Roasting spices


Roasting spices
If you like your food a little, or a lot, spicy, you'll no doubt have a jar or sachets of mixed spices in your cupboards from which to draw when preparing a dish.
I'm thinking, for example, of curries, chili and couscous, all of which fill the kitchen, and sometimes far beyond...
7,285 4.9/5 (16 reviews)
Grade this page:
Keywords for this post:TastesFlavorsSpicesRoasting
Last modified on: October 30th 2020
For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend
Roasting spices
At some point in the creation of your recipe, you will add the spices of your choice, in proportions to suit your own taste or that of your guests. The question is: when should you add them, is there a better time than another?

In most recipes, spices are added at just about any time, so it doesn't really matter, as the dish usually cooks for a long time and the aromas have plenty of time to develop.
This isn't quite true: in truth, there is an optimum moment, and it's not when the dish is practically finished - quite the contrary.

What we're all trying to achieve is that the spices reveal themselves completely with cooking, especially if they've been in their jars or sachets for (a little too) long, where they've had a chance to "pass through" a little.
The ideal way to cook spices is to roast them, i.e. cook them, almost on their own, to reveal their flavours before putting them in contact with all the other foods.

For the recipes mentioned above, you'll have a meat base that will be cooked for a long time with spices, so here's how to do it:

- To begin with, place the meat, generally cut into pieces, in your saucepan, casserole or stewpot, add a little fat, and brown it, i.e. grill just the surface, over a very high heat.
- Once it's done, it's time to add the spices all at once (the powerful smells will jump out at you, so light your hood if you haven't already), stirring well to coat the meat with them, it's very dry, a little strange, agglomerated, not to worry.

épices et viandes dans un couscous

- Cook and roast the spices and meats for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Then continue as normal, adding the vegetables or kidney beans, water, etc. etc.

épices et légumes dans un couscous

By proceeding in this way, your spices will give the best of themselves, and marry even better, first with the meats, then with the rest of the foods in your recipe.
It's quite simple, with few constraints, and you'll see that the results are just as good.

To sum up: if you're making a recipe that contains powdered spices, try roasting them and cooking them on their own or with just the meats before continuing with the recipe, as they'll taste much better.

Lasts posts
A drizzle of olive oil
A drizzle of olive oil
Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven. What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven. Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but...
July 13th 20258555
Always secure your cutting board
Always secure your cutting board
When using a cutting board, it's very important that it's stable and doesn't move while you're cutting, for safety's sake. Boards have a natural tendency to slide on the work surface, but here are 2 ways to block them effectively.
July 1st 20259705
Cherry clafoutis, with or without pits?
Cherry clafoutis, with or without pits?
When it comes to cherry clafoutis recipes, there's often a camp of those who argue that you absolutely have to leave the stones in because it tastes better, and the other camp (myself included) who prefer cherries without stones, which makes a much more pleasant clafoutis to eat. But is it true...
June 29th 20258955
Should potatoes be washed twice?
Should potatoes be washed twice?
Let's say you have to make a recipe that includes potatoes, let's say sliced, you'll most likely proceed as follows: Peel the potatoes, wash them, slice them, wash them again, pat them dry and add them to your recipe. But there's a "but": depending on the recipe, the second washing may be a bad...
May 19th 20252,536 15
Grilled bacon is much better in the oven
Grilled bacon is much better in the oven
Some recipes call for thin slices of bacon to be cooked and added to the recipe, or to prepare one of those delicious breakfasts known as "à l'Anglaise".
April 25th 20252,1965

Other pages you may also like
The 3 kinds of meringue
The 3 kinds of meringue
Meringue – what could be simpler? Just beaten egg whites with sugar added. This makes a fairly stiff mixture which can then be cooked in a cool oven to create those lovely, light confections. But in the world of professional patisserie, meringue comes in three different kinds. Even if the...
June 14th 201361 K4.5
The beautiful story of the croissants
The beautiful story of the croissants
As you may have already noticed, cooking, baking and pastry-making are full of stories or legends, usually very romantic, about this or that product or recipe. This is often the case for named recipes, for example tarte tatin, peach melba, paris-brest and many others, but it also applies to very...
October 10th 201816 K5
The so-called "nervous" meats
The so-called "nervous" meats
You've probably heard this before, we're talking about "nervous" meat, or meat with nerves, to describe what is indicated by the blue arrow on the left. This is a piece of beef, and what we call a nerve is not a nerve, it is in fact collagen (chemists sometimes call it a "collagen sink"), a...
April 16th 202132 K4.5
The different cooking modes
The different cooking modes
In cooking, cooking means bringing food into contact with a source of heat, to transform it: improving its taste, and sometimes its texture. This contact with the heat source can be achieved in a number of ways: these are the cooking methods, and let's take a look at the main ones.
July 24th 20246,2454.7
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .
February 7th 2017129 K 14.1
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing

Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page