Ordering new spices, anything I should try?

[Little Bit]

A phone cable in our area was cut yesterday, leaving us without phone (or, by extension, internet) access for more than 24 hours.

Not being one to waste my freedom, I spent the hours plotting my next order from Penzeys. ;)

Here's what I must get:

*English Prime Rib Rub
*Turmeric
*Paprika, Sweet
*Cardamom, ground
*Cumin, ground
*Anise Seeds, ground

Here's my list of stuff I want to try:

Poultry Seasoning
Apple Pie Spice
Star Anise
Mace
Cinnamon, two additional types (already have several)
Cocoa, Natural (already have Dutch)
Chicken/Seafood Jerk Seasoning
Lemongrass
Lamb Seasoning
Peppermint
Pickling Spice (Thought I'd compare it to the stuff I use now)

Any thoughts? additions? advice?

(I don't need any of the basics, salt, black, white, red or other peppers,or garlic.)

[valchemist]

I saw peppermint on your list and was surprised because I didn't know that they sell that. I checked on their website but didn't see it...:confused:

[blazedog]

Five Spice Powder
Garam Masala
Saffron

[Lrimerman]

If you like blends we love Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle.

Their curry powders are great too, due to cooking for small kids I don't get the spicy ones, I usually use the sweet curry and the tandoori.

Lisa

[beckms]

Oooh, I second the sweet curry and also recommend the chili powder. I like medium-hot. Also, I know you said you don't need peppers, but I love the Aleppo pepper flakes. IMO they have much more taste than crushed red pepper, and I love sprinkling them over food as I would crushed red.

[HUNGRY!]

Order the mace and make this cake. I did and I loved it. I think I will make it again soon for my birthday cake.


Spice Cake
Serves 8-10

1/2 cup (1 stick) usalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
4 cups cake flour (not self rising) plus more for pan
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
orange glaze (recipe follows)
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8 x 8 x2 inch baking pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, salt, nutmeg, mace, and cloves. Repeat two more times

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to combine after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is gloden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool, about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan, and return to the rack; invert cake so its top side is up.

Using a toothpick, poke holes all over the top of the cake. Brush the top and sides of the cake with orange glaze while the cake is still warm; let cool.

Dust the cake with confectioners' sugar. Place the cake on a serving platter, and serve.

Orange Glaze
Makes about 1/3 cup

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over medium low heat until butter has melted and mixture is combined.

[lindrusso]

Love their Northwoods seasoning. We put it on chicken, pork, sweet potatoes, fish, you name it. I just placed an order yesterday - must have been a good weekend for ordering spices. :)

[Holly in KC]

I'd add

Sandwich Sprinkle
Sunny Spain
Northwoods Fire
Greek Seasoning

[little_bopeep]

Has anyone tried the 4S seasoning? I bought some but haven't tried it, so I don't know whether to recommend it or not.

[JanetJ]

Originally posted by little_bopeep
Has anyone tried the 4S seasoning? I bought some but haven't tried it, so I don't know whether to recommend it or not.

So far I've only used mine on french fries, but it was very good. I keep forgetting I have it till it's too late and dinner is done.

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by valchemist
I saw peppermint on your list and was surprised because I didn't know that they sell that. I checked on their website but didn't see it...:confused:

Here's the link Val: http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysmint.html They carry leaf spearmint and leaf peppermint.

I think you can miss a lot just scanning through their website. I skipped over the "curry" on their list because I have enough. Then I noticed in their catalog that they list a ton of stuff under "curry" like garam marsala, tandoori seasoning, vindaloo seasoning and many other items. I think that's very confusing. Next time, I'll look through the catalog first!

[sneezles]

We love both the Northwoods and the Foxpoint blends. Their Lemon Pepper is wonderful and so is the Adobo Seasoning(which is fantastic in guacamole!) and the medium heat Chile Powder.

[Little Bit]

Originally posted by HUNGRY!
Order the mace and make this cake. I did and I loved it. I think I will make it again soon for my birthday cake.


Thanks for helping me notice the mace. It's supposed to be part of the 'order' list, lol!!

That cake looks divine, thanks for sharing the recipe. :)

I've learned to browse the print catalog, not the website, otherwise I miss things. A few years ago, I kept forgetting to order Cayenne, because they put it some place I wouldn't have thought of. Hmmm ... .

[wallycat]

I love the Sunny Paris blend.
I also like their chicken soup base (only one of the bases without hydrogenated oil that I could see).
I have a hot curry and vindaloo blend.
Fleur de Sel, star anise....I acutally walked around and picked all the blends to try--only a few with salt added and all of the salt-free ones.
The Aleppo(sp?) pepper is interesting too :)

[beckms]

Originally posted by sneezles
We love both the Northwoods and the Foxpoint blends. Their Lemon Pepper is wonderful and so is the Adobo Seasoning(which is fantastic in guacamole!) and the medium heat Chile Powder.

Oh, how could I forget Adobo Seasoning? BF makes nachos specifically so he can use the Adobo seasoning. It's really great if you make Mexican dishes a lot, which we do.

Another vote for Foxpoint! I love it on potatoes and scrambled eggs.

Maybe you'd better just order the whole catalog to make sure you don't miss anything...;)

[sneezles]

Originally posted by beckms
Maybe you'd better just order the whole catalog to make sure you don't miss anything...;)

LOL! But wouldn't that be great!

[Little Bit]

ROTFL!!!


I'm intrigued by that new raspberry stuff, but not sure I'll bite. Something in me IS tempted, however, to dig out the raspberry preserves and add them the next time I make a meat sauce. Hmmm ... .


The trouble with these spice catalogs is that there's SO MUCH STUFF to choose from.

I've tended to stick with the single spices instead of the blends, just making up my own versions of the blends to see how well I like the general idea. (Most recently, I tried this with the Bicentennial blend, and we really liked it. There might be a jar of that in our future, but not for now.)

The English Prime Rib Rub is now a staple in our pantry, though. I'm actually buying a replacement for my first four ounce bag. Yikes!

[Vicanddi]

Thanks for reminding me that I needed to place an order! Cinnamon, cocoa powder, vanilla, the basics :)

Question though....have any of you tried the shallot pepper? It's listed as one of their top 10 products. Sounds interesting....

And...what raspberry stuff? It's not listed in alphabetical order.

[Little Bit]

Here's a description and a link:


Raspberry Enlightenment--NEW
Bill, our Creative Cook has been working for a while now to come up with something to use in rotation with balsamic vinegar to add tartness, sweetness and that dash of fl avor that so many of today’s quick cooked meals want. Raspberry Enlightenment helps. Don’t think of it as a way to make things taste like raspberry, think of it as a background fl avor that makes everything taste better, especially vegetables, pasta, salads and quickly cooked meats. Give it a try. It is designed to help you explore your own creativity. Ingredients: raspberries, sugar, water, tapioca starch, spices, citric acid.

Raspberry Enlightenment (http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysraspberryenlightenment.html)

[wallycat]

I have the shallot-pepper but yet to use it.
I'll try in the next day or so and report back...bump this up to remind me!

[Little Bit]

I know the people here can relate to this. I ran out of turmeric the other day, and that's mostly what prompted me to place this order, so naturally, that's the one thing I forgot to order.

I sent them an email after the fact, here's hoping I got it right. ~sigh~

I realized what a disaster my spice cabinets were, so I made the effort to reorganize everything. Some of that stuff was ANCIENT, but the cabinets look much better now. Too many cooks make the spice cabinets messy.

I decided to get the Raspberry Enlightenment anyhow, I'll give it a whirl and let you know how it goes.

[Chefzhat]

I tried the Raspberry Enlightenment at our local Penzeys (sample day!). Meh. Since I make my own raspberry preserves I usually leave some "ungelled" for sauce. It's not that I like mine better, it's just cheaper.

If I didn't have my own I'd definately buy theirs. It comes in a small enough jar so that you don't have bunches left over (unlike Tahini - I swear that bottle will never get empty!):)

[Vicanddi]

Wallycat, did you get a chance to try the shallot pepper? Just reminding ya.......

Dianne :)

[wallycat]

I DID !!! :D
To me, it is similar to Sunny Paris but with salt. I used it on spinach I was making for lunch (with a fried egg sandwich :D :D ).
I think next time I'll stick with the SUnny paris...or add salt to Sunny paris if I want the added sodium.

It was very tasty :)

[Lynn B]

Their hot cocoa mix is absolutely delicious. MMMMM. Sometimes I add a little wedge of Mexican chocolate if I have it, and I ALWAYS add a BIG splash of Kahlua! Especially wonderful in the winter on these long, cold PA nights!

Lynn

[RPM]

An item that does not appear in the catalog, but I noticed it as an ingredient in one of their blends is Tomato powder. I asked about it on the phone and was able to order it just like any other product. It performs like tomato paste except in powder form. Its good when you need a shot of tomato richness without really affecting the consistency or you don't want to open a can. Its also good if you want to make fresh tomato pasta.

Richard

[sneezles]

Originally posted by RPM
An item that does not appear in the catalog, but I noticed it as an ingredient in one of their blends is Tomato powder. I asked about it on the phone and was able to order it just like any other product. It performs like tomato paste except in powder form. Its good when you need a shot of tomato richness without really affecting the consistency or you don't want to open a can. Its also good if you want to make fresh tomato pasta.

Richard

Wow! Sounds great! Thanks for the info!!

[wallycat]

I have a jar of that from years ago...I wonder if it would kill me now :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Little Bit]

How cool about the tomato powder! I'll have to remember that for next time.

I got a little paranoid, and called them this morning, to see if my pitiful email got to the right place, and yes, the turmeric had been added to my order. Isn't it nice when things work out?

[Hoosier Hokie]

Originally posted by Lynn B
Their hot cocoa mix is absolutely delicious. MMMMM. Sometimes I add a little wedge of Mexican chocolate if I have it, and I ALWAYS add a BIG splash of Kahlua! Especially wonderful in the winter on these long, cold PA nights!

Lynn

I went to our Penzey's on Monday and the lady there gave me a great idea for the hot cocoa mix - when making peanut butter cookies, roll the cookie dough in the hot cocoa mix instead of sugar before baking. She said it's delicious. I'm going to have to try it one of these days!

HH

ps, the spices I got were Northwoods, BBQ of Americas, Foxpoint, and Sandwich Sprinkle. :) They were out of Raspberry Enlightenment. :(

[buddie]

i love the sunny paris also. i put it in scrambled eggs or in mayo for sandwiches