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Kitchen Cooking Saffron, and cooking with spices

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Arthur Mont

Saffron, and cooking with spices

Latest Post: January 22, 2012 at 4:12 AM

72 followers

Hi everyone,
I recently started playing with cooking. The height of complexity per my ability is putting things on a pan (meat/fish/vegetables) and throwing spices at it, as anything else and I get too bored. I am though really enjoying playing with the different spices and liquids one can mix. It's fun to guess from the smells how they will mix and the taste they'll create. I'm not at all afraid to experiment as what's the danger; I could eat pretty much whatever bad thing I'll cook. (So far so good, including at attempt with meat and honey)

I bought saffron and am thinking what I can use it for. Any suggestions? (It's an expensive spice but with my amount of cooking it should last for a while).

Any suggestions for interesting ways to use spices in cooking? Surprising mixes?

Reply to:

Damian Flint

January 14, 2012 at 10:06 AM

43 followers

Hi Arthur, haven't experimented with saffron yet but I have a general comment about using spices -- though I usually use spices fairly generously I found out recently that you can make really delicious and rich food without any spices or even salt. It's more challenging, often it can be really bland, but with the right combinations and using the best fresh produce you can get really delicate tastes out of your fresh ingredients. Using spices is sometimes an easy way to compensate for not using the best ingredients (which is partly the fault of industrialized agriculture that puts emphasis on profit rather than flavor) and it's a pity because there's a lot we're missing out on. In particular, when I was in Turkey I found that hardly any spices or salt were necessary simply because the vegetables there were so good.

Reply to: or

Arthur Mont

In response to Damian Flint

January 15, 2012 at 12:35 PM

72 followers

I mostly agree Damian, and I love buying sashimi grade fish and eating it as is, and other raw foods. But mixing spices you can create different tastes where the original element is only the canvas to which you apply paint. (It's a funny metaphor but a silly one, as I don't think you can do as much with cooking as with painting.) That is, it is not about creating the best tasting food but a new interesting taste.

For example, potatoes with Anise and fennel (among other ingredients) so that they have a licorice taste. Surprisingly it came out excellent. This would not be something you would get in a restaurant and was a nice new taste.

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Damian Flint

In response to Arthur Mont

January 15, 2012 at 1:28 PM

43 followers

I wasn't referring to raw food necessarily. What I meant was that you can cook without spicing and still get a lot of flavor out of the fresh ingredients. Certain combinations like tomatoes, carrots, fresh garlic, pine nuts and basil leaves, that sort of thing. Just something to try sometime. I still love using and experimenting with all sorts of different spices when I cook.