Spices and BBQ

[sosman]

Before I joined this forum, BBQ meant throwing a few frozen coles bangers on a slightly warm hotplate or incinerating them over hot rocks.

That was then - now there is a whole new world out there for me and the learning curve can be a bit daunting. When I BBQ now, it doesn't happen without serious consideration of what spices go into the brine, marinade, rub, sauces, sausage mince, rissoles, pizza topping and so on. For a seasoned cook, mixing up spices right might come naturally. Not so for moi.

So I was hoping to tap into the collected wisdom of all you aussiebbq guys to make a bit of a spicy resource (sauces was the closest section I could find).

I have picked up a few links from here and other places but I haven't actually brought anything from them yet so i can't personally recommend them but I only have the links because others have tried them and recommended them (or a specific spice mix from them).

Buy spices online:

• Spice Fusion
• USA Foods Not just spices, whole range of rubs, sauces etc.
• Max and Dex spices, recipes
• Screaming Seeds Spice mixes online.
• http://herbies.com.au/ see also http://www.gourmetshopper.com.au (herbies shopping site).
• Spice Bazaar Seddon Vic

Other resources

• Spices some kind of online A-Z spice encyclopedia.

BTW I do have a specific question - is there a "must have" book or web resource out there to help a punter start to intelligently mix and appreciate spices (as opposed to grabbing some hop pellets from the freezer and randomly adding other ingredients). My wifey's birthday is coming up soon and I reckon it would be a great gift for her

[Captain Cook]

Herbies has a great book on spices.
You need to try different combinations yourself
Different flavour profiles suit different people.
Our (Her Indoors and I) profile is more asian so we tend to use more fresh herbs in different combinations
We also use Australian inspired spice blends but it does depend on what you are cooking and what you want to achieve.

I guess that this does not really answer your query ..... Sorry.

Cheers

[Warren24]

Hi Sosman,

I think the Captain is right, whilst I am still very much a BBQ novice, in the rest of my cooking, I found it is just about experimentation.

I did however find this the other day when I was looking online (obviously this forum was my first port of call) at hints and tips for giving my first BBQ Brisket a try this weekend - http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/HerbSpiceMenu.htm

I was also given this book for Chrissy http://flavourthesaurus.com/ which is pretty cool for flavour combos (although there are some weird options!!).

Cheers,
Warren

[sosman]

Herbies has a great book on spices.
You need to try different combinations yourself
Different flavour profiles suit different people.
Our (Her Indoors and I) profile is more asian so we tend to use more fresh herbs in different combinations
We also use Australian inspired spice blends but it does depend on what you are cooking and what you want to achieve.

I guess that this does not really answer your query ..... Sorry.

No worries - not really expecting a single magic answer - do you know which one of the herbies books?

I am keeping records of the spices I use and feeding them back into my next recipe. For example I have noticed some rubs have say 20% salt (by volume) in them and that is too salty for my taste (at least in that rub) and so I aim more for 10%.

[sosman]

Hi Sosman,

I think the Captain is right, whilst I am still very much a BBQ novice, in the rest of my cooking, I found it is just about experimentation.

I did however find this the other day when I was looking online (obviously this forum was my first port of call) at hints and tips for giving my first BBQ Brisket a try this weekend - http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/HerbSpiceMenu.htm

I was also given this book for Chrissy http://flavourthesaurus.com/ which is pretty cool for flavour combos (although there are some weird options!!).

Warren thanks for that - found the food thesaurus online for under $25 US @ abe books. I will check out deejays too.

[Buccaneer]

Soz most of my rubs I make I use 0 salt.
Zip, nada, nai,zilch,nought, not a sausage.

SPices make salt unnecessary for flavour profiles.
The extraction of juices to caramalize is a school of thought but I believe Robuchon, it is a myth.
Caramelizeation takes place between proteins natural sugars and heat reactions anyway. Proof is in the fact that the cooks come out the same.
IMO

edit:cannot spell unecc...unness....uness..oh ...uneeded

[MrBrown]

Hi Sosman,

I think the Captain is right, whilst I am still very much a BBQ novice, in the rest of my cooking, I found it is just about experimentation.

I did however find this the other day when I was looking online (obviously this forum was my first port of call) at hints and tips for giving my first BBQ Brisket a try this weekend - http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/HerbSpiceMenu.htm

I was also given this book for Chrissy http://flavourthesaurus.com/ which is pretty cool for flavour combos (although there are some weird options!!).

Warren thanks for that - found the food thesaurus online for under $25 US @ abe books. I will check out deejays too.

Me too, that looks like a great book.

[sosman]

Soz most of my rubs I make I use 0 salt.
Zip, nada, nai,zilch,nought, not a sausage.

SPices make salt unnecessary for flavour profiles.
The extraction of juices to caramalize is a school of thought but I believe Robuchon, it is a myth.
Caramelizeation takes place between proteins natural sugars and heat reactions anyway. Proof is in the fact that the cooks come out the same.
IMO

edit:cannot spell unecc...unness....uness..oh ...uneeded

Interesting point - I can try 0% in a rub for sure.

For sausages though I was under the impression that salt was somehow import for binding.

[sosman]

Herbies has a great book on spices.

Found "just add spice" at thenile.com.au for $39 including postage. I was looking at this on gourmet shopping the other day but postage was almost $18 on top of $50 for the book

[Warren24]

Sosman (and others) try http://www.booko.com.au it searches four your title on a bunch of book websites.

[sosman]

Sosman (and others) try http://www.booko.com.au it searches four your title on a bunch of book websites.

Thanks - that's how I found the book prices I posted.

[sosman]

The "Flavour Thesaurus" and "Just Add Spice" arrived in the mail today - must be my birthday.

[MrBrown]

Hi Sosman,

I think the Captain is right, whilst I am still very much a BBQ novice, in the rest of my cooking, I found it is just about experimentation.

I did however find this the other day when I was looking online (obviously this forum was my first port of call) at hints and tips for giving my first BBQ Brisket a try this weekend - http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/HerbSpiceMenu.htm

I was also given this book for Chrissy http://flavourthesaurus.com/ which is pretty cool for flavour combos (although there are some weird options!!).

Cheers,
Warren

Gday Warren, thanks for those links, ordered the book, downloaded the ebook. great stuff

[Buccaneer]

The "Flavour Thesaurus" and "Just Add Spice" arrived in the mail today - must be my birthday.

>There's a new band in town
But you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine...<

It's Still Rock and Roll To Me
The legendary Billy Joel

[Davo]

Most the time I use a standard rub mix (depending on type of meat) when I do a roast rub for smoking but I leave the salt out of the mix but instead, I rub any salt quantity in the meat on it's own. This will make the the natural surface juices come to the outside making it look like the meat is sweating, but it also pulls the salt in (or dissolves it) as well and acts as a natural binder to allow the other dry rub ingredients to adhere to the meat rather than using mustard or any other wet substances to make it stick. I found this method to be great and I never lose the rub off the meat and it allows the flavours to penetrate a little further.

Cheers

Davo