Fabulous Flavour Combinations A Foodies Guide to Seasoning with Herbs and Spices by Di-Di Hoffman. This publication is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. First Edition: January 2007 Second Edition: January 2011 Third Edition: December 2012 Copyright ©. All rights reserved. Check out Di-Di’s Profile at https://plus.google.com/111627006480548932387/ Login to your online Family Herbalist Library at http://herbclass.com/ to download more publications. Bouquet Garni Cuisine Organique incorporating the SA Herb Academy PO Box 15873 Lynn East Pretoria South Africa www.herb.co.za www.herbclass.com Contents Benefits of Seasoning with Herbs and Spices 1 Herbs and Spices Defined 2 3 Handy Flavour Building Cheat Sheets 3 Cheat Sheet 1: Basic Tastes 3 Cheat Sheet 2: Basic Aromatic Groups 3 Cheat Sheet 3: Loudness Groups 4 Soft to Moderate Volume 4 Loud Volume 5 Preparing Herbs for Maximum Flavour 5 Preparing Spices for Maximum Flavour 7 21 Flavour Combinations to Avoid 9 1 356+ Fabulous Flavour Combinations 9 33 Holy Grail Pairings 10 1 159 Duets Made in Heaven 10 197+ Fresh Herb Combinations 14 Please Speak Your Mind and Share the Love 15 Feast on Flavour Bites Follow @bgherbs on Twitter for a bite sized menu of herb tips, flavour combinations, flavour poetry and great recipes from around the blogosphere. Fabulous Flavour Combinations Fabulous Flavour Combinations A Foodies Guide to Seasoning with Herbs and Spices “Cooking is for capturing the taste of the food and then enhancing it, as a composer may take a theme and then delight us with his variations.” – Fernand Point If you’ve ever wondered what goes with what this guide is especially for you. Words of caution though, view it only as a guide. One of the things that make seasoning with herbs and spices so dynamic is the constant evolution of our palates. What do you prefer? Familiar, friendly flavours or bold, unexpected flavours? It doesn’t really matter; you’ll have a feast with the two tables at the end of this guide. And yes, it’s perfectly fine to jump ahead to the fabulous flavour combination tables. But be sure to come back and read through the remainder of the guide. It will help you make the most of the flavours and aromas of your herbs and spices. Benefits of Seasoning with Herbs and Spices “Good cooking is an art, as well as a form of intense pleasure… A recipe is only a theme, which an intelligent cook can play each time with a variation.” – Madame Jehane Benoit, chef The first and most obvious reason for cooking with herbs and spices is that they can transform your ordinary recipes into exciting culinary experiences. But there are even more good reasons to master the magic of cooking with herbs and spices: They will stretch your budget. By using herbs and spices in your everyday cooking, you can turn cheap staple ingredients into tasty dishes. They offer you variety and gastronomic delight for every individual in the family. You can easily make your own connoisseur pantry products like herb oils, vinegars, and mustards, which make great gifts. You can even turn this hobby into a part-time or full-time business venture. It is always a pleasure to receive compliments for our culinary creations. Herbs and spices will certainly earn you compliments when entertaining friends and family. Used skilfully they really are the ‘cherry on the cake’ for all your dishes. Then for the more health conscious amongst us, there are many more advantages: Fresh herbs especially are wonderful sources of concentrated micro-nutrients, like antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. All of these are in an unadulterated natural form. Visit the Bouquet Garni Flavour Academy at www.herb.co.za for more flavour building ideas. P a g e | 1 Fabulous Flavour Combinations In these times of ‘instant’ vegetables – in tins and frozen packs – it is clear that herbs and spices can do much to improve the taste and nutritional value of our veggies. Certain herbs and spices will stimulate your appetite and improve your digestion and general health and well-being. They are vital in low salt and low fat diets. One can truly say that herbs and spices give your cooking that ‘something special’! Herbs and Spices Defined “Spices and herbs for the culinary world are harvested from the entire spectrum of plant species. Most commonly the seeds and leaves of these botanical treasures are used to impart flavour, but bark, roots, nuts, flowers and berries also have much to offer, depending on which plant you have before you. What just about all these species, in their many forms, have in common is a unique pungency compared with other crops. A spice or herb destined for the kitchen is likely to have a strong signature not duplicated elsewhere.” - Tony Hill, author of The Spice Lovers Guide to Herbs and Spices (2004) There are many interpretations of the difference between herbs, spices and flavourings. From a culinary viewpoint they can be described as follows: Herbs Herbs constitute the aromatic leaves and flowers that are used, either fresh or dried, to liven up culinary dishes. Some good examples are sweet basil, thyme and rosemary. The shelf life of most dried herbs is much shorter than that of spices. With a few exceptions, herbs should be used fresh for the best effect. Spices Spices are the seeds, bark and roots of plants that are used, mainly in a dried form. For this reason, spices have a longer shelf life than most herbs. Examples of spices are pepper (seeds), ginger (root) and cinnamon (bark) Flavourings Flavourings are products that are often used just like herbs, but are also seen as food sources in their own right, for example fennel bulbs, honey, nuts, citrus and onions. A Stew of Words! Sometimes the ability to distinguish between herbs, spices and flavourings becomes quite confusing. Take horseradish for example. Some might say it is a spice, while others believe it can also be a food source. The same can be said of garlic and onions. Visit the Bouquet Garni Flavour Academy at www.herb.co.za for more flavour building ideas. P a g e | 2 Fabulous Flavour Combinations There are also a number of plants that confusingly fall into the category of both a herb and a spice because we use their leaves fresh or dried and also their seeds. Just think about fennel, dill and coriander. Or is the latter cilantro? My advice to you... Make the distinction between herbs and spices if you must. But don’t let that limit your possibilities. When you cook, it doesn’t really matter whether fennel is a herb or a spice. That is really just semantics, and after all, if you know how to get the best out of fennel, the effect and taste stays the same. 3 Handy Flavour Building Cheat Sheets Aroma is responsible for as much as 80 per cent of the flavour of a dish. This helps to explain the popularity of cooking with herbs and spices. Incorporating them in a dish enhances the aroma of the dish and, in turn, its flavour. Remember that most herbs and spices do not like to be categorized into rigid boxes. Some will fit into more than one box. And then there will be those that don’t seem to fit in anywhere. Use these cheat sheets as a guide to create new flavour combinations or to enhance your favourites. Follow your own palate. If for example you can’t distinguish between spicy and pungent, group them together. Cheat Sheet 1: Basic Tastes This cheat sheet is handy when you’d like to balance the basic taste of a dish. Bitter Most herbs and spices are essentially bitter. Salty Capers, celery, fenugreek, hyssop, lovage. Sweet Stevia. Sour or Tangy Lemon, lime, sorrel. Cheat Sheet 2: Basic Aromatic Groups Use this cheat sheet to compliment the flavours of the main ingredients in your dish. Aniseed or Liquorice anise, chervil, dill, fennel, liquorice, star anise, tarragon. Citrus Citrus, lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon thyme, lemon verbena. Visit the Bouquet Garni Flavour Academy at www.herb.co.za for more flavour building ideas. P a g e | 3 Fabulous Flavour Combinations Fresh (or cool) Borage, parsley, salad burnet. Minty Apple mint, chocolate mint, eau de cologne mint, ginger mint, mint, pineapple mint, peppermint, spearmint. Nutty Sesame seed, poppy seed. Onion-flavoured Chives, garlic, garlic chives, shallot, Welsh onion (spring onion). Pungent Allspice, arugula (rocket), chilli, cloves, ginger, horseradish, mustard, nasturtium, pepper, watercress. Spicy Cilantro, curry bush, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme. Sweet Bay leaves, cassia, cinnamon, coriander, juniper, paprika, pineapple sage, rose geranium, stevia, sweet basil. Warm and Earthy Caraway, cardamom, cumin, curry leaves, mace, nutmeg, saffron, turmeric. Cheat Sheet 3: Loudness Groups You can also group herbs and spices according to their volume or loudness. This cheat sheet is handy when you want to determine: How overpowering a herb or spice is. The louder the more overpowering. How much of the herb or spice to add to a dish. The louder the less you’ll use. When to add it to a dish. The louder the longer they can withstand long cooking periods. Which flavours will complement each other. A loud herb will silence a soft one. To balance their marriage you’ll need to use more of the soft one than the loud one. There are two basic loudness groupings: soft to moderate (the mild herbs and spices), and loud (the robust or strong herbs and spices).