Salt and pepper are often the very first seasonings we use during our preliminary cooking experiences and as our skills progress, so do our lineup of herbs and spices. In Texas, specifically, we start introducing other flavorings in our barbecue like cayenne for added heat or coriander for a citrusy aftertaste. Further still, we begin to experiment on unfamiliar spices that can only be bought at an international supermarket in San Antonio, Texas, like ours at First Choice International Supermarket. The following are tips on how to cook with unfamiliar ingredients to make sure that your next food experiment doesn’t end in shambles.
- The good old smell test
More often than not, a spice’s aroma is a great indicator of how pungent or subdued its flavor is. Curry, for example, has an aroma that is as strong as its taste and it is often the most prevailing scent after a dish is done cooking.
- Dilute them in water
Diluting powdered spices in water gives you a good idea on how it will fare when added to the dish you’re cooking. Powdered spices that you can buy in just about any grocery store in texas can be good subjects for this method. Diluting the spices will tell you how dominant or submissive the flavor is.
- Do your research
If the above methods are too risky for you, you can always rely on the resources of the internet to tell you how a certain spice or seasoning will affect the taste of a particular dish. Ground crayfish which you can buy at a Caribbean store in Texas, for example, may not be the best thing to dilute in water and the smell isn’t a good indicator of the crayfish’s earthy taste either. As such, you can check online product descriptions of this type of flavor so that you’re guided.
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