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I learned something about myself in the kitchen yesterday. I made a chicken stir fry last night. As usual, I tinkered with the seasonings until it tasted just right, though the seasonings I used were really weird for a stir fry. Other than onions, I used Chinese 5 spice and Heinz 57 sauce with just a little lemon juice. It tasted great.
My wife is used to my strange seasonings, and said, "How do you do that?" I had never asked myself that question, but when I thought about it I realized that I can imagine flavors. I taste what I am cooking, then run through possible combinations of flavors in my mind. Then I imagine what the food would taste like if I combined those flavors.
I have gotten better at it over the years. I don't use much salt any more, but just try to balance the palate. I did salt the rice last night, but the stir-fry had no added salt other than what was in the bottled sauce. It didn't need it.
The Chinese five spice powder consists of the following:
Star anise
Cloves
Chinese cinnamon
Sichuan pepper
Fennel seeds
The real question is whether you want to make your own, which is certainly possible, or buy the powder which would probably be cheaper in the long run.
I use so little of it that I would probably buy it. Plus getting the star anise and the sichuan peppers in this are is pretty difficult.
The Chinese five spice powder consists of the following:
Star anise
Cloves
Chinese cinnamon
Sichuan pepper
Fennel seeds
The real question is whether you want to make your own, which is certainly possible, or buy the powder which would probably be cheaper in the long run.
I use so little of it that I would probably buy it. Plus getting the star anise and the sichuan peppers in this are is pretty difficult.
Agree....not used enough to take time and energy to make it...I use it rarely.
You can buy all of that stuff on Amazon. If you have an Asian grocer near you, of course they would have it too.
I buy 5 spice, but don't use much of it. I have it mainly for when I make char sui.
I do not buy from Amazon as I have had too many quality issues and have experienced a lot of problems with the discount delivery services Amazon uses. When you have a box that is clearly marked "NIKON", and the delivery driver tosses it over the fence like a basketball, you know what I mean. In addition, it has been cheaper to go to the vendors on their websites even paying for shipping.
The place that I have had luck finding the Asian spices has been Cost Plus World Market. The spices I have purchased there have been fresh, well packaged and completely labeled in English.
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