I have a great book "The Spice Bible" so I thought I would share

[ladyhk13]

Sparrow do you grow your curry spices?

[ladyhk13]

Sniper your list must have come out of our cabinet. We use all those on a regular basis. Cumin is one of our favorites, it goes with so many things.
Sparrow the wife uses Cardamon hear and there. Nice taste.
We also use several spice mixes. One of our favorites is KC master piece bar B Q. It makes a great dry rub or just sprikle it on before throwing some meat on the grill. There are several Cajun mixes, fajita mixes, and several others.
We make our own vanilla extract. Take a pint of Vodka and put a split vanilla bean in it, seal it back up and leave it in the dark for a couple months and there you go.
Cinnamon is a very useful splice, supposedly helps lower blood pressure.

Cinnamon is also great for diabetics

[Sparrow]

Sparrow do you grow your curry spices?

No unfortunately. Most curry spices require tropical weather conditions, at the very least temperate. And I don't even have a greenhouse up here in Canada!

[ladyhk13]

Mustard:

Here is a little info that I had never known before about mustard seed and powder. In order to bring out their flavor you must soak them in cold water for 10 minutes...but not longer than 10 minutes or it will lose it's flavor unless an acid like vinegar is added. The book says to NEVER add hot water which makes me wonder how many of us are wasting mustard seeds when we add them to dill pickles and pour all that hot water over them (unless I am the only one who has done that until learning the "rule" first!).

There are 3 types of mustard seeds: yellow which are the mildest and referred to as "white" mustard even though they are tan in color.
Black are a little stronger than brown seed but since it is so hard to harvest that it has largely been replaced by the brown and used interchangeably and often unknowingly.
Brown mustard are the reddish-brown seed also known as Chinese mustard or brown Indian mustard and this is what we usually have in our pantry.

OK GUYS...THIS ONE HAS BEER IN IT. LOL!

Marinated beef ribs in dark ale and mustard

4 lbs 8 oz beef spare ribs, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup dark ale beer
2 tbsp soft brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 fresh small red chilies, seeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tbsp seeded mustard
1 tbsp unsalted butter

Arrange the ribs in a shallow, nonmettalic dish. Put the ale, sugar, vinegar, chili, cumin, and mustard in a large bowl, stir well to dissolve the sugar, and pour over the ribs. Toss to coat, then cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

Preheat a covered barbecue to medium indurect heat. Put the ribs in a large, shallow roasting pan and place it in the middle of the barbecue. Lower the lid anc cook for 50 minutes, or until the meat is tender and about 1/2 cup of liquid is left in the roasting pan. Transfer the ribs to a serving plate.

While the barbeque is still hot, put the roasting pan with all it's juices over direct heat to warm through. Using a whisk, beat in the butter and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Arrange the ribs on four serving plates and drizzle with the warm sauce. Serve with baked potaotes and steamed greens.

serves 4

[mollypup]

I've got the Spice Bible on my wish list on amazon! Thanks Ladyhk13!!!

[Sniper-T]

Sniper, I don't know where she gets all her spices from but I get mine from Penzeys.

I sent them an email and am still waiting to hear back if they ship to Canada.

edit: just heard back from them, and they do ship to Canada. But, for even a 1 # box, shipping would be almost $40.00
Sparrow, do you buy from the States, or somewhere local?

Sniper your list must have come out of our cabinet...

lol... that's just the spice drawer beside the stove, then there's the lazy susan, and the bulk cupboard...

[Sparrow]

I sent them an email and am still waiting to hear back if they ship to Canada.

Sparrow, do you buy from the States, or somewhere local?






lol... that's just the spice drawer beside the stove, then there's the lazy susan, and the bulk cupboard...

I buy my spices at a little Indian store in Montreal. I have about 20 lbs of spices still in some cloth shopping bags waiting to be put into clean, dry glass jars. I find the ethnic grocers are the best places for bulk quantity at pittance prices ...

[Sniper-T]

^
Now that right there is a good tip!!

tx

[Sparrow]

^
Now that right there is a good tip!!

tx

Cannot go wrong with 1 lb of Turmeric for 4 bucks. Try to get a deal like that online! However, my cost for green cardamon is 20 bucks for 900 grams. Still way cheaper then online I think!

[Sparrow]

edit: just heard back from them, and they do ship to Canada. But, for even a 1 # box, shipping would be almost $40.00

See, depending on the spice, 40 bucks alone would buy many pounds. Are you close to Winnipeg? I've been there, lots of immigrant grocers! Best places to go are the poor / sketchy areas for spices.