Special educational program

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Cooking is a special talent. Nature rewards them, alas, by no means all. Some of the women can easily cook kendyukh, zhur with vandlin, semilune or resol in their tiny kitchen, and some do not even suspect what it is. So, if you are one of the latter, do not despair! Your unsuccessful culinary opuses can be saved by adding a variety of spices to them that are not intended to"

Let's define the terms

Spices - these are different parts of plants with a specific aroma, varying degrees of pungency and taste. These plants belong to over 30 different botanical families. In home cooking, no more than a dozen spices are used. But there are more than one and a half hundred of them. The reason for this limited use is poor knowledge of spices, inability to navigate their assortment. At the same time, in the East, where home cooking still occupies a dominant position, spices have not been supplanted from universal consumption. Spices are used only as additives - to give food a certain accent. With an increase in the dose of spices, the quality of food changes, instead of the desired aroma, a sharp, unpleasant bitterness appears. Spices can only be used in the cooking process. Seeds (for example, nutmeg, mustard), fruits (pepper, vanilla), flowers or their parts (cloves), leaves (bay leaf), bark (cinnamon) and rhizomes (ginger, celery, parsley) are used as spices.

Spices suppress bacteria of decay and thereby contribute to the preservation of food (canning), remove toxins from the body, cleanse it from mechanical and biological contamination, and also accelerate a number of enzymatic processes. Therefore, most spices are used (and especially in the past were used) as medicinal substances in medicine. At the same time, their concentration increases and the duration of use increases in comparison with the use in cooking. The main the difference between seasonings and spices consists in the fact that seasonings can be eaten as an independent dish, for example, spread on bread (sour cream, mayonnaise, tomato, apple, quince and barberry paste, ketchup, etc.). Seasonings make the dish tastier, more satisfying, nutritious and easier to digest.

Spices - special certain substances that can decisively affect the taste, texture and final character of the finished food and, in general, turn it from inedible or semi-edible to absolutely edible, pleasant and tasty. These include salt, sugar, soda, citric acid, starch, gelatin and other substances that are now an integral part of cooked food. The most essential group of spices has entered human life since ancient times. Spices determine the main flavor of the food. Without salt, it is not salty, without sugar, not sweet, without vinegar, not sour, without starch, not thick. This group of food flavoring agents can affect its final state, that is, make it soft, hard, thick, liquid, stringy, loose, etc.

Terms of reference

First of all, spices and spices must be properly stored. They feel best in a sealed glass container in a cool, dark place. If you did not have time to lime a bag of ground spices in 9 months, it is better to throw away the unfinished spices and replace them with new ones. To extend the shelf life of spices and herbs, store them in the refrigerator at temperatures below zero. In such a cold, oxidation processes slow down and seasonings retain their properties longer. Ground spices lose some of their aroma during processing. So it's better to grind the spices yourself. Just keep in mind: seasonings easily absorb foreign odors, so if you cut a herring for an hour and a half before tackling spices, you need to wash your hands especially thoroughly. If you don't use dried herbs, but fresh herbs, get a porcelain or ceramic cutting board. If you start cutting herbs on such a board, you will be able to fully preserve their taste and aroma.

To make the food tasty, you need to take into account a few more nuances. If you are going to cook, alas, a harmful, but very tasty fatty dish, you need to put a little more spices than usual. When combined with fat, condiments lose some of their flavor. But salt, on the contrary, enhances the taste of spices, so when adding spices, salt the dish less.

Allspice, black cardamom, cinnamon sticks and other "large" spices are added at the beginning of cooking. Black pepper, cumin, fennel, green cardamom are in the middle. Ginger, powdered spices and ready-made mixtures - a couple of minutes before turning off the heat. And the last thing: it is better to eat spicy dishes right away - when you reheat the spices, they lose their aroma.

How to buy spices and spices correctly?

First of all, pay attention to the shelf life or the end date of use. If you buy a seasoning in bags, carefully examine the packaging: it should not be mint and even more torn, shake it - the spices in it should not be stuck together into a homogeneous mass. It is for this reason that preference should be given to seasonings in jars, in which the tightness of the lid should be checked. It is advisable to purchase spices and herbs in the store, rather than in the market, where sometimes the storage conditions do not stand up to criticism.

What is what

To make your cooking tasty and aromatic, you need to know which spices are suitable for certain dishes:

For meat: red, black, allspice or cloves, marjoram, thyme, cumin, turmeric, onion, oregano.

For poultry: thyme, marjoram, rosemary, sage, thyme, basil.

For fish: bay leaf, white pepper, ginger, allspice, onion, coriander, chili pepper, mustard, dill, thyme.

For grilling: red pepper, allspice, cardamom, thyme, marjoram, nutmeg and nutmeg, cumin, ginger, chili.

For game: thyme, oregano, allspice, red pepper, juniper.

For the stew: red pepper, ginger, turmeric, coriander, mustard, cardamom, cumin, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, cloves.

For cabbage: coriander, fennel, cumin, black mustard seed.

For potatoes: coriander, turmeric and asafoetida.

For legumes: cumin, asafoetida, ginger, pepper, lavender mint and coriander.

For marinades: bay leaf, juniper (berries are added to marinades when cooking game and fish meat), dill branches with buds, flowers or seeds.

For fruits, juices, compotes: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, star anise, cardamom.

For pates: white pepper, cinnamon, ginger, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cardamom.

For baking: cloves, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cardamom, allspice, orange peel, anise, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, vanilla.

For hot milk: cinnamon, cardamom, saffron.

Aromatic medicine

Some spices can not only save even the most hopelessly spoiled dish, but also help cope with diseases and eliminate mild ailments. For example, anise treats some gynecological diseases, has anti-cold properties, and facilitates the liver with hepatitis. And such a wonderful seasoning as star anise is good for coughs and colds. You can also get rid of a cold with the help of ginger root, which will not only relieve you of a runny nose and cough, but also help with nausea and other digestive problems.

If you often suffer from headaches, you can try to relieve your condition with marjoram tea. To make this tea, pour boiling water over a handful of dried marjoram and leave for 15 minutes. In addition, marjoram is often added to fatty and indigestible dishes, as it promotes the production of gastric juice and relieves heaviness in the stomach.

If you manage to overeat, drink a mint infusion - it will help you feel better.

For heart and respiratory diseases, add chili pepper to your food, and if you want to get rid of edema - parsley.

Before an exam or meeting where you are due to give a talk, eat something with cloves added. This seasoning improves memory and thinking skills. By the way, cloves have anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. A cotton swab dipped in clove oil and applied to a sore tooth will help you endure before going to the dentist without much suffering.

But you do not need to try to get rid of all the sores with the help of spices at once, because some seasonings simply do not go well with each other. For example, cumin improves appetite and digestion, but even the most brutal appetite will not help you if, in addition to cumin, you put other seasonings in a saucepan (with the exception of salt and pepper), because in this case the dish will turn out to be completely tasteless. And basil, which is recommended for indigestion, does not tolerate anything next to it except garlic.

Conclusion

In general, take an increased interest in aromatic plants when preparing meals. Indeed, translated from Latin "specio" means "something that inspires respect." And there is a reason. Spices diversify food, giving aromatic and taste harmony in various combinations with ordinary products. A significant amount of vitamins, mineral salts, and other useful substances are found in spices. Essential oils, glucosides, tonic and flavoring substances contained in aromatic plants improve the culinary quality of products, change their consistency, stimulate the activity of the olfactory, gustatory and digestive organs, induce appetite, enhance the absorption of nutrients, have a beneficial effect on their metabolism, nervous and cardiovascular systems, etc. In addition, spices are used as disinfectants, preservatives, fragrances in cosmetics.