17
Jul

Culinary Education, For Brokers & Distributors, For Chefs, On Spices, Product News

Are Bay Leaves REALLY Necessary?

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Dan Lowry

It comes up as a topic in kitchens all the time.

Are Bay Leaves REALLY necessary? Or are they just a time-honored tradition?

Do we stock them on our shelves, then put them in our recipes because they truly add a valuable flavor? Or, because the recipe says to.

Are they worth the effort? The cost? Do they make a difference at all?

Would anyone really notice if they weren’t there?

To that point, there are Chefs who would argue that adding Bay Leaves to most (if not all) recipes is like putting flowers on a grave.

They don’t do much for the deceased, but it makes you feel good that you did it anyway.

Is that true? Or, are they turning a blind eye, (or palate), to the fact that Bay Leaves are a legitimate, “go to” seasoning herb?

Granted, Bay Leaves, added to a recipe, aren’t going to bludgeon your palate, like say for instance, oregano or rosemary can.

Generally speaking, Bay Leaves DO add a subtle, but ever so noticeable background nuance, when added in the correct proportion to the remaining seasonings and ingredients in your recipes.

It might be likened to adding vanilla extract to a chocolate recipe. You only “seem” to taste the chocolate, but the vanilla is there lurking just below your taste perception of it, melding into the homogenous whole and rounding out the flavor.

You couldn’t admit to actually tasting the vanilla but you might likely notice its absence if it was omitted.

The chocolate wouldn’t quite taste the same.

Much is the same for Bay Leaves, especially when added to a medley of other more prominent herbs and spices in a recipe.

Could it be that the lack of their flavor contribution is more a factor of the lack of adding the necessary amount to be noticed.

What are Bay Leaves and how are they used?

Bay Leaves come from the Bay Laurel plant, which is classified as an evergreen and grow in warmer climates.

DRIED BAY LEAVES

They can be purchased and used fresh, dried, whole or ground. You can also purchase fresh leaves and dry them yourself, which typically takes about 4 weeks. From there, it’s best to store your newly dried leaves in a zip lock bag away from light and excessive heat.

FRESH BAY LEAVES

Most recipes which use Bay Leaves are for stocks, soups, sauces and stews. All of which are generally slow cooked which bring out the herbaceous aromas and flavors in Bay Leaves, that most would compare to oregano and thyme with just a hint of mint and spice.

From a use perspective, Bay Leaves should be added at the beginning of the recipe to allow the maximum amount of time for the leaves to release their flavors into the liquid. Much like making tea.

Unlike many herbs and spices which are actually consumed while enjoying the dish, whole bay leaves are removed from the finished recipes and discarded, leaving behind their contribution of savory goodness melded into the liquids.

Factoids:

Worn as a woven leaf “crown” to signify honor and success by Emperors, Olympian athletes, poets and scholars, laurel, the name of the plant, worked its way into our everyday vocabulary.
Upon successful completion of a 4-year college degree, you earn a baccalaureate, which translated, is: “berries of laurel,”
And the supreme honor of Poet Laureate, to someone who composes poems for special occasions.

There are 2 distinctive types of Bay Leaves.

California (Which are mostly sold fresh and which are more potent). If using fresh Bay Leaves, use about half the amount the recipe calls for.
Mediterranean (Which are sold as dry whole leaves or ground). These are the “standard” Bay Leaves in almost every kitchen.

Other popular varieties of Mediterranean Bay Leaves come from West India, Indonesia and Mexico.

The current inventory of Bay Leaves at The Red Goose Spice company is a marvelously aromatic one sourced from India.

So, what conclusions can be drawn?

Bay Leaves, when still volatile, used in recipes correctly, and in their recommended amount, certainly add a distinctive flavor and aroma that only Bay Leaves can offer.

The key, is volatility as many kitchens use this herb so infrequently that it has lost much of its potency when called upon.

The Red Goose Spice Company recommends that you to buy Bay Leaves in whatever quantity necessary to use your inventory within 12 months of purchase to maintain their unique flavors and maximize their herbaceous contributions to your favorite dishes.

They’ll do a lot for your recipes make you feel good at the same time.

27
Jun

Culinary Education, For Brokers & Distributors, For Chefs, On Spices, Product News, Spice History

How Herbs de Provence Came To Be

Posted on June 27, 2022June 27, 2022 by Dan Lowry

Herbs and spices are simply amazing. Each one of them has a history and a story all their own.

Singularly, historians can trace back the origins and uses of nearly each and every herb or spice we use today, going back thousands of years

Commercially produced herb and spices blends however, are a much more recent thing. Often, the bi-product of convenience. Curry Powder is a good example. (See Red Goose Blog: Curry in a Hurry)

From ancient times, until a few centuries ago, you pretty much had to buy each and every individual herb or spice you used in your dishes. There were no “blends”. When it came to making a recipe with multiple herbs and spices, you pulled them all out of your pantry, added each one to your dish or ground them together in a mortar and pestle in whatever proportion you desired.

No Chili Powder, no Curry Powder, no “Italian” Herbs Blend, no Herbs de Provence.

Even if you love to cook, there are a couple of down-sides to making your own blends.

Besides needing to have all the individual components available (and fresh), each and every time you make a blend, there is the likely lack of consistency of flavor every time you make it.

As a result, herb and spice blends are, generally speaking, a very good thing. And each has a history all their own.

Take Herbs de Provence for example, one of the more unusual herb and spice blends.

Everyone loves a good story. This one however, doesn’t date back to ancient times.

Its name and the popularity of Herbs de Provence isn’t attributed to some famous French Chef, but rather to a popular American Celebrity Chef, who lived in France for a time and wrote one of the most widely known, and used, cookbooks on the planet.

Julia Child and her best-selling, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961.

This wildly successful book, considered by many to be one of the most influential cookbooks ever published, included a sauteed chicken dish using an herb and spice blend she named: “Poulet Sauté aux Herbes de Provence”.

The rest, as they say, is culinary history.

The usual suspects (plus one)

Before blends, and before Herbs de Provence had an “official” name, those who enjoy preparing the regional cuisine of Southern French needed to have these classic herbs and spices always at the ready, most of which, happen to be cultivated in Southern France. They are: Oregano, Thyme, Savory, Rosemary, and perhaps some Fennel, Tarragon, Bay Leaf, or Chervil if you are making one of the more unique blends.

There wasn’t, (and still isn’t), a “true” recipe for the exact proportions of each ingredient in Herbs de Provence however the earliest “recipe”, believed to be its ancestor, used nearly equal parts of just 4 herbs. Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary and Savory.

So, you just started there.

This blend, you might notice, lacked the one spice that everyone now identifies it by, and that is, lavender, which Southern France’s is famous for, and which both the locals, and tourists, love.

Lavender

It started to appear in later adaptations of Herbs de Provence and then became quite popular, especially in America.

Lavender gives Herbs de Provence its uniquely perfumed aroma, it’s alluring taste and adds a hint of French romance to what otherwise would be a blend which could just as easily be perceived as Italian.

A dish using Herbs de Provence is unmistakable in any recipe it is used in.

However, as the Herbs de Provence blend became more popular, even those in a professional kitchen, had to keep ALL of these individual herbs and spices in their pantry AND fresh, and then measure them precisely each time to obtain a consistent result. Oh, and by the way, lavender seeds aren’t exactly cheap, so unless you’re making this blend a lot, why would you want to have lavender seeds in your pantry?

Kind of a pain.

As expected, it didn’t take long for the purveyors of herbs and spices to seize the opportunity to provide various versions of an Herbs de Provence blend to both the retail and commercial markets.

So, just how is Herbs de Provence used?

Herbs de Provence is extremely versatile. It pairs well with chicken, pork, lamb, fish, vegetables, on salads, salad dressings, even omelets!

Recipes using Herbs de Provence include cooking methods such as sauteing, braising, grilling and roasting. It can be uses as a rub before cooking, added to a liquid or sauce during cooking or even as a topping to a salad or pizza.

Classically, beyond proteins, it pairs well with tomatoes, olives and olive oils, cheeses, root vegetables and many Mediterranean dishes which its why you’ll often see it used in Ratatouille, Tapenades and rustic vegetable stews. You’ll also find it gives off a remarkably fragrant smoke if you moisten it and sprinkle it over coals while grilling.

Whether you currently use Herbs de Provence in your cuisine or, you’d like to explore the amazing versatility of this amazing blend enjoyed by so many foodies on BOTH side of the “pond”, The Red Goose Spice Company has a marvelous version available for immediate delivery to your kitchens.

As Julia Child would say as she ended each and every one of her TV shows…”Bon Appetite!”

31
May

For Brokers & Distributors, For Chefs, On Spices, Product News, Spice History

Curry in a Hurry. How Curry Powder Came to America

Posted on May 31, 2022May 31, 2022 by Dan Lowry

Here in the States, when most of think of curry, we immediately think of a “golden colored powder”, and a few curry dishes that we may have tried, or enjoyed.

Nothing too complicated.

Maybe a Curried Lamb, or perhaps, a Curried Thai or Indian dish at favorite restaurant in town.

But there are a few misconceptions about the curry powder that you’ve come to know all of these years, and we thought we’d clear up a few of them here.

Curry 101, so to speak.

And “psssst”, don’t feel bad if you learn something new here, there are professional chef’s out there who, if they were honest, would have to admit that they don’t know much about curry’s interesting past either.

Let’s start from the beginning.

The Curry Tree is native to the Indian subcontinent and its leaves are used in many Indian and Asian dishes.

However, curry leaves, are not in curry powder.

Surprised?

Actually, curry powder is a blend of herbs and spices all its own. In fact, curry powder is kind of a “short cut” creation, replicating the spices most “commonly” used to make the traditional yellow curry from scratch as it was done in India for centuries. The yellow color coming primarily from the spice, turmeric.

And curry dishes aren’t exactly a new thing in America.

In fact, while curry dishes themselves originated in India and Southeast Asia, curry powder actually made its way to America via…. Wait for it…

Britain.

The Story…

The story goes that after the British arrived on our shores, (well before the battle for our own independence) so too did the East Indians, and with them, their passion for curry dishes.

By that time, even the East Indians living in Britain were reluctantly beginning to use a convenient, pre-blend form of curry powder made in India. Mainly due to the difficulty of finding the many different spices in the British markets that were needed to make their traditional curry blends.

Interestingly, by all accounts, the Indians back in India didn’t care much for this new powder that they were making for the Brits, choosing instead, to continue grinding it together from scratch with a mortar and pestle. Giving them the freedom to continue making their time honored, individual curry recipes from the spices that they had no trouble finding in their markets.

But they made this curry powder for the Brits anyway, and sent it along to them. In turn, that same powder came over on the ships from Britain to us here in the States (along with a bunch of men in fancy red coats with silver buttons interested in making it their permanent home.)

What was sacrificed in the process however, was the many different expressions of curry flavors treasured by cooks and enjoyed by so many in back in India.

They were mostly lost the western world for some time.

The “dumbing down” of curry by the creation of this one size fits all, “short cut” powder, became quite a sore subject back in its homeland, India.

So, in summary:

Curry powder doesn’t use curry leaves, which are actually green. Curry leaves are however, used in some Indian cooking recipes. They are, when dried and ground, the color of…mmmm? Ground sage?
Curry leaves don’t taste anything like curry powder.
Curry powder is a blend of spices, not a single one.
The curry powder we know it, is a “shortcut” form which didn’t come from India or in Indonesia by choice but rather for convenience.

So, now know a little something about the “blend” called Curry Powder. The yellow one.

But the word “curry” also became, over time, a phrase used to as much to denote a cooking style, as the flavor we associate it with. Much the way we use the term “barbecue” here in America.

For example, it’s often said, particularly in our Southern states, “we’re having barbecue tonight”, which doesn’t tell you what meat, or “exactly” how it may be cooked (although you can basically assume slowly and smoked), or even how it is seasoned.

You do however, generally know what you’re getting and generally the range of tastes.

Similarly, “we’re having curry” doesn’t divulge the meat, (but you can generally assume it’s braised or stewed), or for matter, exactly what type of curry it might be?

In essence, from a cooking style perspective, this is one cooking style…

This, is another…

So, beyond the “yellow” curry most people are familiar with, what are the other types of curries out there?

First, it’s important to mention that there are dozens upon dozens of different flavored yellow curry powders out there depending on the blends. And some curries are red in color, due to the addition of red chilis and some are even green.

All look and taste uniquely their own. But they are all curry blends.

The answer to the question it’s probably thousands. Especially if you also take into consideration the word ‘curry” as both the flavor AND a category of cooking method.

If this were a math problem, it would look something like this…

Cultural taste preferences, (Indian, Thai, African, Asian, British and so on), X the spice choices used, X ratios of each spice to one another, X Scoville (heat index) of chilis used (if any), X meats and other proteins used, X the cooking method employed.

In other words, thousands.

As such, curry has become globally popular and a welcome addition to menus of all types.

Of course, The Red Goose Spice Company not only has a fabulous yellow curry powder in stock, but we can also custom blend any recipe you have or that you might wish to create for your business or retail sales.

13
May

On Spices, Product News, Uncategorized

Red Goose’s EVERYTHING Seasoning Blend. With Recipe!

Posted on May 13, 2022May 13, 2022 by Dan Lowry

Special,…memorable.

Sometimes, in moments of true culinary inspiration we indeed find that one “key” ingredient that’s missing and, as a result, we proudly turn ordinary, into EXTRAordinary.

Then again, like a song writer with a “writers block”, try as we might, there are just those times when nothing, absolutely nothing seems to create that same magic.

More of this, less of that and finally pulling out all the stops by trying those long-forgotten seasonings you pushed to the back of the cupboard ages ago, and still, even THEY don’t seem to quite do the trick.

You throw everything at a recipe idea but the “kitchen sink”.

In the end, the kitchen sink is where all of the attempts eventually end up.

We’ve all heard the expression that “sometimes”, less IS more.

But just like every rule has its exceptions, there are actually times when, truthfully, MORE is more.

When anything you try doesn’t seem to be the answer…

Try EVERYTHING!

Red Goose Everything Seasoning Blend.

Long since known for its blast on bagels, Red Goose Everything seasoning is a welcome seasoning addition to your standard breading procedures, in salad dressings mixes, sprinkled on vegetable stir-fry’s, or, as a remarkable salad seasoning topper.

Another delicious application for the Everything Seasoning Blend is on baked breads, or for the recipe we’d like to share with you below, for our Red Goose Soft, Petite Pretzel Loaves.

Red Goose Soft, Petite Pretzel Loaves with Everything Seasoning

Makes 6 – 5 ounce Petite Pretzel Loaves

2 lbs. Frozen Bread or Pizza Dough (Any Brand)

3/4 Cup Baking Soda

2 Qts. Water

½ Cup Red Goose Everything Seasoning

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Thaw frozen bread dough in the refrigerator overnight or until completely soft and pliable.
Place the water in a non-reactive saucepan or metal casserole dish of at least 2” of depth and 9” to 10” in diameter then stir in the baking soda until it dissolves. Place the solution over medium low heat until it JUST simmers.
Portion the dough into 6 equal pieces approximately 5 + ounces each.
Roll out each portion of dough into an 8″ long, thick stick. Repeat for the remaining pieces.
Let the sticks rest 5 minutes.
Place the dough sticks in the gently simmering baking water and poach on both sides approximately 2 to 3 minutes rolling over the sticks as they “poach”.
Remove the sticks with a slotted spatula and place on a non-stick baking pan (approximately 2″ apart from one another). You may also want to spray this pan lightly with a non-stick vegetable spray.
While the dough sticks are still moist and VERY sticky, sprinkle evenly, and heavily, with the EVERYTHING SEASONING so that it will stick to the dough.
Before baking, slash each dough stick with a sharp knife with diagonal cuts approximately 1/4″ deep and 1″ to 2″ apart. Bake for approximately 20 to 30 minutes or until the “Pretzel Loaves” are medium brown and baked through.
Serve plain or with your favorite mustard.