101 Essential Tips: Cooking With Spices (101 Essential Tips) - Softcover

This demure little book packs a world of spice know-how into it's 69 pages--with not a real life Spice Girl in sight! Profiling an aromatic array of spices: paprika, cinnamon, cumin, anise, and some which the tongue has a hard time even negotiating such as asafetida and fenugreek--Cooking with Spices is a flavorsome treat. Handy hints are given for the selection, drying, and storing of spices, as well as pointers for freezing and grinding. Full color photographs profile the varieties and conditions of a spice--ginger has four types: preserved, dried, fresh, and ground. This spice is recommended for curry powder, meat and fish dishes, and of course cookies! The book even manages to squeeze in 42 recipes that will heat up the kitchen! From the Far East we have Thai Shrimp Soup with Lemongrass, a succulent dish with a zesty balance of lemongrass, chilies, scallion, cilantro, and the shrimp. From the Middle East comes a terrific recipe for faithful Falafel--plan in advance for this one, as chickpeas must be soaked for 36 hours. It's worth the effort though; this is a thoroughly delicious dish, perfect for dipping at parties!

Flavorings deserve their own cookbook--and Cooking with Spices is a great place to go for the basics. --Naomi Gesinger