Which herbs/spices to buy?

[Flyingoutofcontrol]

Starting to cook more new dishes, and am rapidly finding that I'm missing herby ingredients.

What would you consider to be a staple range of dried herbs and spices to have in your drawer/rack?

Fresh parsley/coriander brightens up almost any dish, and basil for anything with tomatoes. Otherwise, keep dried oregano (again, esp for tomatoes), basil, parsley, nutmeg (for white sauces), curry powder, cumin. Depends what you like to cook, eg if lots of fish have tarragon, too.

Really does depend on your style of cooking.

I couldn't be without chilli, coriander, cumin, ginger, turmeric, bay leaves, basil. Also use thyme and oregano. Use cinnamon and mixed spice in biscuits/cakes

Started using paprika and smoked paprika recently.

A few crushed fennel seeds make bolognaise, shepherd's pie, chillies, curries soups etc really tasty

Also, use to rub on the skin of pork (prior to cooking)

Five spice for stir fries

I use fresh coriander, basil, mint, parsley. Can't stand them dried.

Dried stuff, I can't live without cumin, turmeric, oregano, coriander (seeds), garam masala, thyme, rosemary, chilli powder, nutmeg (whole), allspice, paparika, cinnamon, zatar/sumac, saffron.

But it really all depends on what you cook. Buy only when you need it would be the way to go.

For stir fries, I wouldn't get five spice. (I'm ethnic chinese and spent my childhood in Hong Kong). It's not very common you'll need dried spice/herbs for it. You'll do well with dark and light soy sauce, rice wine, rice vinegar and sesame oil. And lots of fresh garlic, ginger and spring onions. If you like things spicier, then get some sichuan dried chillies and sichuan peppers.

I use fresh herbs, and keep cumin, coriander (seed), smoked paprika, cayenne, turmeric, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and allspice. And possibly a few more.

I chuck 'Herbs de Provence' into everything that I cook. Its a mixture of rosemary, thyme, marjoram and a few other herbs. Its pretty fail safe!

blue2 I use herbs de provence when I roast chicken! Just a sprinkle of that and olive oil. It's simple and effective.

OneLittleBabyGirl - what are sichuan dried chillies? I have the peppercorns and am addicted to them, how are the chillies different to normal ones?

Def smoked paprika. Its good in lots of mince dishes if you want a smoky flavour and you've a DD who doesn't like bits of bacon.

Cardamon is lovely in curries and also as an alternative/addition to cinnamon in sweet things like banana bread.

The dried herbs I use most often are oregano, bay leaves and thyme. Wouldn't bother with dried basil, parsely or coriander leaf - those all need to be fresh.

spices - cinnamon, coriander(seed), cardamon, nutmeg, ginger (for baking - fresh for chinese/indian food)

HuevosRacheros I'm cantonese so not entirely sure of the different varieties over in Sichuan. (They are like the Mexicans re chillies). But from what I've eaten, they are milder than the small thai ones (birds eye?). You can find the dried chillies from chinese grocers. They range from long and fat (like supermarket chillies), and round like a ping pong ball. They are dried so tastes smokier than fresh.

You use both the peppercorns and the dried chillies in a recipe. For example, if you do Gong Bao chicken.

Fan of Fushia Dunlop here .

Thanks :)
Got addicted to sichuan peppercorns (and everything spicy!) in Chengdu, still eating MaPo Tofu more than is probably healthy!

Have you got Dunlop's Sichuan Cookery? You would love it if you love the food in Chengdu!

Rosemary and Thyme are our most used herbs. Piri Piri shake and other mixed spices have been useless unless the recipe specifically asks for them.

No, I don't.... and have bought a few too many (if that's possible?) cookbooks recently - I ought to cook a few things from them before I get anything new!

Will add it to my wishlist, thanks :)

Ok we have:

Spices - mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, dried mustard, dried chillies, black and green cardamoms, paprika, smoked paprika, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, nigella seeds, turmeric, saffron, garlic powder, cloves, bayleaves, allspice, mixed spice, ginger, pomegranate seeds, fenugreek (have probably forgotten some)

Oils - olive, rapeseed, sunflower, sesame

Herbs - have fresh sage, bay, chives, rosemary and lovage in the garden