Achieving good flavor, and using spices and aromatics

[ultrablaze]

Hey everyone,

So I've gotten really into cooking lately, I have always loved food and I'm finding it to be a great experience trying out new things and experimenting.
My main problem starting out was everything tasted kind of flat, one dimensional and dull. I've had some success with roasting using fresh herbs and some dried herbs, getting closer to the tastes of what I know as good home cooking, but I feel like I'm lacking basic information on how to properly get flavor out of them and add proper layered taste to a dish.

Even harder to use are spices, I always find that things end up tasting flat and not getting the rich flavors of the spices I taste in other peoples food. I assume I'm missing out on something, on cooking techniques or methods to really infuse the food with the flavor. I have seen various suggestions of blooming spices in oil, and things of that nature, but I'm sure some of you who have gone from unable to cook to experts have found good ressources on this.

Looking forward to spicing up my dishes.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

To start with, are you using the basics? Salt and pepper are your friends, even if you don't over-do it you still need some salt to bring out the other flavors. Same goes for onion and garlic.  Gordon Ramsey was once asked what 5 items could he not do without in a kitchen. He listed olive oil, shallots (a type of oninon) salt, garlic and pasta. Now if you're paleo and don't want pasta that's fine, but the other four ingredients are key. I put them on just about everything and then add other spices as I desire.

[oldnews]

Definitely salt. I think the majority of the time, that something that's missing is salt. It's a flavor enhancer and it's amazing how much of a difference it makes.

 

Maybe you could give us an example of a recipe that isn't quite working and we could help out that way.

 

Also, if you're into books, The Flavor Bible by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page is awesome. It's not a recipe book, it's just a cross-referenced list of which flavors go with which foods, and good combinations thereof.

[ultrablaze]

I have a tendency to under salt, but getting better through practice and tasting as I cook. Generous amounts of Maldon salt being tossed on everything, and I go through crazy amounts of garlic and onion. These kind of dishes are working fine, I am for example often roasting chicken legs with vegetables and fresh rosemary with lemon and olive oil, turning out great. Trying different combinations there.

My issue is more with how to use other spices, namely things like curry powder,cardamom, cumin etc in ways that they really release their flavor and I actually end up with rich tasting curries and things like that. I find things I try in this style of cooking always turn out bland or just aggressively spicy with no real nice flavor.

I will check out the book for sure.
That is the kind of thing I need, like I found a page on just all the different methods of cooking things in the oven and how they are used to achieve different speeds / textures / effects, and found that really useful. A similar thing also for just common sauce bases in different cuisines, I found that very interesting and could be expanded upon.

I don't know, maybe my question is to generic, but I'm looking for more general basic techniques that I can use to experiment with the flavors, because I have a decent sense of what should be added when tasting things and what goes with what, but just when and how do I add a given spice. Rub it on the meat, throw it in periodically, with the onions, with the oil when its hot, mix with butter before cooking... I have no clue, also for things I should avoid that will "damage" the spice or produce a bad taste. Maybe I'll attempt a few more recipes using these spices that seem detailed and see how they turn out.

Does that make any sense?

[Deidara]

A really good way to make sure you get more oomph from your spices is to NOT buy them ground. Buy whole spices, and grind them shortly before using. Most spices have a much shorter shelf life when ground, but when whole will keep for up to a year. You can use a small coffee/spice grinder for it, they're cheap and work really well, and are also good for doing things like making flours out of things like oat or rice.

 

Also! Don't add them too late in the cooking process. A lot of them will distribute their flavor better if you add them early on. But make sure you don't burn them because it's actually really easy to burn spices. If you "bloom" them beforehand, don't do it for more than a minute or two.

[jrosto]

How to Spice up Any Meal, Literally is an NF blog post that does a great job of covering basic spices and seasonings.  

[KAllen]

This is all you need.  http://www.tonychachere.com/

 

If you live in Louisiana and don't have at least 3 containers of this in your house, you're either a foreigner or we run you outta the state!!!

[Maj. Bloodnok]

A really good way to make sure you get more oomph from your spices is to NOT buy them ground. Buy whole spices, and grind them shortly before using. Most spices have a much shorter shelf life when ground, but when whole will keep for up to a year. You can use a small coffee/spice grinder for it, they're cheap and work really well, and are also good for doing things like making flours out of things like oat or rice.

 

Also! Don't add them too late in the cooking process. A lot of them will distribute their flavor better if you add them early on. But make sure you don't burn them because it's actually really easy to burn spices. If you "bloom" them beforehand, don't do it for more than a minute or two.

This. 

 

A lot of Indian curries start off the same way: heat some oil, then add a little mustard seed and/or whole cumin. When they start to pop, immediately add chopped onions, garlic and ginger.  Cook over medium heat until the onions are caramelized, then add your chili powder, garam masala, tomatoes, etc.  With some slight variations, that's the basic architecture for most curries.  

 

One of the big flavor elements, aside from blooming the spices in hot oil, is caramelization.  Heat causes the natural sugars in food to caramelize, bringing out deeper, more intense flavors.  Browning meat before adding it to a stew or poaching liquid makes the final product taste much better.  If you're serious about making good Indian food, then check out Manjula's Kitchen on YouTube. She does vegetarian cooking, but her techniques easily convert over to meat dishes.  The Vah Chef (Sanjay Thumma) is also very informative. 

 

A friend of mine runs an Indian restaurant.  He advised me not to worry if my cooking doesn't taste like restaurant food, because of all the clarified butter and whole cream they use.  If you like the way it tastes, then you've done well.

[Evicious]

I made the most amazing crock pot chicken thighs from a song: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (plus a little salt). The flavor was incredible - after it had sat for about a day in my fridge (I just stuck the entire crock pot in there once it had cooled enough to do so, so the chicken marinated in its own juices). The first piece I tried before that step was pretty mildly favored and a bit disappointing. The next day, they were ridiculously tasty. Sometimes, you have to give things a little time to meld together before you taste the full effect.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Sometimes a night in the fridge is the best thing you can do for those kind of dishes, it works on chili too.

[Raze]

Sometimes a night in the fridge is the best thing you can do for those kind of dishes, it works on chili too.

 

I do the same thing with my chili. I mix all the veggies, meat wet seasoning and some salt and pepper and let that sit overnight before I add all the beans, tomatoes and other spices that need to be to taste.

[heathengirl]

I cook a lot of curries and a step you may be missing is marinating.  Many indian style curries require you to marinate the meats in the spices before cooking them this allows the spices to infuse the meat with serious flavor before you ever get to cooking them.

 

I find that my curries taste better if I marinate everything overnight, or at least for several hours.  I also cook them low and slow allowing the flavors to develop.

 

Hope that helps.