"seasonings" news and stories

The last thing to add to Slow Cooker Chili before you turn the dial and set it on its long slow journey to chili awesomeness is seasoning. Like any slow cooked dish, using fresh herbs to season is a waste of fresh herbs. Stick with dried herbs and spices, which have more concentrated flavor.

I will be frank with you. If I am making chili during the week when I am busy with life, then I resort to store-bought chili powder along with an extra hit of ground cumin. I realize that there could be all kinds of strange and unusual ingredients that have been ground into that bottle of chili powder, but I don't mind being ignorant to them for the sake of convenience. If I'm making chili on a lazy weekend afternoon, then I add dried spices individually. If you're ambitious, you can grind the spices yourself and make your own chili powder to use in the future. Chili powders include, but are not limited to: ground chili, oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper, paprika, and garlic powder.

Seasoning the Chili:
Add ½ c chili powder to the beef, vegetables (and beans if you added them) in the crock pot. I like heat in my chili, so I throw in some additional cayenne pepper (about 2-3 additional Tbsp) as well as cumin (additional 1 tsp) for a smokier flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste, though salt is something you can always add when you serve it.

Since chestnuts are somewhat synonymous with the Christmas season, they tend to get neglected in recipes that would otherwise be great year-round. Danielle at Habeas Brulee has proved that point in spades with a Pork and Chestnut Goulash recipe she found on the web and subsequently prepared.

The recipe itself is rather simple, but I'm sure the addition of 3 tablespoons of Hungarian Paprika to beautifully seared pork makes it taste anything but. Finished off with the chestnuts, onion, cider, stock, and seasonings, the simmered dish has a deep, rich color and would be great served on top of pasta (as pictured), rice, or potatoes.

Source

Just because the summer sun is rapidly setting and cooler days are just around the corner doesn't mean that you have to say goodbye to the good old barbecue grill. You can keep the spirit of grilling alive with these adorable little salt and pepper shakers in the shape of kettle grills. Each shaker, made of ceramic, metal, and plastic, stands 3 ½" x 2 ½" x 2 ½" on three legs, two of which have tiny wheels that so that they can roll across the tabletop. They are avilable online at What on Earth.

[via: CribCandy]

More salt and pepper:
Talk to taste
Silvery sleek
Ice cream cones
Sleek and magnetic
Pretty little pigs
Self-shaking shakers for the lazy
Peugeot's electric pepper mill
Weeble wobble
Cha Cha Cha
Teardrops
Loops

So I guess I'm on a wee bit of a salt and pepper craze, because I love these mills from Peugeot.

Yes, Peugeot, the French car company, was the one that invented the mechanism in pepper grinders back in 1842. Though the internal technology of the actual grinding in every pepper mill out there is virtually unchanged from the original engineers' design, the exterior technology sure has come a long way. The original maker has electric salt and pepper mills that can season your food with just a touch of a button. That's a good thing for someone like me who salts and peppers everything. Everything. Sometimes without even tasting it first.

The mills are available from Shop.com for $200 - quite a luxurious price for salt and pepper mills!