Trying to cook more

[SZLiao214]

I'm trying to increase the number of things i am able to cook. The ingredients i know least about are herbs and seasonings. What are some basic herbs you can use for a lot of cooking and what goes good together?

 

[Kirby]

Tony Chachere's on everything.

 

[Vegitto]

Well, experiment . IMO, there's nothing like discovering for yourself what to use on what and what not . It's how I developed my passion for cooking.

 

[d3n]

Tough question. I would go for store brands to save money. Some say you should toss and restock every year. Ive had some stuff for 2 or 3.

basic of basics
Course ground pepper, Kosher Salt

 

[pkme2]

Get a cookbook of foods you would love making.

Let your imagination go wild and pick foods you would love eating.

Then settle on the seasonings you will need.

My most important ingredient for seasoning is Hawaiian salt. Everything else is relative.

 

[Coquito]

Thyme, Thyme, Thyme!

Fresh ginger for a sweet/spicy twang. Baby ginger for the more subdued.

Don't knock the garlic.

 

[thespeakerbox]

http://www.penzeys.com/

Get the basics.

Kosher salt
Pepper Grinder with Peppercorns
For beginner , some dried herb blends ( rosemary, thyme, oregano)
Some smoked salts
Some meat blends
Paprika

If youre not really into fresh stuff or using/mixing spices, i suggest any penzey blends. They are excellent.

 

[NoShangriLa]

1. Salt (with out salt everything tastes bland)
2. Sugar (our taste buds seems to crave sugar)
3. Acid (lemon/lime, vinegar, wine)
4. Spice (pepper, jalapeno, curry)
5. Herbs (any plants that you enjoy the smell/taste)

Onion, basil & garlic has to be the herbs that I use the most, then ginger, cilantro, oregano, cinnamon, lemon grass, rosemary, thyme, and star anise.

 

[loup garou]

Depends on what you're cooking...

Originally posted by: nkgreen
Tony Chachere's on everything.

...but this is always good advice!

 

[fitzov]

What do you know how to make?

 

[rbV5]

Grilling + Fresh Rosemary.

 

[SZLiao214]

Originally posted by: fitzov
What do you know how to make?

Just random chicken recipes, breakfast foods, and ramen with extras.

 

[Special K]

I put red cayenne pepper on lots of things. Blackened seasoning is also good, as are the Mrs. Dash seasoning blends.

Chef Paul Prudomme (sp?) also makes some good blends.

Emeril's Bayou Blast is also a good one.

 

[TecHNooB]

Soy sauce, salt, pepper, loss of appetite FTW!

 

[Fritzo]

Here you go:

http://www.goodcooking.com/herspice.htm

 

[Cerb]

Garlic. Garlic goes with everything. The best is fresh, ground with something rough (mortar & pestel (sp?), FI), but the jars are OK. Dried up isn't worth bothering with. If it's a simple dish, try putting in garlic in parts, so in the end, there's mush, well-cooked, and near raw garlic. Garlic is also one of the few foods we've got that is very good for you from raw right up until it's charred.

If you have somewhere near by like a whole foods, get fresh garlic and learn to peel it (it's just practice with a big knife, and once you get it, you'll not need anything but fresh, except for back up). Here, I find the garlic from whole foods or international grocers lasts months just fine, yet that is not so for any major grocery stores.

Kosher salt, sea salt, etc.: must have. You may not notice anything right off, but when you try to go back to not using it, you will. Pepper and a grinder ends up the same way--novelty right off, but once you're used to it, you can tell the difference.

Oregano, basil, thyme. Fresh is required for simple sauces (like pesto), and fresh foods, but dried is about as good for anything that cooks a lot.

Rosemary and parsley work very well for fast cooking, like grilling, browning, and searing.

If getting powdered stuff, go to some international store and get either stuff they make, or the somewhat large quantities. FI, the bags of Indian chili powder, with almost no English on it, is very good, but nothing in jars I've found is. I've done this for mustard seed, cumin seed, and ginger, too, same results. Nothing is as good as cutting it up yourself, but it can be close enough to not be worth the trouble most of the time.

More off-topic, if making dishes in a skillet often, go get a cast iron skillet, and learn its ways. My cast iron skillet and dutch oven are my go to pans for any fast meals, now, but they do require some learning (read: failures along the way). Nothing gives a good roux like iron.

 

[skyking]

I'll add fresh cilantro to the list. It has a unique zip.

 

[doze]

Originally posted by: nkgreen
Tony Chachere's on everything.

Regular Tony's or Spice Herb Tony's on everything. Other seasonings I keep are Season All, lemon pepper, kosher salt, garlic/onion powder, black pepper.

Also sauces - soy sauce, BBQ sauces, italian dressing, red/green tabasco + other hot sauces This is my new favorite hot sauce.

 

[fitzov]

Originally posted by: SZLiao214

Originally posted by: fitzov
What do you know how to make?

Just random chicken recipes, breakfast foods, and ramen with extras.

Learn how to make some one pot meals, like chilli, casseroles.Then work your way up to a nice piece of meat with potatoes or rice and a vegetable. Learn how to properly cook a steak, a roast. At that point you should start experimenting with seasonings--the recipes for these things will already have seasonings listed.

 

[Billzie7718]

Originally posted by: doze

Originally posted by: nkgreen
Tony Chachere's on everything.

Regular Tony's or Spice Herb Tony's on everything. Other seasonings I keep are Season All, lemon pepper, kosher salt, garlic/onion powder, black pepper.

Also sauces - soy sauce, BBQ sauces, italian dressing, red/green tabasco + other hot sauces This is my new favorite hot sauce.

I love Sriracha, or as my friends call it "Rooster Sauce".

 

[SZLiao214]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Here you go:

http://www.goodcooking.com/herspice.htm

Nice!

 

[DeadByDawn]

Any meat tastes good marinated in cheap italian dressing.

 

[d3n]

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn
Any meat tastes good marinated in cheap italian dressing.

Take this a bit further with chicken tenders and add some lime juice and honey. Yum.

 

[zebano]

Salk, Pepper and Garlic are necessities. After that, look for some Ground Cayan Pepper !

 

[NoShangriLa]

Garlic. Garlic goes with everything. The best is fresh, ground with something rough (mortar & pestel (sp?), FI), but the jars are OK. Dried up isn't worth bothering with. If it's a simple dish, try putting in garlic in parts, so in the end, there's mush, well-cooked, and near raw garlic. Garlic is also one of the few foods we've got that is very good for you from raw right up until it's charred.

If you have somewhere near by like a whole foods, get fresh garlic and learn to peel it (it's just practice with a big knife, and once you get it, you'll not need anything but fresh, except for back up). Here, I find the garlic from whole foods or international grocers lasts months just fine, yet that is not so for any major grocery stores.

Wayyy too much work just to get crush garlic.

I whack garlic bulbs between my chef knife/meat cleaver and cutting board to break the skin to peel, then give it a harder whack with 5 second of dicing to get mint garlic.