What blends/ingredients are worth making myself?

SebastianVLDJ

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Hi all,

I have always made my own sauces and try to make from scratch what I can. I recently wanted to step it up a notch and made a few blends myself that significantly improved the dishes in which I use them. I started making chili powder from different Mexican chilies and ground spices, I made a pepper blend consisting of black pepper corns, green pepper corns, isot, timut, and cubebe peppercorns. I also made my own vegetarian "fish" sauce, which was just a huge difference maker to me.

So I was wondering, what are your recommendations for blends or sauces to make at home that according to you are really a "step up" or make a big difference when homemade? I would love your ideas and recipes!
 
So I was wondering, what are your recommendations for blends or sauces to make at home that according to you are really a "step up" or make a big difference when homemade? I would love your ideas and recipes!

There are so many its difficult to list! Its really worth making your own as the taste is so much more vibrant then with ready made mixes.

I also made my own vegetarian "fish" sauce, which was just a huge difference maker to me.

This is a recipe I would be interested to see. Are you vegetarian?
 
Basic recipes here in nz use Edmonds recipe book. I make variations of those.
Giggle it? The book used to be in every house here.

Russ
 
Hi all,

I have always made my own sauces and try to make from scratch what I can. I recently wanted to step it up a notch and made a few blends myself that significantly improved the dishes in which I use them. I started making chili powder from different Mexican chilies and ground spices, I made a pepper blend consisting of black pepper corns, green pepper corns, isot, timut, and cubebe peppercorns. I also made my own vegetarian "fish" sauce, which was just a huge difference maker to me.

So I was wondering, what are your recommendations for blends or sauces to make at home that according to you are really a "step up" or make a big difference when homemade? I would love your ideas and recipes!
I make quite a few of my own spice mixes.
We get through a lot of garam masala and having a blend of it that you like makes a huge difference to a meal. Garam Masala is a general spice mix with no set ingredients so finding a version you like makes a lot of difference if you use it. But i don't know what cuisines you like.

Another I recently made up was Chinese 5 spice. I actually purchased a jar to see how it compared to mine and much preferred my own version.

Another that I made recently is baharat. It was wonderful. I didn't even bother trying to obtain a manufactured version.

But unless you like Indian, Chinese or Middle Eastern food they won't be of much interest to you.

I've also made a vegan teryaki sauce that was excellent.

This link will show you all recipes in this forum

And this one will show you all recipes with videos
 
Welcome.

I don’t do a whole lot, but I do make my own taco/fajita seasoning, poultry seasoning, pumpkin pie spice, and Italian seasoning, because I usually have everything on hand already, so it just makes sense.

I also make my own mayonnaise sometimes, but one thing I really am in favor of is making my own salad dressings, from vinaigrettes to cream-based ones, and all kinds of varieties that aren’t even available in the shops. Except for blue cheese dressing (which I buy for my wife), I haven’t bought a bottle of salad dressing in years.
 
There are so many its difficult to list! Its really worth making your own as the taste is so much more vibrant then with ready made mixes.



This is a recipe I would be interested to see. Are you vegetarian?
I would love to hear your favorites!

And I try to be vegetarian as much as possible, but I generally don't really like regular fish sauce so I was looking for a substitute.

Recipe - Vegetarian "fish" sauce
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I make quite a few of my own spice mixes.
We get through a lot of garam masala and having a blend of it that you like makes a huge difference to a meal. Garam Masala is a general spice mix with no set ingredients so finding a version you like makes a lot of difference if you use it. But i don't know what cuisines you like.

Another I recently made up was Chinese 5 spice. I actually purchased a jar to see how it compared to mine and much preferred my own version.

Another that I made recently is baharat. It was wonderful. I didn't even bother trying to obtain a manufactured version.

But unless you like Indian, Chinese or Middle Eastern food they won't be of much interest to you.

I've also made a vegan teryaki sauce that was excellent.

This link will show you all recipes in this forum

And this one will show you all recipes with videos
Thank you so much! I love Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern food. I will definitely give the Garam Masala and Baharat a shot. I generally don't really use 5 spices all that much, apart from one of my recipes.

I heard that homemade garam masala always made a big difference - so I reckon I should give that one a shot now.

Thank you!
 
Welcome.

I don’t do a whole lot, but I do make my own taco/fajita seasoning, poultry seasoning, pumpkin pie spice, and Italian seasoning, because I usually have everything on hand already, so it just makes sense.

I also make my own mayonnaise sometimes, but one thing I really am in favor of is making my own salad dressings, from vinaigrettes to cream-based ones, and all kinds of varieties that aren’t even available in the shops. Except for blue cheese dressing (which I buy for my wife), I haven’t bought a bottle of salad dressing in years.
Thank you :)

Would you mind sharing your taco/fajita recipe? That sounds interesting!

I have always heard that homemade mayonaise is a game changer - would you say it is worth making yourself? Of course you can influence the flavor a bit more (gogo dash of lemon in mayonaise!), but does is there a texture change at all? I've always wondered if homemade mayonaise is worth it.
 
Thank you so much! I love Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern food. I will definitely give the Garam Masala and Baharat a shot. I generally don't really use 5 spices all that much, apart from one of my recipes.

I heard that homemade garam masala always made a big difference - so I reckon I should give that one a shot now.

Thank you!
The green are links to my recipes, there are others recipes for garam masala as well on this site. That said, I only found 2.
Recipe - Homemade Garam Masala
Recipe - Yorky's Garam Masala black cumin seeds are also known as black onion seeds, kalonji or Nigella seeds. (They are not actually a cumin seed. )
 
I make all my own hot sauce, all my own jams and chutneys, all my own pickles, plus condiments like Teriyaki, Jerk Sauce, Ketjap Manis, Banana Ketchup, Chile oils, sambals, Mexican salsas, plus all my own spice blends (garam masala, panch puran, bese-bele powder, Bajarat, Chinese 5 spice, and even BBQ rubs. That comes of having run a company for 10 years!
I find the home-made stuff is always superior (and much cheaper) than bought. Yes, it might take a while to prepare it, but at least I can guarantee it´s not filled with xantham gum, agar agar, citric acid, MSG or disgusting sodium benzoate.
 
Two herb mixes that I always make at home are Italian seasoning and cajun seasoning. I eat a lot of chicken (even with inflation, whole chicken is still one of the cheapest proteins I can buy here in Portugal), and these two seasonings both go very well with chicken and they're very easy to make.
 
Would you mind sharing your taco/fajita recipe? That sounds interesting!
Sure. I’ll get it posted up sometime today.

I've always wondered if homemade mayonaise is worth it.
I think it is, yes, in part because it’s so quick. Using my stick blender, I can go from no mayonnaise to mayonnaise in less than five minutes…and I’m really slow. :laugh:
 
black cumin seeds are also known as black onion seeds, kalonji or Nigella seeds.
There´s huge confusion over two spices:
Black cumin seeds, Bunium persicum, are a fairly rare type of cumin, also known as shahi jeera or kala jeera, have a strong cumin flavour and are thus named because, in the past, they were reserved for the Shahs, or emperors. They´re a little longer than the normal cumin seed and have a crescent form.
Nigella seeds , Nigella Sativum, is a small, intensely black seed which has a vaguely oregano/anis/sweet flavour. It´s often described as black onion seed or confused with black sesame seeds: not even close, although it looks a bit like both. Schwarz spices call it "black onion seed" and I think that probably sums up their ignorance about spices. It´s even been called "black caraway", which is akin to calling peppercorns, allspice. In India, it´s known as kalonji and is widely used in breads and curries. Have to admit, it´s one of my favourite spices.
In Palestine (and Israel) the spice is used extensively, including a signature dish called qizha, which is like a seed cake.
 
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