What's your coolest new ingredient?

[JDP]

What is your coolest new thing you found in the market that your your experimenting with? With Trader Joe's opening I have found a Red Hawiian Salt, Black Lentils, black truffle oil, Spanish chorizo. and red and yellow Tai curry pastes. I have been having great fun with all of them.

JDP

 

[urmaniac13]

Dehydrated coconut milk in powder form. You just add some water (you can adjust the amount to make it more dense or thin). Flavour wise it is surprisingly close, almost identical rather, to the coconut milk that comes in a tin. And you can use whatever the amount that you need at that time without the rest going bad after being forgotten at the back of the fridge...
I find it very, very handy!

 

[Constance]

My daughter had a Pampered Chef party, which I did not attend. But, to help her out, I bought several useful looking items from the catalogue.
I ended up with some high quality utensils, and a spice which I will keep on hand from now on.
It's called Cinnamon Plus, and contains cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, allspice and grated orange rind. The aroma is so wonderful, you'd like to dab some behind your ears, and the taste really is "Cinnamon Plus".
Add a shot of rum to whatever you're fixing, and you've got it going on. You wouldn't believe what it does for a peach pie.

The Pampered Chef, Ltd.

I can just imagine it in eggnog.

 

[JDP]

That sounds great. I did not know until Alton Brown of Good Eats had a show about cinnamon and I found out what I thought was cinnamon was actually Casasha bark ( spelling?). I found a bottle of McCormick spice with the name Saigon Cinnamon and it is ground. I'm assuming it is real cinnamon but do not know for sure. It has a stronger aroma and a sweeter taste. You could almost eat it on toast without the sugar. There is a huge diffence between it and what you normally find as " ground cinnamon" or the short stick versions.

JDP

 

[karadekoolaid]

Try some tau si - fermented black beans. Wonderful little things!!

 

[JDP]

What do you do with them?

JDP

 

[QSis]

It's called Cinnamon Plus, and contains cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, allspice and grated orange rind. The aroma is so wonderful, you'd like to dab some behind your ears ....

As it happens, Constance, I've read that men are very attracted to the scent of cinnamon. Seriously.

Hmmm. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper than Jessica McClintock!

Lee

 

[kitchenelf]

As it happens, Constance, I've read that men are very attracted to the scent of cinnamon. Seriously.

Hmmm. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper than Jessica McClintock!

Lee

mmmm - this is a great question. I wish I could add to this thread but it's been so long since I've found a really NEW ingredient. I can think of combinations of ingredients but I've still used those for several years. WOW - I'm going to have to go on a hunt for a new favorite ingredient. I've got some white truffle oil in my cabinet that I've never used - may that will be it. Maybe I'll do a risotto or some mashed potatoes using it - if anyone has a good suggestion for it my ears are wide open!

 

[Lynan]

mmmm - this is a great question. I wish I could add to this thread but it's been so long since I've found a really NEW ingredient. I can think of combinations of ingredients but I've still used those for several years. WOW - I'm going to have to go on a hunt for a new favorite ingredient. I've got some white truffle oil in my cabinet that I've never used - may that will be it. Maybe I'll do a risotto or some mashed potatoes using it - if anyone has a good suggestion for it my ears are wide open!

I have used white truffle oil in Bagna Cauda. Right time of year in your part of the world for that great Piemontese dish.

(Oops, Im assuming you are in a cold zone in the States!)

 

[Lynan]

Forgot to mention my latest ' play around with' ingredient.
Smoked paprika. Just love the suff. It enhances so many dishes that need ' warming' and I most often use with pork, fish, soups and potatos. There are two varieties, hot or sweet. Both are superb and I highly recommend you give them a try!

So far this summer I am pouring Thangkwa Priaowan ( Thai sweet and sour relish) over everything! Hubster loves it on his rice but I dont know if the Thai's would approve of that. This relish is based on a rice wine vinegar, sugar and water syrup with cucumber, carrots ( instead of water chestnuts, I dont like them), spring onions and chilli. Garnished with coriander leaves.
Goes beautifully with sate, Thai fish cakes, spring rolls etc.
I know its not really an ingredient as such..but its fast becoming that in our kitchen!!

 

[ironchef]

Sodium Alginate and Calcium Chloride. I've only been playing around with it, haven't used it on any dishes in the restaurant yet but it's cool stuff. Basically, the sodium alginate is a gelling agent that can be used at cold temperatures. When combined with a calcium chloride solution, you can create spheres of liquid, and when the spheres are immersed in the solution they gel on the outside but still retain their liquid in the middle. It's pretty neat stuff.

 

[Lynan]

IC recently I followed a food challenge at another site where the challengee made beautiful litle pearls out of tea! They looked like a pile of glistening golden caviar, just beautiful. Maybe you know where I mean, instructions included!
To be honest though, I would never want to eat any food produced that way. I am aware that the solutions required to form these gems are not unsafe, but it is not natural. May present well, but I would rather have au naturale!! With butter please! lolol

 

[ironchef]

They probably have this, or something similar to this which I bought as well:

Chef Rubber

You could always use a squeeze bottle with a small tip but the "caviar" wouldn't be uniform and it would take forever in day to make them.

 

[Poppinfresh]

I've developed a newfound love for gray salt over kosher. I'm not sure why.


Beyond that, I'm going through sort of an Asian phase right now (I frequently go through theme phases with BBQ being the only true constant), so I'm using a lot of soba noodles and various sauces (fish sauce, oyster sauce, etc.) that I wouldn't normally use.

 

[boufa06]

What do you do with them?

JDP

Fermented beans or tau cheo from soya can be added to fish, vegetable stews and sauces in Chinese cooking. Since they are salty, there is no need to add salt to the dish.

 

[YT2095]

Asafeotida would be mine, although it`s not exactly New to me, I did discover it about a year or so ago, and haven`t found anything new that`s quite as interesting yet.
gimme time

 

[Michelemarie]

Proscuitto! I don't even know if that is how you spell it - but i thought I didn't like it and I "accidentally" tasted it and now I love it! I try to incorporate it into things I am making!

 

[urmaniac13]

Proscuitto! I don't even know if that is how you spell it - but i thought I didn't like it and I "accidentally" tasted it and now I love it! I try to incorporate it into things I am making!

Very very close indeed, Michele, it is prosciutto!! I also had thought I wouldn't like it either, and the quality is also crucial. Prosciutto di San Daniele is the absolute best, followed closed by Prosciutto di Parma. I only eat these two. The generic brand of prosciutto only tastes of a "salted raw pork".

 

[sparrowgrass]

Herbes de Provence, from Penzeys. A spice blend with rosemary, lavendar, thyme, marjoram, savory, it is great on baked chicken, pork chops, tilapia, and I made a beef stew with it that was the best ever.

Next time, I am buying a 4oz. bag instead of the little shaker bottle.

 

[daisy]

My son came back from a short holiday with his usual little gifts for me. This time I got a packet of roasted Wattle Seed and a packet of Adudjura (bush tomatoes). Both Australian bushtucker foods, in case you didn't know. I've been hankering after both for ages, but they aren't easy to find.

It's only been a couple of days since I had them, but already I'm addicted to the Wattle Seed. Sort of chocolate-hazelnut flavour, that made delicious muffins yesterday!