It’s time to spice up your cooking

A HOST of little-used spices are probably taking up valuable real estate somewhere in your kitchen – and they’ve probably been there for years.

Use it all, says chef and spice purveyor Lior Lev Sercarz. “Your spice cabinet should be a place of inspiration.”

Raised in a kibbutz in Israel, where he recalls the food as being either bland or vinegary, Sercarz sees spices as the place where recipes should start, rather than an afterthought.

Start by taking stock of what’s tucked away in that cabinet. If the spices have been there longer than a year, you don’t have to discard them, but you could consolidate several. Try creating blends with them to use as seasoning for dips and sauces, dry rubs for meat, or even to amp up the flavour in coffee and cocktails.

Take ground cloves, for instance. As a spice with a tongue-numbing quality, it can frighten home cooks with its intensity, yet Sercarz sees it as a versatile vehicle for flavours – when used in moderation. In his latest book, The Spice Companion: A guide to the world of spices (Clarkson Potter, 2016), he recommends blending cloves with other spices that might be found in the back of the cupboard, such as juniper berries, galangal and liquorice root, to create a seasoning for sautéed savoy cabbage, or to add a spicy note to a traditional cocktail.

“Most people don’t need a recipe, they just need the application,” Sercarz says. So he’ll suggest dusting fresh scones with a mixture of cloves and icing sugar or mixing cloves with balsamic vinegar and grated apples to accompany pork chops.

Sercarz particularly urges home cooks to stop thinking of individual spices as relating to specific cuisines.

He points out that black pepper, a native of Kerala, is hardly limited to Indian recipes, yet we tend to use chipotle powder only in Mexican recipes, or relegate curry leaves to, well, curry.

When cleaning out the cupboard, take time to taste the spices. Then create your own new combinations.

At Sercarz’s New York spice store, La Boîte, you’ll find more than 40 spice blends for inspiration, with combinations that can seem unusual.

“I’ve never had spices that don’t work together,” he says. “It’s just about adjusting the ratios. And even when I think a blend is very savoury, I’ll have a customer put it into a brownie and prove me wrong. I love that.” – The Washington Post