HERBS & SPICES

Twenty-five leaves, seeds, and blends.

What goes in when, and in what form — not what any of it does in a body. 25 entries across 6 groups.

Soft Herbs

Soft Herbs Parsley Flat-leaf for flavour, curly for texture. The stalks carry more than the leaves do — keep them back for stock. AT THE ENDWhen to add FRESH ONLYForm

Soft Herbs Dill The fronds are delicate and the seeds are not. Fronds go in at the end; the seeds will stand up to a pickling brine. AT THE ENDWhen to add FROND OR SEEDForm

Soft Herbs Basil Bruises and blackens the moment a knife touches it. Tear it, and add it off the heat — cooked basil tastes of almost nothing. OFF THE HEATWhen to add FRESH ONLYForm

Hardy Herbs

Hardy Herbs Thyme Throw the sprig in whole — the leaves drop off as it cooks and the bare stem pulls out clean. Takes long heat better than almost anything. AT THE STARTWhen to add WHOLE SPRIGForm

Hardy Herbs Bay Leaves Does nothing in under twenty minutes — it is a long-braise herb. Count the leaves in so you can count them out. AT THE STARTWhen to add WHOLE LEAFForm

Hardy Herbs Oregano One of the few herbs improved by drying, which concentrates it. Greek is sharper and Italian sweeter; they are not the same. AT THE STARTWhen to add BETTER DRIEDForm

Hardy Herbs Rosemary Turns a stew resinous if you leave a whole sprig in and forget it. Either strip and chop the needles, or fish the sprig out. AT THE STARTWhen to add SPRIG OR CHOPPEDForm

Warm Spices

Warm Spices Cloves An unopened flower bud, dried. The most concentrated spice in the rack — four cloves will season a whole ham, and six will ruin it. EARLYWhen to add WHOLE OR GROUNDForm

Warm Spices Ginger Fresh and ground are two different spices. Fresh is hot and bright, ground is warm and sweet, and neither stands in for the other. EARLYWhen to add FRESH OR GROUNDForm

Warm Spices Nutmeg Grate it as you need it. A whole nutmeg keeps for years; the ground version is stale inside a few months. AT THE ENDWhen to add GRATE TO ORDERForm

Warm Spices Allspice Tastes of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg at once, which is where the name came from. Pre-ground goes flat within months. EARLYWhen to add GRIND FRESHForm

Warm Spices Cinnamon Most jars hold cassia — hot and blunt. True Ceylon is paler, more fragile and more floral. They do not substitute for each other. EARLYWhen to add STICK OR GROUNDForm

Warm Spices Cardamom Buy pods, never powder. Crack them and the sticky seeds inside are the whole point — the husk is packaging. EARLYWhen to add BUY PODSForm

Earthy Spices

Earthy Spices Paprika Milled from sweet peppers, not chilies. It scorches in seconds and turns bitter, so it goes in off the heat or into liquid. OFF THE HEATWhen to add SWEET/HOT/SMOKEDForm

Earthy Spices Cumin Toasting is not optional. Raw ground cumin tastes dusty; thirty seconds in a dry pan turns it nutty. TOAST FIRSTWhen to add SEED OR GROUNDForm

Earthy Spices Turmeric Raw, it tastes mostly of dust. Thirty seconds in hot oil and it turns savoury — which is why a curry built by stirring turmeric into liquid comes out flat and chalky. EARLY, IN FATWhen to add GROUND OR FRESHForm

Earthy Spices Coriander The seed is citrusy and nothing like the leaf. Toast whole in a dry pan until it smells of orange peel, then grind. TOAST FIRSTWhen to add WHOLE SEEDForm

Heat

Heat Black Pepper Grind it when you need it. Pre-ground pepper has already lost the volatile half, which was the half you wanted. AT THE ENDWhen to add GRIND FRESHForm

Heat Chili Powder In most of the world this means ground dried chilies. In the United States it means a blend with cumin and oregano in it — and that difference wrecks recipes. EARLYWhen to add A BLENDForm

Heat Red Pepper Flakes Bloom them in oil at the start and the heat runs through the whole dish. Thrown in at the end they sit in hot spots. BLOOM IN OILWhen to add FLAKESForm

Heat Cayenne Pepper Almost pure heat with very little flavour behind it. Use it to adjust a dish, not to season one. ADJUST TO TASTEWhen to add GROUNDForm

Blends & Pantry

Blends & Pantry Salt Salt early and taste often. Salt added at the end sits on the surface; salt added during cooking works its way in. EARLY, THEN TASTEWhen to add FINE OR FLAKEForm

Blends & Pantry Garlic Powder Not a stand-in for garlic — its own flavour, rounder and sweeter with none of the bite. Earns its place in a dry rub, where fresh would burn. RUBS & DRESSINGSWhen to add GROUNDForm

Blends & Pantry Onion Powder Dissolves where chopped onion never would, which is the whole case for it. Useless as the base of a braise. RUBS & DRESSINGSWhen to add GROUNDForm

Blends & Pantry Curry Powder A British invention, not an Indian one. Fry it in fat before any liquid goes in or the dish tastes raw and powdery. FRY IN FAT FIRSTWhen to add A BLENDForm