Your favorite seasoning/seasoning blend

[bakechef]

I think you showed remarkable restraint! I'm probably lucky that the nearest Penzy's is 7 hours away.

I like McCormick's taco seasoning. I also blend my own Emeril's. I have a lot of different blends. A friend started a spice business with a local chef, and gifted us with a number of their products.

Penzy's 10 minutes away, savory spice shop 20 minutes away, staying away from them takes a lot of restraint! I am going to go to savory on Saturday to pick up spices for tandoori chicken. Rob loves tandoori chicken but every place around here charges a fortune for it. He came home with half a tandoori chicken that looked more like a pigeon, I've never seen chicken pieces that small, the chicken alone cost $12.99 FOR HALF OF A TINY CHICKEN! they put it on a big pile of sliced onions so that it looked like something in the container. This seems to be the status quo when it comes to Indian food here.

 

[Dawgluver]

Penzy's 10 minutes away, savory spice shop 20 minutes away, staying away from them takes a lot of restraint! I am going to go to savory on Saturday to pick up spices for tandoori chicken. Rob loves tandoori chicken but every place around here charges a fortune for it. He came home with half a tandoori chicken that looked more like a pigeon, I've never seen chicken pieces that small, the chicken alone cost $12.99 FOR HALF OF A TINY CHICKEN! they put it on a big pile of sliced onions so that it looked like something in the container. This seems to be the status quo when it comes to Indian food here.

:rolf:

Sorry for that, Bakechef, but I can't imagine a pigeon-sized half chicken!

 

[jusnikki]

I love,love,love Old Bay Garlic and Herb... I make sure i dont run out. Always have on hand garlic and onion powder. Oh an Happy New Year!!!

 

[Kayelle]

Thanks Kay! I figured I would bathe in it first. Have never seen it here, and one of my girlfriends was so excited to gift me with it! The Iittle bottle is habanero, she said it's muy caliente.

The next time I go to Costco I'm going to buy the giant size bottle that I've seen there. I love to do a beer butt chicken with lots of it sprinkled inside and out.

 

[Andy M.]

I have been thinking about this thread and I have to say, I don't think I have a favorite seasoning blend.

I have a bunch in my spice cabinet but can't really point to a favorite. I have two kinds of Penzeys seasoned salt. Cajun, Italian, Turkish seasonings. Curry powders, etc.

 

[puffin3]

I make my own Sel Fou.
I made a few dozen small jars as Christmas gifts. I buy fresh horseradish, pile it, rough chop, into processer until the pieces are the size of pepper corns, spread out on a cookie sheet, roasted until just turned brown, cooled, into coffee bean grinder. Now I have dried pieces grind fairly fine but not to powder.

 

[Addie]

Salt, fresh ground pepper, Italian mixed. I go REAL light of the pepper. I love it, it hates me. And you can never have too much garlic.

 

[CWS4322]

I picked up a 1/2 gal of Frank's extra hot sauce at the cash and carry place Friday. That should last me a few weeks...

 

[Aunt Bea]

I picked up a 1/2 gal of Frank's extra hot sauce at the cash and carry place Friday. That should last me a few weeks...

Myrtle and the rest of the girls will get nervous if they see all of that hot sauce!

 

[Cheryl J]

Since I've discovered Penzey's I can't really pinpoint a favorite, but a few of my top faves are Mural of Flavor, Arizona Dreaming, and McCormicks makes a lemon pepper, garlic, and onion blend that I really like.

I love fresh cracked pepper, and cannot do without that, I put it on everything. My pepper mill broke a couple of days ago and I went out that same day and bought another one. Not happy with it, but we don't have much of a choice here, so the next time I go to the city I'm going to get a better one.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Cheryl, have you considered one of the Penzeys pepper mills? I keep looking at them every time I order, but then pass. I bought a Peugeot mill a number of years ago. Even though the adjustment feature looks like it should be efficient, I noticed after using it for only a year or two that the grinds ended up being awfully close to the same medium grind whether I had it set on course or fine. It wasn't a very expensive model, but it cost plenty enough - actually more than the 6" Penzeys is right now. As a bonus, it comes full of those delish Tellicherry peppercorns.

 

[Cheryl J]

Cheryl, have you considered one of the Penzeys pepper mills? I keep looking at them every time I order, but then pass. I bought a Peugeot mill a number of years ago. Even though the adjustment feature looks like it should be efficient, I noticed after using it for only a year or two that the grinds ended up being awfully close to the same medium grind whether I had it set on course or fine. It wasn't a very expensive model, but it cost plenty enough - actually more than the 6" Penzeys is right now. As a bonus, it comes full of those delish Tellicherry peppercorns.

Yes, I have! In fact, I think I'm going to go ahead with a Penzey's pepper mill rather than waiting until I go to the city again. I've browsed their catalog looking at them, and they stand behind their products, so I'm going to go ahead with that.

That's the problem I have now with the cheapo just-to-get-me-by pepper mill I just bought - no matter how I adjust it, it only wants to do a fine to medium grind. Sometimes I like a courser grind - like when I grill a steak.

 

[Addie]

Yes, I have! In fact, I think I'm going to go ahead with a Penzey's pepper mill rather than waiting until I go to the city again. I've browsed their catalog looking at them, and they stand behind their products, so I'm going to go ahead with that.

That's the problem I have now with the cheapo just-to-get-me-by pepper mill I just bought - no matter how I adjust it, it only wants to do a fine to medium grind. Sometimes I like a courser grind - like when I grill a steak.

One cannot do without a peppermill. A good grilled steak just doesn't taste right unless it is covered in course ground pepper.

I also have a matching mill to my pepper one for course sea salt. I can't remember when I last bought salt in a round box like Morton's.

 

[RPCookin]

One cannot do without a peppermill. A good grilled steak just doesn't taste right unless it is covered in course ground pepper.

I also have a matching mill to my pepper one for course sea salt. I can't remember when I last bought salt in a round box like Morton's.

All salt forms have their place in cooking and baking. Some perform better than others in certain uses. Regardless of form, they all have essentially the same chemical make up - sodium chloride is sodium chloride, regardless of the size of the crystals. For that matter, salt mined from the ground is still sea salt, just much older from seas that dried up. Sea salt is best used as a finishing salt, and is generally wasted money when used for general cooking. It takes twice as much kosher salt, and even more sea salt to equal the flavoring power of table salt.

This is from a site called The Kitchn:

...the only differences between kosher salt and table salt (and really, between nearly every other sort of salt) lie in the shape and size of its crystals, not its chemical makeup. Kosher salt has large, rough crystals that take a long time to dissolve in the mouth. They crunch. A tablespoon of kosher salt will actually contain fewer salt crystals, by volume, than table salt, which has much smaller crystals.

There is no difference between kosher salt and rough "sea salt". Pretty much all salt has an identical chemistry. Some are smoked, or have trace elements of minerals that change their taste or color, but any differences between "kosher" and "sea" salt, provided the shapes of their crystals are the same, are purely in the labeling.

If a recipe calls for regular "table" salt, then that's what should be used or it won't have the same flavor as what the author intended. The smaller crystals dissolve faster and more thoroughly to impart more flavor throughout. I can't imagine using a coarse salt for baking unless it's specifically required in the recipe.

I have regular salt, kosher salt and sea salt all in my spice cupboard.

 

[Addie]

All salt forms have their place in cooking and baking. Some perform better than others in certain uses. Regardless of form, they all have essentially the same chemical make up - sodium chloride is sodium chloride, regardless of the size of the crystals. For that matter, salt mined from the ground is still sea salt, just much older from seas that dried up. Sea salt is best used as a finishing salt, and is generally wasted money when used for general cooking. It takes twice as much kosher salt for a recipe, and even more sea salt to equal the flavoring power of table salt.

This is from a site called The Kitchn:



If a recipe calls for regular "table" salt, then that's what should be used or it won't have the same flavor as what the author intended. The smaller crystals dissolve faster and more thoroughly to impart more flavor throughout. I can't imagine using a coarse salt for baking unless it's specifically required in the recipe.

I have regular salt, kosher salt and sea salt all in my spice cupboard.

I have a small food processor. When I need table salt, I put a couple of tbs. in the small food processor, and that processes that salt 'till it is almost dust. I buy two kinds of sea salt. Course and fine. I have never liked kosher salt. I have always found it to have an off taste.

 

[RPCookin]

I have a small food processor. When I need table salt, I put a couple of tbs. in the small food processor, and that processes that salt 'till it is almost dust. I buy two kinds of sea salt. Course and fine. I have never liked kosher salt. I have always found it to have an off taste.

Kosher salt is just salt that has been rolled into flat crystals instead of the natural cube shapes.. It's properly called "koshering salt" because it has its origins in preparing certain kosher meats, for removing surface blood by dessication. Otherwise it's no different from non iodized table salt. Most salts are actually kosher in respect to the food preparation requirements in the Torah.

Sea salt is the same stuff, only just with a different crystal form. Sea salts from different regions may vary slightly in the composition of the trace compounds (most of which have no effect on flavor), but they are otherwise just NaCl. In fact some of the additives that are put in table salt to keep it from clumping are the same compounds that are found naturally in sea salt.

Any actual difference in taste is mostly just in one's head. In a blind taste test, I doubt that you could tell the difference.

 

[Andy M.]

Not all kosher salts are created equal. Diamond Crystal kosher salt has one ingredient, sodium chloride. That's pure salt. Other kosher salts and table salts contain additives that prevent clumping and/or add iodine. Sea salts are less pure. They contain other salts and whatever else from the sea water, which explains why some are pink or black or speckled.

Measuring the different salts is also different. Among table salt, Diamond Crystal and Mortons kosher salts there is a significant difference in crystal size so the amount of salt in a teaspoon varies. A teaspoon of table salt is equal to 1.5 teaspoons of Mortons and 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal. No telling with sea salts as their crystal sizes differ within a single jar.

 

[CharlieD]

Growing up in Soviet Union, everything was a luxury, unreachable luxury. For example a tea spoon of ground black pepper was readily available at a black market, that is to say that it was not readily available in stores, for a mere 1 ruble. What do you say 1 ruble was worth? Well, a well paid plant manager was making about 300 rubles a month.

Anyway, I grew up basically with salt as the only seasoning. In the summer time there were dill and parsley. If one was lucky enough and visited Black Sea resort one could obtain some cilantro and even fresh bay leaves. And if one was rally like he/she would find hot red pepper. Needles to say I have very undeveloped palate for seasoning.

So my main to go seasonings are garlic salt, paprika and cayenne pepper.

 

[CharlieD]

"Kosher salt" is either marketing ploy or simply a name. Because in reality it is not used in koshering meat. Imagine plant producing thousands of pounds of meat, using a small box of salt. As the matter of fact same kind of salt sold in Soviet Union was called cooking salt.

 

[msmofet]

I forgot to mention this as one of my favorites. It's the perfect blend of salt, chili and lime. It's just terrific all by itself on roasted chicken, and also on fresh fruits or just about anything.

I have never seen that. Sounds interesting.