Raina said:
Chef--
I usually get the preground spices (other than pepper...I always have whole black tellicherry and white peppercorns around). I know that fresh ground pepper is better so I have to think that other spices would be too! Thanks for the tip.
Me too, for YEARS, even in a professional kitchen, all i had in the couple of mills laying about was white peppercorns, black and MAYBEY a salt mill.. until i met a wild chef in london that makes his 'boys' (cooks) grind or grate all their dry spices TO ORDER for every dish... a little over the top? well, yeah! but so was the fekin' Mardi Gras of flavors that just did the LuCarou all over your mouth!
My staples in grinders, not always the same deal, but usually:
*a few different kinds of pepper (i like them seperate, not a peppercorn mix), corriander seeds YUM!!!,
*star anise (i dry them out extra well in the oven on low for a couple hours, then give them a once over with the bottom of a heavy pan or pot to break them down enough for the mill to work 'em),
*toasted fennel seeds,
*fennugreek
*dried roast-garlic chips
*porcinis (i get some KILLER dried porcinis from a mushroom buddy in NY, but if you take any good dried Cepe or Porcini (same mushroom, different language) and REALLY dry them out in oven on low for a few hours, they get perfectly dry for grinding: my personal
mouth-GASM with this? filet. gawd DAMN!!! nice 8-10 chunk of Filet, sea salt, black pepper then COPIOUSLY coat it with the fresh ground mushroom powder, sear it up, finish in the oven... i am getting a severe stiffy right now just THINKING about it.. YIKES!)
*curry(the leaf, NOT the spice mixture)
*dry rosemary ALWAYS grind it... wow. dayum.
the list is pretty wide open for this stuff... you can get ALL types of dry spice/herb/dry-vegetable mixtures in those little pre filled grinder thingies these days... and there is no faster way to alter a meal's entire raison d'etre than to hit it with a complimentary flavor... garlic chicken can go from Med to African to Thai to Southwest Regional in one or two twists from grinder.