sulfer like mineral salt made by burning something. Since we are vegan if you want anything to smell and taste eggy, like an eggless salad, this does exactly that. But also adds good flavour in recipes.
Truffle Salt-- hard to source here so still empty right now.
Hegar@fedia.io · 1 pts · 315d
Cardamom, cumin, chilli powder, paprika, smoked paprika, chipotle powder, cayenne, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 315d
No European dishes then? No oregano, thyme, basil?
Hegar@fedia.io · 2 pts · 315d
No not really. I honestly don't cook a lot, or well, but I'm not really into european food.
IndridCold@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 314d
They left out the list for "American"
Hagdos@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 313d
Oh no, a post that's not about the US! Quick, let's make it about the US anyway!
IndridCold@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 313d
Why not? Americans are fun to laugh at.