Seasoning Savvy: How to Cook with Herbs, Spices, and Other Flavorings

A unique work dealing in-depth with flavor and flavorings!With the increasing popularity of regional and ethnic cuisines, cooks frequently encounter recipes calling for unfamiliar seasonings. Seasoning Savvy: How to Cook with Herbs, Spices, and Other Flavorings serves as a guide to identifying, locating, selecting, storing and using these exotic ingredients. Well-established flavorings are not neglected as Seasoning Savvy also brings new insights into cooking with these old favorites. No other book supplies so much information about so many herbs and spices as Seasoning Savvy. This book discusses over 100 herbs, spices, flavorings, and blends in detail, describing their origins and how to select, store, and use them--and what the reader might substitute if a seasoning is unavailable. You will also discover the flavor role of foods such as almonds, citrus fruits, and coconuts. Not a cookbook, Seasoning Savvy is a powerful compliment for every recipe and will help you get the most out of the seasonings you use to flavor your food. Within Seasoning Savvy you will explore:

• how to select and use the right seasonings for a recipe and how to tell if a spice is fresh
  
• drying, freezing, toasting, chopping, measuring, and storing herbs and spices
  
• culinary practices in the use of flavorings from chocolate and vanilla to amchur and mastic
  
• flavor combinations, including both well-known and exotic blends, flavored oils and vinegars, compound butters and seasoned salts
  
• how to reduce the intensity of some seasonings such as garlic and chili peppers
  
• an examination of the nature of taste of flavor along with a history of spice usage in the US
  
• brewing teas and tisanes
  
• savvy culinary tips, such as polishing a copper a bowl with lemon juice and salt, or storing a lump of asafetida in the spice cupboard to discourage insects Seasoning Savvy's tips and techniques will help you bring out the flavor in your food and teach you how to use seasonings to achieve the tastes you like. With this vital book, you will transform your cooking from satisfactory to sensational!