Plumluvfoods on WICC ep 56 spices!!

On this episode we get down to brass tax on spices and seasonings! PLus Jeffy was in Montanna!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Coming umber stalling a world of sound.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Chef Pull on the mic making hearts pound the shock.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Jeff Bron shot down my son.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Chefdawd in the background making new beats. That song Girls
of Peace Understand any Night a conversation song. Tam Lie
and Boll made dishes Street from stale times These Chef
Spring made mo two guys silent sound a podcast. Chefs

(00:42):
can't many Corfee snuck you off.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
For every conversation. So the fast say Sun on the knee,
Chef Fum and the West and the rest. Oh yeah,
ladies and gump, Happy Saturday to you. It's Plumblave Foods
live on here. Well, I guess we're not live today,

(01:06):
but we're here on w I c C the voice
of Connecticut, spending Saturday with you here in the dog
days of summer as it's still hot and beautiful outside. Yes, yes, yes,
but you're still gonna talk food on a Saturday from
three pm to five pm right here at w I.
You see the Plumblove Foods. I'm Chef Plum co hosted
here with my good friend and Chef extraordinaire and uh

(01:27):
we might he might be a cowboy now. After spending
a bunch of time on Montana. Chef jefpies with us. Hey, buddy, cheer,
Wait was that a cowboy sound? Cheering for yourself? I
think both. Just hear myself. No, thank you. I think
we're live though, man, we are always live, live as
live could be because we are live and lit. Yeah,

(01:48):
you were just in Montana. Are you a cowboy? Now? Well?

Speaker 3 (01:52):
A bit more of a mountain man, if you I
don't think, well, I think when you think cow boys,
you think on the range, you know, you know, like
down in the valley. I'm I'm about ten thousand elevation.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I like to stay up there in the mountains, hurting
billy goats that climb the sides of mountains. Well, there
are a great horned sheep up yonder. Excuse me, great
sheep up yonder. Yeah. Way, So talk about Montana for
a second. You were just there.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, we're doing there. So all right, So Montana that's
all you know. I'm a private chef. I went out
there to cook. I was in Big Sky flew into Bozeman.
Interesting place, man, you know, like I said, it's your
hot behind the air. They don't really have a gross season.
It's cold year round.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's different around there, is it kind of same? I
got image. There's a lot of sushi restaurants in the
Big Sky in Montana.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Oddly, one of the best restaurants in Bozeman I heard
over and over was this place called Dave Sushi. James,
I swear to god it was called Dave Sushi. I'm
not sure, but I mean, you know, I didn't even
know if Dave's I don't know if Dave's an Asian
guy that can make sushi or just a dude from

(03:08):
somewhere that maybe just loves sushi, maybe just loves sushi.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
I don't know anything about Dave.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
But everyone said go get it, and I was always
you know, I listened to my friend Plumb. My friend
Plumb always says to me, in my mind when I
go to eat something.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Jeffy, don't eat that, And I'm like, oh, man, oh,
because yeah, Well you're the guy who goes onto the
you'll ride the ferry and you're like, oh, they got
a special to day on salmon sushi rolls here on
the ferry. Well, yeah, because I'm always surprised that it's there.
You go to seven eleven or Crumberland farms, Like, no,
it sounds good. Let me get this tuna roll. Let

(03:41):
me get this whole trimpsa vich dish from the gas station.
Like what are we talking about here? Yeah, aren't you
ever curious? No, you don't never look at that food
and go like someone made this, packaged it and things
that's delicious.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Otherwise it wouldn't be out here. So I'm always like,
all right, I'm gonna give it a shot.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
You are a very optimistic fellow. I think Jurassic Park. Immediately,
Jurassic Park. Me explain, Yeah, please go ahead. If you
remember in Jurassic Park, one of the most famous lines
in it, we were so excited that we could do it.
We didn't think whether we should. Oh how about that,

(04:22):
which is what I think about when I see gas stations,
sabch you took it someplace else, you know, that's all.
That's my point. That's my point. So there you have it.
So you shouldn't eat gas station food. You shouldn't eat
gas stations to beach. All right, I'm not ordering a
medium rare steak from a gas station. You want to
eat gas station food, Get some chips, have a piece

(04:44):
of fruit, much safer. All right if it's ready to
eat such as well, like you know, if it's in
like the cold case and you got a microwave it
no or whatever microwave, count me out. Okay, I agree
with that, But I have ever been to a gas
station and then they're actually cooking food, Yeah, of course,
and you're like, oh, look, they're making egg sandwiches. I'll

(05:05):
take one, of course. I mean there are lots of
gas stations that do that. Growing up, one of the
best fried chicken places we had in Chester, Virginia was
at a gas station at the quick stop, see so,
but only fresh food from gas stations. So if they're
making slavice at the gas station grill, I would give
it a shot. If you're in Montana, though, you're probably
not going to have you know, a little let me

(05:26):
get some fluke sevice or some uh so. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
I think a lot of Alaskan fish, a lot of
like northwestern fish. So there was like salmon, I saw,
I saw halibit, a lot of cod things like that.
I saw tuna as well.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
But you know what about the non fish, because I'm
not buying fish in Montana.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
And no, so that's what I was just going to
get to. There's a lot of game that was that
was available. There's a great place in Bozeman called Primal.
It was like a butcher shop that I went to,
and uh, I mean they had some really great local
beef that we had gotten that was from a farm
not far away. They were telling me really really really
great Okay, like a kind of like raised right around there.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Beautiful. So you're that you're working you know red Yeah,
there was like a lot of red deer, uh, stuff
like that. And the cuisine it seems very geared towards
like you know, I like, yeah, people who who probably
work hard, you know that that are into eating like
a nice portion steaks, steaks, steaks. Yeah, I saw a

(06:26):
lot of steaks, a lot of steaks, a lot of meat.
Sounds great. Yeah, I mean for me, it's like it's
right up my alley. How are the prices of the
price is different than here on the East Coast, Like
that's all I'm curious about. Is it cheaper? Is it
more expensive?

Speaker 3 (06:40):
I mean where I was, I would say it's comparable.
I mean where I was is like a very very
very hot area, right and yeah, and up on the
mountain especially, I think everything goes up, like everything, just
the prices of everything just hard to get just being
up there exactly.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
But it's, uh, the produce, it's it's rough, all right.
Well there, it's like the pros isn't good. Yeah, it's rough, bro,
it was. It was. I felt bad for the people
of Montana. Give me a little more. What do you mean, Like, dude,
I was like in the grocery store and there's a
dude putting the produce up, and I'm looking at a
ben a snap piece and that top half of them

(07:18):
look rotten, like there was just pieces like like you
could see like like rotten spots. And then like all
these zucchinis looked wilted to let us look funny, and
that wasn't I was like many stories I saw produce
that just looked like it had been you know, like
driven over the past and a stagecoach. Oh wow, that
sounds awful, dude, it was. I'm telling you.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
I was like, I had a lot of stuff shipped
in from other places. Our good friend, uh farmer Lee
Jones out there.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
But well it's awesome. I like that. I think it's
just interesting to hear about foods from different parts of
the country, and you know, I'd love to talk to
somebody about Montana food.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
A good friend of ours, Alyssa Fassano, a good friend
of the show, Alison Plasano, opened a restaurant out there
in Bozeman. I actually reached out to on Instagram. We
were chatting a little bit.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, established eighteen sixty four. I believe it was the
name of the restaurant.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
I might get to go.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
But the menu look great and it had a bunch
of cool cocktails. It's like a basement kind of situation,
like yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
That's great, man, that sounds amazing. I want to go
to Montana at some point. So we got to figure
this out and I want to go there and hang out.
Let's have a great place. Oh dude, they do food
festivals out there. Like I said, it's a really hot
spot right now. There's a lot of cool stuff going on,
so you never know, we might pop up. Sounds amazing.
On today's show, believe or not, we're not talking about Montana.
I just want to thought to be fun to talk
to Jeffy about Montana for a minute. And you know,
but today, you know, we're kind of just going to

(08:37):
keep going along here on our Talking Summer Food series.
You know we're doing We're talking about your spice cabinet.
What are your spices in this cabinet? What is this
cabinet full of things? And you know your grandma has
that one cabinet full of spices that she got back
in nineteen seventy two. Are those still okay? And what
is the difference between spice in this season the salt cout.
We're going to cover all this stuff today. When you
finish the show, you're going to be a spice expert.

(08:59):
Jeffy ooh, is you're a spice guy, a spicologist. Yeah,
you're a spice guy. You love spices and seizings.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
I you know, first of all, yes, I think spice
is part of life. You gotta make it taste like something.
I've Cheryl Stare from Art of Eating. You stay to
me all the time. Make it taste like something, and
I like that. I like a bold flavor. And I
think you need spice for some of that stuff. I mean,
you gotta get great produce and great vegetab great things
to start with, but having great spices is part of that.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, it's kind of thing. Our friend Dan's a big
spice guy. He loves using all kinds of fun different
spices on things. And you know, I think one of
the things that's interesting to talk about here is that
the term spices and seasonings, or seasings and spices, those
are two different things. Jeffy, When I say seizings like
seasoning and spices, what does that mean to you? I
just think it's like, it's not true. Question. No, I'm

(09:47):
not trying to trick you.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Well, in my mind, I would like if we were
playing boulder Dash, I would say the difference between seasoning
and spices is definitely regional.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Okay, yeah, you know, down south they say seasoning, and
up in the northern part of the world we say
spices spices. There you go, Well, there is an actual
definition for it. I'd like to give it to you.
Oh my gosh, go ahead. So, in culinary terms, spices
are dried seeds, fruits, roots, or bark used to add

(10:19):
flavor to food, while seasonings is a broader term that
includes spices, herbs, salt, pepper, and spice blends used to
enhance the overall taste of a dish. So and spices
are typically derived from, you know, parts of plants other
than the leaves, such as like the seed you know,
like a cumin pepper, or fruits like allspice, or roots
like ginger, or bark like cinnamon, and yes, friends, cinnamon

(10:41):
is a tree bark Okay. Spices offer distinct and often
very pungent, aromatic flavors, right, whereas seasoning is more of
a general term that encompasses anything used to enhance the
flavor of food. It can include spices, herbs which are
generally leafy green plants, think like basil or parsley salt.
Hold on, yeah, yeah, you keep saying spices again though, right, Well,

(11:05):
I know because a seasoning can include a spice, Does
that make sense? So the same thing? Well kind of,
It's like a subset, which is interesting part of it. Oh,
So spices is a specific part of seasoning is used
in a seasoning, correct, because it could be in a
so itself makes a spice, right, but if you put

(11:26):
it together with something else, it's now a seasoning. So
like when I make like pumpkin spice, that's a seasoning.
That's not a spice because it's multiple spices to make
a season it. There you go, there, you go exactly
see I mean I just learned something. How about that?
How about that top ten percent Jeffrey Man. You know,
but think like an Italian seasoning or like a blackening

(11:48):
season or a Cajun seasoning or something like that. That
stuff has it could have some of the spices in
it that are used to make that, you know. And
also very very important here to point out, salt is
not a spice. It's actually a common seasoning.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Figure that out, Uh, salt is not a spices kind
of seasy because it's derived from.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
A mineral I think, so not a seed or a bark. Correct.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
That's interesting because I feel like it should be considered
like the oldest spice.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yes, And here's the fun part about it. I mean,
you know, assault for instance, and I want to cover
that in this episode before we you know, take it
all the way down here to the wire and get
into deep into this stuff. Like in all of our
seasoning conversations and salt and spice spice conversation conversation, We're
gonna eliminate salt from the equation. Right, So, salt to
me is a given. Salt should always be there, it
should be a part of it. It's not you use

(12:40):
to enhance the flavor. It's used for all those things.
But I think it should always be there so in
our conversations, and we'll repeat this layer in the show
too for people. But like it's it's just assume it's there.
Does that make sense to every So? Like, hey, Jeffy,
what's your favorite seasoning? We don't salt with salt. Salt
is assumed it's there. Well, I I mean, I repeating it.
I'm gonna repeat it. Agree to disagree though, I mean,

(13:01):
because what do you mean? I don't. I don't put
salt in every seasoning. No, but you've salted the food,
all right, Well, we do salt the food.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
Even if you're gonna use a little seasoning, unless it's
a heavy salted seasoning.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
You're gonna use a cure seasoning or something you use
like a lowry seasoning salt exactly. That's yeah, like that,
you wouldn't salt it again because you would oversalt it.
But we're gonna we would just say we're using you
know this seasoning salt. Right, we don't just say, you know,
what's your favorite season kosher salt? Well, No, we're limitating
that because that's already in the equation. But that's a
difference in the two. And it was funny because I'm
doing research for the show. I was thinking to myself,

(13:37):
what is the difference in the two, and I feel
like I kind of was like, Okay, seasoning is something
that you use like a blend, you know, whereas like
a spice is something that you would use to you know,
like brighten something up, you know. I was trying to
get more in depth about it, but no, it's just,
you know, a spice is something that you just use,
like see a cinnamon something like that, ginger, and a

(13:58):
seasoning is usually a blend of spy. I get it.
Like a spice is a singular yeah, in a seasoning. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
And then like like so salt by itself not a spice,
but salt and pepper together is a seasoning?

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Correct? Because then you what have you done when you
use those? What do we say? Did you season your food?
So salt is for seasoning your man? I am it's
a lot. It is crazy, But salt in the definition,
in the definition of salt, considered a seasoning, not a spice.
That's wild.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
It's very confusing. But these pepper is always together. I
wonder why that's like the classic seasoning.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
That's a great I wonder why that we should look
that up and figure out if there is a history
of that. But you know, maybe on our next break,
I'll find it. Pepper and salt they're best friends, and
it's assumed it should always be in the food. In
my opinion, it should always be there. Yeah, yeah, it
has to be because of how complimentary they are, right,
It's just it just has to be there. Spices are
less regional now than maybe they were I don't know,

(15:05):
maybe even ten years ago, because it's just the availability
of everything, like we get anything anywhere now. I feel
like it's less of a regional thing. I definitely agree
with that, I think.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
And I also think that there's there's so many chefs
involved in the spice game as well that travel. So
it's like if they go to some you know, say
some random place in Africa that no one's maybe travel
to and try some spice combination that you know, it's
like kind of out of the box, they might recreate
it and call it like, you know, this tribe's you

(15:35):
know spicy or whatever, you know what I mean, and
be selling it, you know in Kansas, you know, what
I mean, you would never know, like it's like, because
you just don't know who's behind it, or even.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Just thinking like something even just a little bit more
for me, just a little bit more more layman. For instance,
you know, chili's and chili powders and things like that.
We associate with spicier cuisines, which you know, Latin cuisine
or a you know, any kind of Mexican cuisine or
Southwestern cuisine. Where now, or I guess maybe fifty years ago,
having like a great chili powder in the Northeast would

(16:08):
have been more of a stretch, you know, whereas of now,
I mean, you can get great options. There's all kinds
of dried local chilis that are then shipped all over
the place. I just feel like it's, yeah, maybe it
has more of a regional history on some of these things,
but it's less of a you know, a regional availability
type situation. Well, well, I definitely agree with that. It's
absolutely the same.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
I was going to say, because like my thing that
I remember, the one spice that I used to always
have to get from the area. It was like a
fresh hatch chili oh router and fresh hatch chilies you know,
from New Mexico, and you had to get them from
this like one area Winton Seasons, right, yeah, yeah, and
then would chip them up and you would get that
and then the dried spice that they make from the

(16:48):
chilies is just so amazing, especially when they make it
fresh like that year. Yeah, that's like such a regional
thing in my mind. It's a great example, you know.
And I'm sure like if a certain spice grows wild
in your area, then you'll probably be known for that spice.
You know, Like there's certain cinnamons that come from like Saigon, sure,

(17:09):
and you know, like this, I can't think of that
the other places that cinnamon grows, but it's all over
Sri Lanka, I mean all over the place.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
But there's and that's a great example too. But I
mean there was a timeframe where you know, it would
seem like something very exotic. You said, I'm using Saigon cinnamon,
you know, yeah. Where now it's just like, oh, well,
that's just that's what we have. Well.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
I mean the interesting thing about that in my mind too,
is that cinnamon is cinnamon, right, but all the cinnamons
aren't the same.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, I know, you're absolutely right, That's exactly true. So
if you.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Start getting into the nuances of flavors, you know, you
can really go down rabbit holes with spices like that,
Like you could go hyper regional for certain things totally
because you're looking for like a cinnamon that's a little
more mellow or something that's like maybe a little more
assertive or something, you know what I mean, whatever, whatever
the thing that you're trying to grab out of it, right,
And I think that's as a chef, that's like the

(18:06):
fun part about using spice is to like really refine
a dish, you know, like after you've done a dish
a few times and it's a hit and you're like
repertoire to like you know, start like then kind of
keying in on those like yeah, and then like kind
of like playing around with like other versions of those
spices to kind of like see like, oh, how do
I oh, is it better.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Just like this? Or do I add another step. I
feel like the seasoning part of it and spice part
of it has really kind of broadened the American palette
more than ever now, whereas you know, between that and
how food has become such a regular thing in people's lives.
I feel like growing up for us, it wasn't that
big of a deal. We ought we had our handful
of TV cooking shows, and we're now it's almost these

(18:45):
chefs of trees as rock stars. And I feel like
the Seasons and Spices made a big, big, big push
for that or played a part in that because of
you know, maybe, like you said, you'd be down in
you know, someplace and taste this amazing dish that's with
some regional spice, so that's amazing, and you know, now
bringing that out just as a palate everybody try, it
becomes a different thing. I just feel like it's maybe
that under you know, a little bit underwhelming for Seasons

(19:07):
and Spices, but they played a pivotal role in broadening
the American palate.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, I think they Yeah, I think Spices definitely helped
broad in it. And I think it was probably like
you said, like TV TV chefs, like chefs who got
on television who started getting like huge national followings talking
about different spices, and then a lot of times that's
like the first like chef merch thing that I think
a lot of like right, thinking about Emerald, Emerald's essences

(19:37):
and but to think about all the things that he
put in there, Like he had like an Asian one.
He had like all these different flavors, and he was
like expanding that out there, like you said to like
like a huge amount of people who didn't really cook,
who like kind of trusted Emerald to guide them into
this world of new flavors.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
You know, they would watch them and he would like
finish it with it, and he's like essence, pink, pink,
pink there, you know, no matter what it was he's making,
he's making an apple pot, there's some essence on there,
which I think it was just basically a blackening seasoning.
Oh dude, he's yeah, I think I still have some
ameral escence floating. You really caving it?

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm one of those I'm like
a spice order, Like I hate throwing them away and
then I like and then I'm about to throw them
away and then I'll mix them together and make something new,
like and my wife will be like what is this,
And I'm like, oh, this is a jerk.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Rob.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
I may because we had you know, a quarter of
an allspice and a little bit of this chili powder
that we had and I had.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
This other thing, you know, I'll like mix them all
up in a bowl and put them back in a
bottle and like relabel it. And she's like, oh my
god Jah, and I'm like, no, no, no, I'll use it.
I promise, and then I swear, I promise I'll use it.
And we're gonna talk a lot about this moving forward, because,
believe it or not, those things have a shelf life.
And you may not think they do because you've seen
Grandma might having the same spice and a cabinet since

(20:51):
nineteen seventy one, but I promise you they definitely have
a shelf life. We're gonna talk more about that when
we come back as well. We're talking all about spices.
Here are on Plumb Love Foods. It's Chef Jeffy, It's
Chef Plum. We're enjoying this conversation already, So I tell
you what, It's gonna be a fun one because this
is something you. Jeffy wasn't fully aware of what the
show is going to be about today, and then I
brought it up. He's like, Oh, that's a great idea.
I think that could be a lot of fun. Absolutely,

(21:14):
when we come back we're gonna talk about what spices
we think every spice cab that should have. And plus
we're gonna just find some obscure spices that maybe you
haven't heard of. And dry herbs. Can we talk about
that little bit, Jeffy, We definitely can't, because I definitely
have opinions about that, and I'm sure you do as well.
There's a time and a place. There is a time
in a place, It's all I'm saying, Jeffy, there's a
time in a place. It's not always bad to have
dry herbs, So of course stay right there. But he said,

(21:35):
of course not no. But some people hate him. I'm
telling you how a chef who hated him growing up.
He hated him. It was not his thing. You're checking
out Plumb Love Foods right here on the Voice of WICC,
the Voice of Connecticut. Stay right there, We'll be right back.
It's spice Day, Plumb Love Foods right on wis you

(22:13):
see the Voice of connecticuts chef Plumb Chef Jeff hanging
out with you here on a Saturday. Thanks for taking
the time to listen to the show a little bit,
and maybe you're checking the show out via podcast and
if you are, we appreciate that. And if you're not,
and you'd like to find some part of the show
that maybe you've missed the first segment. You're tuning in
now on the radio and like, hey, you know what
I wonder if what they talked about twenty five minutes ago.
Guess what, Jeffy, you can find that out You know

(22:34):
where you can find that? Tell them, Jeffy, you can
find it anywhere is where you can find it.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
Anywhere that you find your podcast or you listen to podcasts,
or you download your podcast. You go there, look up
Plumb Love Foods, and there we are. You can find
a backlog of close to five hundred episodes.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
It's a lot, it's a lot. There actually will be
over five hundred, but the first season is on, like
I had to take them down so out space. Oh, Sammis,
if you want to contact Plumb, just DM him and
he'll just you know, he'll sell it to you. I will,
I will, Yeah, we will, all right, And don't forget
to Every Friday you can catch me and Jeff on
the Melissa in the Morning show hanging out with most

(23:10):
of a few minutes talking about this. But you have
a lot of fun. We love her. She is the best.
She is the best.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
And if you catch her show, just I mean, so
much stuff coming on that show, so much knowledge, so
much Or.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Just call Melissa and say, you know, Melissa, you should
have Chef Palm and Chef jeff on a little bit
more often. Yeah, listen, know that for sure. I'd like
to hear that. Yeah, tell her it's her favorite part
of the show is that when we come on. So yeah,
call her. Love to hear that about their show, that
their guests are the best. Yeah, they love that. So
that But yeah, any pot you can your fine digital

(23:40):
program and you can find the show. If you've missed
a piece of it, download it. That's your AI. Ask
your favorite AI about us. They know I did that.
You got mad at me? Not your favorite as you
need to get Jeffy relaxed. Okay, it's okay, I promise,
I know you do it. Keep it moving, not joining

(24:01):
the show, No, no, we're talking all about spices and
seizings today on the show and the first break, we
talked a little bit about the definition between spices and
seasonings and yes they are different. To keep it simple,
just so you are aware. A seasoning us many uses
several spices to make itself. So whereas a spice is
almost like a singular makes sense.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, you know one thing I didn't ask, and so
it is an herb different an herb is an herb you.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Were just spice. You and me are connected like this.
It's amazing. We were right there. I was about to
bring up dry herbs and what do we think about them?
Let's talk about them a little bit. So is that?
But so we define that it isn't singular, That's what
I'm saying. Is that?

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Like?

Speaker 1 (24:41):
So when you say so, is it like herbs and
spices make up? There we go, Jeffy, listen to me.
So usually, like we said in the first break, when
it comes down to just the difference in the two.
You know, spices are dery from dried parts of plants
other than the leaves, such as seeds, fruits, roots, that

(25:02):
sort of thing, bark right. Okay, Well, if you get
dried basil, that's the leaf. So that is now a herb,
which is in a different category.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
Okay, So I actually love that because like cilantro leaf
is the herb, but the seed we call coriander coriander, correct,
and it's two. They're similar flavors, but they're definitely different.
A lot of people who can't eat cilantro can still
eat Korean.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Interesting, right, Yeah, I know it's crazy. So let's talk
a little bit about these dry herbs, because I had
a chef growing up who was was vehemently against dry herbs.
And I'll tell you it's it's it's one of those
things that like herbs. Herbs. Yes, I don't believe in
silent letters herbs. I don't believe in silent letters, Jeffrey. Okay,
don't believe in them, but they exist. I want some

(25:45):
dry herbs on my salmon herbs, baby, and let me
get that also on my filet mignon. Okay, all right,
thank you. But so dry dry herbs, right, you think leafy,
think dry parsley, dry basil, dried time. You know, I
think there's one of those. Yeah, I mean, there's certain
there's certain dry herbs that work better than others. In

(26:08):
my humble opinion, there's no place in the world for
dry parsley, Jeffrey. What it does? Nothing? Oh I disagree.
Tell me, give me, give me a useful function for it,
and don't say just sprinkle on the plate before you
serve it.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
Uh No, But if you take some oil when you're
getting ready to start, like a quick tomato sauce, and
you take this is if you don't have fresh herbs,
sometimes you just you don't have them, Like if I
were in the mountains and they don't grow it's cold,
and I don't have access to you know, fresh parsley.
You have to get dried pars I mean, definitely try

(26:43):
to source some nice one. Look for a brighter green
dried parsley, something that looks like it was taking care
of it wasn't on the shelf for nine years. Anyway,
Get your oil a little hot, throw in a whole
bunch of the dried parsley and kind of cook it
till it toasts up. And you'll see that it turns
the oil a little bit green green. And then add
the rest of your aromatics and it just adds another

(27:04):
level of flavor. I mean, I'm a big I'm a big,
big fan of layering flavors as I go, and I
think dried herbs and dried spar dried spices are a
great way to do that in your aromatics with uh,
you know, when you're gonna use your onions and garlic
and get things started that way. I like to use
some dried spices that are gonna correlate with whatever I'm

(27:25):
making later.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
I don't hate the idea. I don't think that dryers
don't have a place dried parsley. I think you think
you're full of a dried parsley taste like tastes like newspaper.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
Unless you cook it and get the oils back out,
and you got to break it up and get the oil. No,
it doesn't. It tastes like dried parsley. Okay, you can
use you can know what, folks, you tell me. You
go home right now. You get a little fresh parsley,
you have it, Get a little dried parsels. Everybody's got some, right,

(27:55):
make it to made of sauce without it in the beginning,
and make it with it in the beginning, just a
little bit like I said in the oil, and just
to do a Jeffrey experiment for yourself at home, doing
a Jeffy experiment, and you're gonna be like, man, Jeffy
is probably the top twelve percent.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
Oh wow, twelve huh, yeah, I'm up there. I just
think that partially tastes like nothing. However, I do think
applications like rosemary in time, which are a little bit
hardier herbs, I think have a much better application. I
do think when you because it's like they work better.
Like a little dry time does have a flavor taste
like time a little bit. You know, rosemary is the

(28:31):
same thing. But I think one of the key things
you should know when you use them. And it's a
speaking of experiments, after you do Jeffy's experiment with your
tomato sauce that you're gonna make, take a little dry rosemary,
put it in the palm in your hand and smell it.
Then take your finger and smush it kind of in
your hand a little bit or between your two fingers,
and then smell it. The difference is completely overwhelming what

(28:54):
it does to your senses because you bring those natural
oils out when you break it up like that. It's
pretty unbelievable the difference some flavor. So make sure you're
smushing culinary term your dry herbs.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah, it like oxidizes a little bit on the outside
and all the all the the scent and everything is
trapped in it. And so you want to kind of
get that the more surface area something has, the more
extraction it'll have into the oil of the water or
whatever you're going to be cooking it into. So it's
like it's just smart to kind of grind it up
a little bit in your hand and throw it in.
Besides the smell and stuff, it's just it's just you're

(29:24):
going to get a better flavor out of it when
you do that.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Yeah, and you know, we can talk more about some
things that we do with stuff like that, you know,
later on the show about blends and toasting make what
about toasting your spices and herbs, you know, and that's
the same bit. Yeah, that works as well too, Like
you know.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
But crush them up and then toast them a little
bit and they're just going to keep.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
You know, and then you know, later on the show
we're going to talk all about this kind of tips
and tricks and things you can do with dry stuff
like that. But focusing on dry herbs still. You know,
for instance, I think dried basil, for instance, tastes nothing
like basil.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Well, yeah, it tastes like dried basil. I mean that's
that's the cool thing about uh. I mean, think about
anything that you dry, it's going to be a little
I mean beef jerky. It tastes totally different than a steak.
Taste meat, it does, but it doesn't taste exactly like
the meat that it started.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
You know.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
It's like basil. When it's fresh, tastes like bright and
all these things. Dried basil, it concentrates some of those
flavors that can can take the drying process that.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
I don't know how we have to do the odd
couple on this. I don't know why do you love
dry herbs so much? Really, I really grew up on them.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
I grew up using them, and then and then when
I learned about fresh herbs, and I just you know,
I go to culinary school, no one taught me this.
I just started to like use them together. And I
really loved the way you could build a flavor up
and using dryers at the right time. Like you know,
Doniel always used dryerbs. I mean he was like a
Hungarian guy. You know, he came from a place where
there probably wasn't a ton of it wasn't much.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, I get it, I get it.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
You know, I think works great by the way I
think works fantas my gosh, one of my favorite things.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
I just get a good one. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
At the farm, we have a whole bunch of uh
we grew all the right gonna go out to these
giant purple flowers is a regular flowers. So we cut
a whole bunch of them down and have them all drying,
And I can't wait to use them because they're just
they smell so like, oh floral, and once they dry
out and like when you crush it up, it's gonna
look beautiful over the top of the food.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
It's like, I'm really excited. Yeah, I know that that
kind of stuff works out great, but I still think
there are a few that we do that just don't
really make a lot of sense. Dry dry cilantro is
another one. It just it serves no purpose.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
Again, I you know, like I said, it has its
own it has its own flavor profile. And I think
that like, yes, if fresh cilantro is available and you
can't get you know, yes, use it. But if you
can't get fresh cilantro, like and there's dried cilantro available
and it doesn't taste, so you're gonna try to use

(31:47):
what you're going to add it to, you know, like
if you're trying to use the same applications making a
saucer or something.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
It just isn't gonna work.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
I mean it might if you make it or roasted salt.
So it's not gonna work exactly the same, but you're
definitely it's gonna taste. It's gonna be people who eat
cilantro have dried cilantro, They're still gonna hate it. It's
still gonna have the same flavor profile. It's just gonna
be like different. It gets concentrated and then like reconstituted
in the food, so it's just a different flavor profile.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
And that's how I look at it. Team Jeffy or
team Plumb. I think teams. I think cilantro when parts
they have served no purpose as dried ingredients, where Jeffy
thinks they have applications. And listen, that's again, this is
the thing about food that we love so much, is
that it's not always the same. You know, if people
can have different opinions, it doesn't matter. It's not like
one of us is right or wrong here, well I'm
probably right, but like.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
But yeah, but yeah, food is absolutely subjective. You know,
it's a subjective to your own tastes. And that's where
we're wherever right now, because it's.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Interesting because when it comes to that, I would agree
with you. But like we talked about is it seasoned?
You know? Is that seasoned? You know? And I don't
think that's subjective. It either is or it isn't. I
absolutely agree, but which is to the phcale? But anyway,
go ahead, No, But.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
I also think that some people have different levels of
seasoned in their in their palettes. You know, like some
people don't like I know people who can't eat much
pepper at all and any of their food, even black pepper.
It's just it's like it like makes their mouth singing.
It's like they just don't like it like front of
them anymore. Yeah, it's hard to be friends with them totally.

(33:18):
But but I'm just saying, like, so my level of
seasoning with pepper might be different than theirs. You know,
some people don't eat a lot of salt just naturally,
they just don't. They just don't gravitate to a lot
of salt, Like they don't have like the salt tooth
that some people other people do. Until you really season
something perfectly, they're like, let's taste, why does this taste
so amazing. Hold, I'm not saying that when you go
to a restaurant it's not perfect. I'm just saying that,

(33:38):
like it might not be perfect for every single person.
I mean, I've had a plate sent back for something
that I know was perfectly seasoned. I've tasted it and
someone's been like, oh, I don't think this is over
under season or I think it's overseasoned, whatever it might be.
And yeah, you know, I've had seven other people taste
it in the kitchen and everyone's like, no, dude, that's awesome,
like you know, like OKAYM like Okay, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
I'll guess I'll make it saltier, you know. Well, Food
and Wine just put out a list of their twelve
essential spices every kitchen should have, and they say, you
have no idea where to start, Well, here are some
basic building blocks for every pantry spice rack. And I
want to go through a few of these and see
if we agree with it, and then obviously we'll do
some of our favorite things as well that we like
to use. So one of the ones on here I

(34:19):
think is interesting. They say garlic powder and they like
this burn up and barrel purple striped garlic. So basically
garlic powder. There's a difference between gar powder and granulated garlic.
Can we talk about that for a second, Jeffy, Absolutely,
So a granulated garlic are going to be larger. They're
basically they're all powdered. It's just the degree of which

(34:39):
they're powdered, right, And so I think there's something different
in the drying process as well, where granulated garlic may
not be as dried as much. It's still dry, but
dried as deeply and moisture removes as much as in
garlic powder. You know, I think that they both serve
a purpose. I think garlic granules is also roasted a touch,
so that kind of has that roasted flavor, that lightly

(35:01):
roasted toasted nothing going on, where garlic powder doesn't have
that as much. You know, I don't know. I'm trying
to think of the instances where I would use a
grog powder versus a granulated garlic or it makes a difference.
Off top of my head, I can't think of much.
I don't know. A garlic powder maybe if I'm making
like a sauce or a dressing or something like that,

(35:22):
I might use a little grog powder if I don't
have fresh garlic, Whereas if I'm seizing like a steak
or something like that, I'm probably gonna want the granulated garlics.
I think you'll get more more distance out of it.
What do you think, Jeffy, Yeah, I think, uh yeah,
I agree with that.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
I think if you're gonna be making something where you
want the garlic to absorb more into stuff, the powdered
garlic will absorb more into it, like a for instance.
You know, the first thing that comes to mind is
I worked in a pizzeria and that guy that I
worked for was adamant about using garlic powder in the
sauce that was like a raw sauce that we had
like mixing like a garbage can with like this giant

(35:57):
paddle thing, and like you know, it was like, you know,
to try to break up garlic powder, uh, you know,
it clumps like flour like in a cold sauce, as
as you can imagine. So we then have put gloved
hands on and like you know, like this like and
uh like like push your hands together like I was
trying to make some sort of weird pace it.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Do you have a bur mixer. You're no, because he
wanted to be a little chunky. He was a he
was an Italian guy. I love how you said you
make it a garbage can, which just gives people the
worst picture ever.

Speaker 3 (36:25):
But it's like it was a rubber maid. It was
only used for sauce that you know was clean and whatever.
But yeah, that was exactly how it was made. It
was hilarious.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
But I agree. I think I agree food once, right,
I think having some sort of grog powder is a
good idea of grog powdered garlic, grain netted. What do
you think?

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Yeah, yeah, I think I think both. I think I
think I having a little both in your pants are
onunching this screen. I have that purple stripe garlic pep
that they're talking about, and it's actually delicious.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Okay, all right, uh spice walla red pepper, So talking
about crushed red pepper is an important one to have
in there as well. I agree. I think if you
want to add to eat something very quickly, a little
uh crush red pepper will do the trick. So far,
they're nailing it, I mean. And the cool thing about
crush red pepper you talked earlier about putting, you know,
kind of infusing flavors of that and you're toasting it

(37:10):
into a pan and putting in the sauces. Crush red
pepper is great for that. The more heat you apply
to it before it burns, obviously, but the heat you
apply to it pulls up those oil is really good.
It's it's delicious and you can add a lot of flavor.
So I agree with that one. Uh, they've got wild cumin.
They got well, they have cuman and they have a
broad up and barrel wild mountain cuman. I love cuman.

(37:31):
I think cuman is one of those net go to
flavors for anything you're making. It has like you know,
chili or taco or something like that. I love using
a cuman for that. Be careful, it can be very overpowering.
It's also great in Indian cuisines. Yeah, yeah, it's Indian cuisine. Tie.
You know, so many, so many versions of human. It's

(37:51):
a seed. It's a it's great and it's I love it.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
I love buying a hole and crush on it, and
I love toasting it. It's it's a little different toasted
than it is raw, Like you can actually get like
a little more a little different of a flavor out
of it, which is great.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
All right, well we both agree with the Cuban then too. Paprika.
This is one we're gonna find about. How do you
can feel it coming a spiced I'm sorry, a Spanish paprika.
They say it's kind of important. Go ahead, Jeff, you
go first. I mean, I think paprika is amazing. Paprika.
Oh what do you say like that? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
I used to well, I worked in a Hungarian restaurant.
I worked for a guy that was my chef. We
made paprikash. Paprikasha is a dish that's based around a
really really great high quality of paprika. It can be spicy,
and it's like a like a dish that's like chicken
that's kind of been cooked in like almost like a
roue sauce with like and then finished with like a

(38:46):
little cream. It's like a really really heavy, kind of rich,
delicious dish.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
And the flavor of paprika used to not mean anything
to me, but then when I had it that way,
and then I started using it more and more and
more and then and it's all over Spanish.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
Cuisine as well. It is, and I almost feel bad
saying I feel like most paprikas, and I'm generalizing, don't
have a lot of flavor. Great for coloring it. You
can make change of color of dishes. It's great for that.
But I do know there are some higher end paprikas
that have great flavor and can do a lot of
things with I do also remember that we used to

(39:21):
way way back in the day, back in the nineties,
in a restaurant that I worked in, we had if
it was like a smoked ribs, we would always put
a little smoked paprika on there because it always gave
that smoke flavor without actually having to, you know, go
crazy on a smoke on it, because you can like
fake smoke it with that. Yeah, I sprinkle some smoke
smoked paprika on there because it does. Because one, it's
basically adding a smoke flavor, because the paprika itself doesn't
have much flavor. Again, I agree to disagree. I think

(39:45):
paprika has.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
A very smoked paprika especially has a wildly nuanced flavor.
It's cool, but go out and find yourself a higher
quality of paprika. Sure, and try it, and I'm telling
you to blow your mind. And then spicy paprika there's
like different lets to that, Like you know, they make
like hotter and hotter peprikas that are incredible. I mean
they're just really incredible. I just love the flavor of them.

(40:08):
It's like it's assertive, but then it like drops out.
It doesn't like burn for a long time. It's a
it's a really it's a really great pepper. And they
actually grow it out where I live.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
You know, the paprika pepper and it's like an interesting
it looks like a like a almost like a little pumpkin. Yeah,
I've seen those. They're small, right, Yeah, and you know
their different levels of red and different levels of heat.
But just bouncing around with a little bit more. Here
they talk about cinnamon being an important one to be there.
I agree. Cinnamon also has a lot a lot, and
try it when you're making your own own seasoning blends

(40:39):
of uses and savory food. It's not just for sweet foods.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more. It's sweet, you know,
believe it or not. Beef and cinnamon best friends, great friends,
great friends.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Uh, cinnamon in your chili I'm telling you when this
fall where you're making a pot of chili, A little
cinnamon there goes a long way. Hey, it's some Oklahoma
something going on there. What are you talking? And you listen?
I used to listen. I used to add a little
bit of a chocolate bars and sentnim into my chili.
You want to make it?

Speaker 2 (41:04):
What?

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Jeffy? I want you to be thinking too, because in
a couple of minutes before we go to break, I'm
gonna ask you what you think your top three you know,
quick fire spices they have to have in their cabin
are so be ready for that. Let's jump in here
one more before we get to that. They got a
couple of things also on here. We'll just speed through
a little ginger bay leaves, which I think are very
important too. They's say yellow mustard seed. I don't think

(41:32):
is as necessary. What do you think, Jeffy, yeow mustard seed.
I mean it depends on type of cuisine you like.
I think they're super versatile. They're so good.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
They work as a great thickening agent as well. If
you add them to stuff and you grind them up,
you know they have a high absorption rate to act
excess moisture and like a vinagrette and stuff like that. Sure,
I think it's a great thing they have, especially if
you're gonna be polarizing. Things like whole mustard seeds wonderful
to have.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Yeah, and this again, this list is entitled twelve is
sent spices every kitchen should have. They have tumeric on here.
And you know, I don't think it's essential to have turmeric.
I don't think it's essential to have, you know, some
of these like a ginger powder. But they're all great
to have, you know. And I do find bay leaves
to be very very important. Bailey's got a lot of
flavor of soup sauces. It's a great thing to have.

(42:18):
Try to put it in there, put it in your marinates.
It's really good. Jeffy, give me ten seconds on bay leaves,
bay leaves, ba leaves, five bay leafs and everything. So
I know how many a fish out at the end,
that's true. It's a good I didn't know. You only
have been there for sure, exactly.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
You always count them and know how many you're going
to add so you can get them out. You don't
want anyone to choke on a stem or.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
Anything like that. Yeah, Jeffy. So we got about a
minute twenty before we go to break here. What are
you essential? Give me? Give me three essential things in
your spice catm.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
You have to have onion powder, we said, garlic powder,
but I love onion powder as well. I think it's
really really really important. Dried dill and dill seed. I
always have one or the other. I always try to
make sure I have in a spice cap. And if
I'm setting one up for like a vacation home or something, yep, yep,
one more quick celery seed interesting. I think a great

(43:10):
lot a lot of a lot of uses underutilized. But yeah,
a ton of flavor.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
I'll give you my three right now. Chili powder very
get a nice chili powder, very very and chili powder
means not a blend, but a crushed up chili. Very
very important. I think they have in there as well.
Garlic powder, of course, something I think is very very important,
or grainular the garlic very very important to have in
there as well. I am also a big fan of
having some sort of dry herb section that we do,

(43:36):
like rosemary time that we talked about in the first half.
But I think that's really really important to have in
there as well. When we come back right here on
Plumblow Food talking all things spices, we're gonna get down
with some shelf life tips and of course you know
a few obscure ones that we might have. And plus
our friends the Flames have a new song for us.
Stay right there. Youre checking out Plumb of Foods. We're

(44:22):
talking spieses there. All spies is talking fresh spieses. Store
by play. We're talking all mad ro.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Please don't fuckin the ug salttan paper.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Welcome back, Oh Plumb Love Foods live here on a
Saturday on wy c C. We're talking spices. Whoa talk
about spicy Plum Spicy? I feel like it was a
thirty minute guitar solo with this song. What are we doing?
All right? First of all, man, please don't disparage the musicians.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
Of the flat still because you didn't let them jam baby.
They were letting the spice talk. It was like a
thirty minute all right, I want to talk radio station.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
Let me can we just talk for a second, guys
about plums Plum's lack of culture and the fact that
he didn't he didn't feel spiciness coming off that off
them keys, and he didn't feel.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
The spiciness off that guitar. But we cad solo.

Speaker 3 (46:46):
First of all, the song is three minutes long. Man,
these guys work hard for us, and you're just gonna
you're gonna, oh yeah, turn up the turn up that
last note. Sorry, guys. Uh, Plum Plumb lacks the culture
that the rest of.

Speaker 1 (46:59):
Our sinners do not.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
I'm sure all of you at home listening to us
here on WICC are probably thrilled that the Flames.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Just laid it down with them old spices. That was
a juicy song, no doubt about it. It was a
very well seasoned song. I had a little bit of
that that heat, a little bit of that that burn
on the back end that we will pepper if you will,
you know it made it great. But the thirty minute
of tarsel I want to talk radio station like they
can't do that? It was not it was it was

(47:28):
like each each each solo, it felt like less than
twenty seconds. It felt like it was already Sunday. You
just don't like you don't like it when they hit
us with the yacht rock is what it is, Plumb.
Yacht rock was hilarious. There I will agree. Shout out
to the flames. You know, we're trying to get all
their stuff to be put on Spotify and music so
you can hear it. It'll be great. We're talking spices

(47:50):
and seasoning blends here on Plumbla Foods. And by the way,
something we didn't comment or cover before, rubs fall in
the category of seasonings, don't you agree. Yeah, the rub
is the seasoning absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
Also considered a marinad or a cure, which is also
I guess they're all seasonings seasonings because he used spices
to make them, and herbs and herbs.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
As the nerves make seasons. Herbs you can use little
peperka and miss that. You can catch that anywhere. Spices
and herbs make seasonings. We just we actually just came
up with that whole thing.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
Wow, it's just the brilliance of Chef Plum. That's we
all right, fine, Chef Plum came up with it. Jeff
was just in the background. Real I want to talk
about shelf life of these spices because, Jeffy, here's the thing.
We've all seen it. You know, you've been at your
aunt's house, your grandma's house or something like that, and
they have these spice cabinets that have you know, these

(48:47):
crazy almost generic spices that maybe they got, like they
got the little spindle thing of spices and seasonings when
they got married. Somebody bought it for him, you know,
that sort of thing, you know. But I feel like
some people, like they would have it and then still
have it twenty five years later, the same dry seasonings
and spices. These things definitely have shelf lives. Jeffy, I mean,
have you ever thought about this? Do you ever go

(49:08):
through your your your cabin organize the stuff. I do,
probably like twice a year.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
I'll go through and throw out a whole bunch of
stuff and like you know, reorganize it, make room for
new stuff. Stuff like that. I, like I said, I
tend to try to, like if it's something I really liked,
you know, and there's only a little bit of it left,
I'll try to like mix it with something else and
make something new, to kind of stretch it out a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
I'm just the kind of guy.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
But like you know, those like you said something that
really kind of nostalgically hit me in the heart, which
is those like a spindle, the spindle of spices, and
like the old spice rack that came preloaded, the old
shot exactly exactly old the bandolier, the old the one
that hung on the wall that your grandma's house, So
the wooden one. Yeah, it was next to the picture,

(49:53):
the photo colage, that's the one.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
So before I was the chef and like and I
you know, I moved out young, and I would always
every apartment that I had, I would go to like
TJ Max or someplace, and I would buy of one
of those or two of those, and of all the
different ones, and I would get the like one with
like you know, the Himalayan Sea salt lens, and I

(50:20):
would get the one with the the you know, the
the Southwestern superstyle one, you know, and all that kind
of stuff.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
But you know, I'm talking about like everybody has family
or somebody who has one of these situations in their
house and they've been there since they got married, like
they've had them.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
Oh ever, yeah, and it's funny when you get those things.
The only ones you use if you're a novice cook
are the cuman, the onion powder, the garlic powder, the basil,
the parsley, you know, maybe the time if you're like,
you know, like what it kind of looks like little sticks?
If you don't know any better, you're kind of like, well,

(50:53):
I don't know, this is weird.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
Way, Well, listen, here's the thing about it. So according
to McCormick's, which you know, they're a spice companies, so
I would think that they've done a little research on this.
Just you smidge whole spices last three to four years,
ground spices last two to three years, dry herbs one
to three years. Spice blends one to two years. You know,

(51:16):
I would that seems very long to me. Seeds, you know,
two to four years. Some exceptions like poppy and sessame
seeds don't last quite as long. The one thing I
think it's really interesting here they say extracts four years,
except vanilla, which lasts indefinitely. How about that? So vanilla
vanilla extract does not go bad? How do you feel
about that, Jeffy? I feel good about that because I

(51:37):
make it myself. So even if a spice is passed,
it's recommended shelf life. It's generally safe to use as
long as it's not moldy or solidified. You may need
to use a larger quantity though, to achieve the desire flavor,
because what happens is they, you know, lose some of
the aroma, lose some of the color, and sometimes they
even kind of start to clump up and get solid
in there, which is just not good stuff right there. Yeah.

(51:59):
I think one of the mistakes that everyon IT makes
with their spice cabinet is usually they keep it right
by the stove. You know, it's in that cabinet to
the right of the stove, to the left of the stove,
or maybe one of those pull out drawers. That is
actually the worst possible place you could keep stuff because
the heat it gets hotter there.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
Oh yeah, they get all weird and clumpy after we've
been there for a while too. Yeah, and not a
good place.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
You think about boiling water there, you think about you know,
the heat from the oven there. All of those things
do affect the the shelf life and stability shelf stability
of these herbs and also and spices, and they also
affect the flavors of them. It can make them go
bad faster because you got to think about what's the
what are things that affect it well, that affect the
shelf life of stuff. It's it's generally you know, uh,

(52:44):
the temperature, the light there, the moisture, air in the air, like,
these are all things. So you kind of want a cool,
dark place. You know, dry location obviously is the best.
You know, maybe keep it, you know, one cabin away
from your stove. We're on the opposite side of your stove,
but you want to kind of put some distance between
it because those things all affected and can make them

(53:04):
last not quite as long as they're supposed to. Jeffy, Yeah, totally.
I mean.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
As a chef, and we're both private chefs, so we're
like we're like hired guns. A lot of times we'll
go out and we travel all over. How many times
have you been to a new town, gone to the
house and had to just go to like whatever store
is available and just get spices to make magic.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
Yeah, so many times. I had to do that, so
many times. I also like to a PSA, Jeff if
you don't mind, go ahead, ladies and gentlemen, please please please,
if you love your children, if you love your family,
if you love them, if you love your pets, please
stop buying pre ground black pepper. Pre Ground black pepper

(53:50):
could have been could be ground fifteen years ago and
then put into a container and sold at a grocery store.
They grind it. It could be a giant vat full
of hundreds of pounds of ground black pepper. Loud it
for the brothers and sisters. But it was ground possibly
twenty years ago. I'm telling you, it is a disgrace
to peppercorns. Get your own pepper mill. You can even

(54:11):
buy these things and disposable pepper mills now. It is
the best way to do it. Absolutely, pre ground black
pepper tastes completely different than regular black pepper, and honestly,
as a chef, I would rather not have black pepper
if my only choice is the pre ground stuff.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
Jeffrey, I tend to agree. I mean, pre preground black pepper.
That's a spice.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
I feel like it's kind of a waste, Like I mean,
it gets a little spicy, it's it's but it doesn't
really doesn't do anything, doesn't addny flavor, doesn't doesn't it
doesn't partner well, I don't know. Yeah, fresh pepper corns,
big difference, so just do that. But honestly, I think
it's and.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
Don't pre mix your pepper and salt, unless it's like
a very specific recipe for something like if you're gonna
make salt and pepper shrimp, I'll allow like a salt
and pepper seasoning to be made ahead of time. But
if I see it on the line, I feel like
you're a jabbroni and.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
I love how you do just use the proper terminology
or Jeffy, it made me smile, Like if you mixed
salt and pepper and the calls for a salt pepper seasoning,
I like how you just did that was good? I
was smart, Yeah, because I learned that today on Low
Foods Live. That's right. But yeah, so Jeffy's right though too.
I've gone to restaurant kitchens and you know, places I
really liked, and it's really disheartening when I see just
a salt and pepper mixture on the table, Like what

(55:20):
are we doing? You can't do that, like, just just
have two separate It's fine. Yeah, they're like, oh, it's
just saving saving time. Chef. I'm like, what are you food? Wow,
you really streamlined that situation. You Like how you shaved
off point six of a second there. That was amazing.
That was absolutely incredible nice job. N Yeah, so just

(55:43):
the shelf life of these seasons. So just keep that
in mind. And while like we said, they don't actually
of these you know, spices, they don't go bad, they
just lose a lot of their you know, characteristics and qualities.
So you know, keep an eye on them. They all
have expiration dates on them, you know, keep an eye
on it. Replace them. I tell people all the time,
don't buy the big containers. Buy small containers, you know,

(56:03):
because you don't have to have this massive containers of it.
And just it just I don't know, it's just it's
it's better to get fresher spices and seasonings if you're
going to use it, that's all I say. Yeah, I
think it's look for a reputable company. McCormick.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
McCormick is huge, you know, their company that's been around forever.
They're probably bought in pretty regularly, you know, like spice
are bought regularly, so they're not all. But if you
go to a grocer or a supermarket or a Dollar
General or whatever you have to go do to get
your spices wherever you live, and it's a dusty bottle

(56:38):
like on the shelf, yeah, you know, that's probably a
pretty old spice unless it's a really dusty area, like
there's construction right outside and I'm like messing with somebody's money,
but which I'm not trying to, but I'm just saying, like,
you know, just stay away from dusty bottles.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Yeah, that's that's that's that's a solid advice there, unless.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
It's whiskey or wine. Whiskey and wine. Dusty bottles good spices.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Bat balls bad. Okay, Wow, that should be a T
shirt from Jeffy right there. Uncle Jeffy says, that's great.
I love that dusty balls are only good for whiskey
and woe. I love that. That's fantastic. Oh my gosh. Yeah,
so keep that in mind when you're buying your stuff,
and like, you know, uh, just to blow everybody's mind
here a little bit in case you don't know, because
I think so many people that we don't know this,

(57:20):
jeff and it's gonna be crazy messaying because you probably
know it. You're like who else I know that? And
I wanted to share a story with you. When you
go to the spice aisle and you look at those spices,
they're an alphabetical order all the spices are in alphabetical order,
and you can go through and find what you want.
Are you saying because like I'm crazy, or saying because
you didn't know that. I'm saying because like, how else

(57:41):
would they be? Some people don't know that? Man? No,
But I mean if you're looking for, like, let's say
you're looking for like coriander and you can't find it,
just go to the C section and look for it.
Hold on, what how else would you lay out the spices.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
I'm just like fulabergacid at the thought that someone would
walk up to a spice rack.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
And be like, oh, man, how how do you think
these are organized?

Speaker 3 (58:03):
I mean at a grocery store, at someone's house, Trust me,
it's probably not in alphabetical order, unless you're a psycho
like Plumb and I like the rest of the world
just probably throws them up in the cabinet and then
fishes them out later and digs around for him. And
I learned that there are some people who don't know
it's an alphabetical order the grocery store who I don't
want to I'm not gonna call you by.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
I want their names so I can make fun of
them right now, my friend. He's okay, okay, I'll tell
you no, it's me. I'm not gonna do that. But
there are people who don't know. And it's an alphabetic order.
It's list all right, that is I mean, it's fair
if you didn't know. Thanks for telling us. That felt sarcastic.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
No, I mean, I'm I'm super happy that you inform
the people that there is such a thing called alphabetical order.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
And when you were gonna put anything on a shelf
that's cereals aren't alphabetical order, Granola's aren't alphabetical order, oatmeals
aren't alphabetical order. There's no reason to assume that it
would be. Can't think of all the things that aren't
alphabetical or at the grocery store most of it? How
else would your mind put them together? You just on

(59:11):
the shelf and pray, how would you how would you
track it? Like? How would you recormick stuff here? Put
all this stuff here? Put it by brand in alphabetical order?
A lot of people don't think about that. Can we
move off the show now? Yeah? I like, I'm just
I'm just at a absolute loss that people wouldn't know
that I'm not here trying to help the world, and
you're out here making fun of me for trying to

(59:32):
help people who didn't see that. So I appreciate it
if you would just leave me alone. OK, I'm sorry.
I want to talk a little bit about some of
these spices that might seem touched or it's had obscure
to people who that maybe haven't heard of some of
these things. And so I found a great article that
lists a few that are kind of interesting. Uh, And
one of the ones that sticks out the most to
me is, uh, Angelica. Jeffy, what is angelica?

Speaker 3 (59:58):
Angelica is a such a kind of obscure herb. But
it's a it's like sweet and bitter. I don't know,
it's a it's it's popular on like Scandinavian food like
think like, no.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
I've never heard of a spice I've never used. Well,
I've heard it, but I've never used it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Yeah, it's again, it's very Uh, It's it's out there.
It's not it's not a spice that I think anyone
would even have heard of. I mean, I feel like angelica.
They may even think it's a flower.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
It's a little sweet, earthy, a little bit bitter, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
Yeah, I think I think they use I think there's
like a there's like an apperteeth. I think they make
like there's some sort of alcohol that's made with it
that's a really good for digestion that people drink like,
you know after dinner.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
Yeah, let's talk about Let's talk about Anie, which is
one of those flavors that I think shouldn't be even
in existence in anything. It's really it's the worst flavor
profile in the world. To me. Basically, it's like black licorice.
I can't see it. It's disgusting. See takes things.

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
So Anie, I think is a little bit more approachable.
I think a lot of people have probably heard of this,
especially the Italian American community, because we've all had biscotti,
and you know, classic piscote is made.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
With your classic biscote is a piscoti It geez, Jeffy,
come on, So biscotti, you know it's got a little
anis in there, you know, Yeah, it's got the anis
in there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
And there's an anisset cookies, which is another popular one
like Stella d'ora. You know, everyone's had him with espresso
and coffee. So I feel like but Anie is using
a lot of other stuff too.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
You know that flavor. It's a lot like fenel.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Fenel and anis are in the same family, so they're
kind of like they're not interchangeable, but they kind of are.
If you didn't have fenel and it called for it,
and you use a tiny bit of a nisse, you
have to use a little bit less because it's a
little bit stronger, but I think you would get a
similar result.

Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
All right, let's I like. I like how you kind
of broke up down for by Jeffrey and made it
feel approachable. Keeping going a little bit here, we're talking.
We mentioned bai leaf earlier. I think that's interesting to
talk about. Bay leaves are very earthy and herbal add
a lot of flavor, especially dried they can they can
add a lot. So don't be afraid of bay leaf.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
Jeffy, Right, Yeah, definitely. Bay leaf's super important to use.
I can't it's it should be a basic in your cabinet.
If you're going out and you're buying like eight spices, bay.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Leaf is one. How about catnip is an actual thing
that's used in cuisines as well. Believe it or not,
you said you ever cooked with catnip Jeffrey, No, you can.
It's almost minty kind of take. I've used it as
a replacement for mint and things before. It works very well.
Servil isn't herb? Isn't herb? Is an herb? Sorry? Ye?

(01:02:50):
Mild slightly anisee like not quite as much, you know,
French European type cuisine.

Speaker 3 (01:02:56):
Yeah, I used to hate it when I was first
a chef. The first time I tried it, I got
mad and I was like, what is this is?

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
This tastes like nothing?

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
That tastes bad Parsley and they were like, like the
chef is like open your palate, you know, it's like
a home the upset of me. Okay, I'm sorry. Really
it looks pretty, but it's just like a pretty little bush.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
Yeah, it's it's hilarious. Another one that we talk about
File a fantastic, fantastic spice to use in your Yeah,
using file and a lot of gumbos and things like that,
it kind of adds that down a little bit of
bitterness to it. I think it also helps kind of
thicken things up a little bit too, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
Absolutely it does stick and stuff up comes from the
sassa frass bark. Yeah, it's a very interesting or leafage
frass leaf, that's what it is that makes the felae.
And yeah, it's a it is a thickener. It's like
a natural thickener kind of has a really interesting flavor.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
It's great in a nice dark dark room. I think
it's a part of it, right. Yeah, it's of the
base for your gumbo where you're.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Trying to think of all those dishes down. Be careful
when you're adding it to your dark dark room. Is
that root is so dark it's like lava. It will
burn it and make it taste a bat Usually add
it after the root cools down, just to touch Mace
is another one of these things. I think it's interesting.
I love it. N it's a nice seasoning. I think
it has that kind of brightness too. It's like a
bright cinnamon, is how I try to explain it in
my world. Nutmeggie. Uh, I like that one. I feel

(01:04:28):
like it has like almost like sometimes citrus notes to it,
like a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
Fragrant of little chicken. By the way, Yeah, great on chicken,
grate on fish used in all sorts of curries. Like
if you're gonna make your own curry powders, which I
success you do. If you buy spices like, they won't
sit in your shelf if you use them. So if
you buy a whole spices, just figure out ways to
come up with cool things like google stuff like if
you if you like curry powder, google how to make

(01:04:54):
a curry powder. There's people out there who have ratios
of all the different spices. They're all over the Internet.
They're all over Reddit. I mean, anywhere you want to
go and look for it. You'll come up with thirty
things and just try it yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Dude. It's fun. Yeah, no doubt about it. You can
make all kinds of blends. So we're gonna talk a
little bit more about that in the next break. And
plus we've got some stuff from Instagram, right I put
out there what's your favorite spices to use? And we're
gonna make a few spice blends that we like that
you can make at home and use on lots of
different things. Because Jeff and I do this all the time.
This is what we do. So there's tons of spices
out there. If you can't find something, the beautiful things.

(01:05:26):
We all carry computers in our pockets these days. You
can look it up and find it. But tons of
spices out there. That's just a rundown of a few
that we could find that were a little bit uh.
I don't know. I think we need a touch of explaining,
so we're happy to do that. Here on Plumb Love Foods,
Chef Plum, Chef Jeffy hanging out with you on a Saturday,
talking spices. Plumb Love Foods right here in the Voice
of Connecticut. WYCC, stay right there, We'll be right back.

(01:06:29):
Oh yeah, Blumelove Foods right here on a Saturday on
w SC the Voice of Connecticut, hanging out. You're talking
spices and seasonings and herbs and you know, all the
things that me and Chef Jeffrey you love the most. Jeffrey,
I love these things. I think there's so much flavor.
You can get all the stuff absolutely, seasonings, spices, It's like,
I mean, it's a spice of life. The way today

(01:06:50):
you need spice and life, you know, all the way through,
and you can't get there without seasoning. You cannot. And
if you miss any part of this program, you can
download it from all of your favorite podcasts for buyer
Is you know, and listen to it in your ears,
into it while you're driving. All the things. You know,
we're feedback, which is awesome. We appreciate. We don't even
curse anymore. You can hang out with the kids and
listen to us. It's very safe, very safe. Don't put

(01:07:12):
on the old podcast that ain't good for kids what
we're listening to now or for the people. We'll come
out here for wy c C. It's what we're doing.
It's who we are, voice of Connecticut. That's right, we
are the voice. That's it. That's it, man, I appreciate that.
So check this out. Friends. We're talking spicings, spicings. Excuse me, spicy.
I just kind of made a whole new word there.
They're not spic nings. We're talking spice And let me

(01:07:35):
tell Yourseff right now, me and Jeff, you're going to
make our own brand of stuff called spice Nings. That's
it that we just do do We just just born
in this moment. This was just no true, truer words
have never been spoken. That's right. That's right, spots spicings,
that's true and real. We're calling a trio a trio spicings,
trios spicings. This is it. Going down. We're talking seasonings

(01:08:02):
and spices and herbs, all the things that are nice
and dry, and that cabinet next to your stovetop, next
to your oven that hopefully after hearing this, wee you're
going to go home and move because they shouldn't be
that close because again, that's them make them not work
really well. We've talked all about shelf lives. We're talking
about some some weird ones that maybe need a little defining.
And on this break, friends, we're gonna get into using
and you know some of the stuff that we like,

(01:08:22):
Jeff or how we like to blend it and make
it ourselves, and you know, have fun with it because
it should be fun, shouldn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:27):
Yeah, we shift it should be very fun. You should
get creative. You should have a good time with it.
Like things like we were saying before, food is subjective.
So there's classic spices, learn off those, and then you
can add variations to it, like maybe you want something
a little spicy, Like maybe you love ranch flavor, right,
you want it to be a little spicy ranch. You
like spicy food, so you want to add a little

(01:08:49):
crush red pepper.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
To that ranch? Sure, get crazy with it. You know,
get wild with the cheese with go go nuts and
you know, and I think jeff you touched on something
in the first break of the show, which you can
go back and check out on the podcast if you want,
but I want to get on here now. Toasting spices,
whether it's toasting a little a little fennel seed, toasting
a little cuban seed, you know, toasting sesame seeds. I

(01:09:11):
think it adds a lot of flavor in Jeffrey, don't
you and you're doing tell us how you do it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:16):
Yeah, a dry pan, medium heat lit it get warm,
and then you could also toast time rosemary, some of
like the firmer herbs as well. You know, you can
crush those up, you toss them in the pan and
then I just you can take a wooden spoon or
you can just toss it back and forth with shaking
the pan and you just kind of like toast them
in the in the dry pan until they start getting fragrant.

(01:09:38):
You'll see them turn a little bit of color. You
can do this with sesame seeds and turn them like
a nice light tan. You get that golden brown.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
Absolutely, and it really really kind of brings out a
different I don't know level of that flavor. You know
it toasted sesame seed tastes way different than a regular
plain sesame seed. Same.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Yeah, toasted cuban seed, toasted coriander seeds, all these things.
I mean, if you want to be really like, done
it with onion powder and it really makes a difference.
It really changes the flavor of it as well. You
got to be quick with it, you know, in your
in your pan, you got to really make sure you
keep it moving because it will burn.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
But and there's a fine line between toasted and burned too.
You'll you'll see it right away. You gotta be careful
with it. And our good friend Chef Prosad, he talks
about all the time, any spices you do should always
be at minimum warmed in a pan. Yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:10:22):
You want to get the oils going, you want to
get the oils opened up in there. That's what's going
to bring out the smells. That's what you're going to
bring out all those flavors. Those all those flavors are
trapped in the oils which are trapped inside of the seed.
As it oxidizes and it gets harder, you know, it's
like it's it's.

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
How it stores it. That's why they're they're around, you know. Yeah,
I think it makes a big difference there, so so
toasting it can make a huge difference in it. So
I think too, if you want to start making your
own one of the things I think is a great
rule of thumb salt, because as we said, salt is
does not fall in a spice category. It's a seasoning

(01:10:57):
on its own, because salts can sometimes have additive to them.
But start with a salt, add a spice, and add herb,
and now you've made your own blend. Very very simple.
Take those three things, very very simple. Keep it easy.
I think that's a way to make one simple at home,
you know yourself. I think if you're gonna make something
with lemon, like for instance, we want to put lemons,

(01:11:18):
ask make our own lemon pepper or something simple like that.
It's important to also toast the lemon zest, which we're
just talking about, because it drives it out a little bit.
Because we don't, it's in a clump up and it
won't last very long. Yeah, that's absolutely right. That's absolutely
hydrate it or toast it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
Sure, you want to dry it out, you don't want
to add it to it wet or clump up in there.
Same thing when you do, and like you're going to
make a salt of any kind, do you want to
kind of like one of the things I love to
do is I'll take fresh basil and salt and I'll
put it into my queasin art or my robocou and
I'll pulse it a few.

Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
Times and get the wet basil oils and the juice
kind of like broken into that salt. And then I'll
put it in my dehydrator or I'll put my oven
on proof and I'll stretch it out in a pan
and I'll put it in there and then dry it
out until the basils dry in the salt. Oh yeah,
I mean that's perfect.

Speaker 3 (01:12:09):
Clump it back up, run it through a sieve, and
you have like a little bit of like greenish huge
salt that smells, you know, grade of basil. And it's
just a fun thing to use to cure fish or
add into a recipe.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
It's like an easy thing. It's funn Yeah. I love that.
I think that's a great way to do it, man.
And I think a couple of seasons you can start
making yourself that are really really easy to do as well.
You know, I make a delicious lapino salt, which is
one of my favorite things to do. And I'll actually
take a grater and I'll grate a hilapino into a
paper towel and then I can dry a little bit
and I'll toast it in the pan a little bit
and then mix it with salt. And then once you

(01:12:43):
do that, put if you have a spice grinder, right,
and this isn't some magical tool either, a spice grinder,
there are ten bucks on Amazon. You can do the
pestil and mortar as well, but that's you know, it's
basically a coffee grind, you know, coffee grinder or espresso grinder,
and you can use that and you grind that up
and it makes this beautiful, like green, slightly spicy salt
with those earthy notes. You know, that's going a little bit,

(01:13:05):
you know further, but you want to keep it simple, listen.
I make the easiest, simplest taco seasoning on the planet.
And you can use it for tacos, you can use
it for chili's. It's basic chili powder, cuman, oregano, garlic salt,
and it is the best blend to put on all
kinds of stuff. Jeffy, I think you make something similar,
don't you.

Speaker 3 (01:13:23):
Yeah, absolutely, it's the same exact thing I added Regano.
Sometimes I like, I'll toast a bunch of orange zest
and put that in a pan and added to it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
I just like that basic taco season like you just said.
It's like it's also you could add salt and the
brown shrider to that and rub it on a piece
of meat before you smoke it, and you won't get disappointed.
I want to talk about that and see what you think,
because I'm not sure how I feel about that, because
you know I always talk about You heard me say
on the show a million times finished with black pepper.

(01:13:55):
Don't cook a black pepper because it burns. It has
a very low smoke point. It burns very very quickly,
right yeah, unless you're looking for that flavor, of course,
which is a different situation, and I mean particularly when
it comes to open flames. Right, So, searing in a
pan is way less of a chance of burning as
much as it would be you know, over and open
flame on a grill or something. Mm hm. When using
a spice blend that you've made up, or for instance,

(01:14:17):
a seasoning that you've made and you put it on
a piece of meat and you cook that meat. It's
gonna burn, right, that's my question. Or does it not
burn because there's enough moisture and I don't know it's
it's small enough. It's been my dilemma over the past
kind of I'd say three or four years. I've been
really trying hard while cook something with it, or a
piece with it and a piece without it, and see
the difference and see if I can taste it by

(01:14:38):
seasoning with it afterwards versus cooking with it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
For well, I mean, I think again, I think it's
how you're cooking it and what you're doing with it.
I think if you're trying to get like that thick
crust on something and you're cooking it in a pan,
you could put black pepper and a bunch of salt
on it and see it in a pan and it's
not gonna burn. It's gonna get It's gonna ended up
in that my yard reaction and get that big thick

(01:15:02):
crust on the outside of the steak and it'll add
to that.

Speaker 1 (01:15:04):
Like bark of that steak. Well, you said something there too,
I just think is really important if you're gonna just
do something simple like that, you know, if you add
I mean I literally just a little tiny Let's say
you have three tablespoons of your other spices in there,
of your salt and your pepper, right, and then if
you add just two teaspoons of sugar to it and
mix it up so it's not even really noticeable. You're
doing it for the chemical part of it, where it
actually will harden and crystallize. That really really makes a

(01:15:27):
difference on your on your seasons that you're gonna you know, sea,
you know, see you in a pan.

Speaker 3 (01:15:31):
If you're gonna see in a pan, absolutely have to
get that like really thick, thick bark. That's it's absolutely
it's a trick of the trade for sure. I unless
it's a really really thick steak, which you don't need
it because you have to cook it for fourteen minutes
on each side anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
Right of course, if it's a Montana steak that you
were just saying, yeah, yeah, it's like like one of
those giant I just think of the big Montana from Arby's.
That was my jam. Do you have a big Montana? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:16:00):
Because there's a lot of beef out there. I think
that's why they say that, because a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
Of people in the big Montana that was a big sandwich.
I did. I did pass quite a bit of steer,
you know, in different areas.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
It was.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
It was wild because they're huge, they're like like past
the steer. Yes, I did. I steered around through. It's
just awful. But I also think that, uh, you know,
just making some seasons at home is really easy to do.
So play around with it. Man, Get some of those
fun spices. You know. A couple of great companies out

(01:16:31):
there that we like. I like Spiceology a lot. They're
more a West Coast company, but they have a lot
of really really delicious blends, a lot of fun spices
that you can get, I know, burl up and barrels
in East Coast company, right, I believe.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
So, Yeah, I use them a lot just because they
I tend to get their stuff relatively quickly.

Speaker 1 (01:16:47):
I need to order some stuff from them too, because
I think I want to start using them too. So
I like which some of the stuff that you had.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
Yeah, yeah, some of the some of their spices are
absolutely amazing, and they're being really responsible about it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:57):
They're getting really cool spices from all over the world.

Speaker 3 (01:17:01):
I think I think it's important just to like know
the people who kind of know what the company you're
buying your spices from, what their mission statement is, how
they're getting their spices, what they're doing.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:17:11):
I've been to farmers markets in like Vermont and met
people who are like buying whole spices and making their
own blends, and they were absolutely delicious, and they were
all about getting like the freshest spices they could to
do it. And so just look for people who are
committed to what they're doing if you're going to buy
store bought spices otherwise or star bought seasoning blends.

Speaker 1 (01:17:32):
Yeah, it just gets something that, you know, something that's reputable.

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:17:36):
I don't have a problem with mccormicks. I mean they've
been around for whatever. They're doing things right way. You know.

Speaker 3 (01:17:40):
Oh, I've been using a new company recently. It's called
a Spice Affair. I'm not sure where they're from. I
found them on like online, but they have some really
fun blends. They have this one like Ketchup spice that
I just can't get enough of. That just like it's
like sweet and salty, and it has like a dehydrated
tomato and pepper in it, and it's just just a
really fun.

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
Ice to put on potatoes. Nice.

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
Yeah, it's really it's really great on like fries and
stuff like that. You know, when I season my fries,
I'll season them with that when they come out of
the fry.

Speaker 1 (01:18:08):
I think that dehydrate tomatoes kind of an underrated spice
that you can find. Look around, you know some fun
stuff with that.

Speaker 3 (01:18:14):
Talk about a clumper though, that one is tough, like
you use it, you buy that. Oh yeah, it absorbs
stuff so fast. It's almost like using I mean tomatoes
a little thicken things. That's why tomato paste it's actually
like a thicken air in a sauce. Tomato powder will
absolutely thicken stuff up quick.

Speaker 1 (01:18:32):
Oh yeah, it does, it does. It works great. So
you know, play with some that stuff. Don't be afraid
to buy some of these. And you know, listen, there's
no right or wrong on how to use these things.
You can get some and just you know, make your
own spice, blends out of it, to your own seasonings,
make your own rubs out of it, all that sort
of stuff. And I encourage that like that's one of

(01:18:52):
things we've been harping on the we A Sudden the
show several times today is that you know, food is
you know, for the most part, subjective, like there's no
right or it's what works for you and what do
you like? Yeah, and if I agree with it, it's
very one of those things where it's just simple. You
didn't give me that, what I just do that in
there what I said, and if I agree with it,

(01:19:12):
that's what makes it right or wrong. And well I
missed it. Sorry, but uh so try some stuff, get
in there and try and don't you know, try something
the Dame brand. Touch some of these brands. And don't
be afraid of Amazon for spices either, because they go
through so much stuff. You're gonna get probably a pretty
good product in there, and mostly spices. Like we talked
before in the second break about shelf life, they all
have like you know, use by dates on the pay

(01:19:34):
attention to that stuff. It's important. Yeah. Oh go ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
Well I was just gonna say, you know, when we
when you mentioned tomato powder, something that came to mind
that I think that people, you know, if you have
a cheap dehydrator, something you can do with scraps of food.
Is you can dehydrate scraps of food until they're super
dry and go back to using that coffee grinder, and
you can polst those up, and you could have like
dehydrated skins of carrots, dehydrated tomatoes, dehydrated pieces of pepper,

(01:20:03):
and you can add all that kind of stuff to
different spices and different salts and come up with some
really cool flavors if you wanted to get creative and
do stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
It's a great way to use waste like that way.

Speaker 3 (01:20:13):
It's like, it's just a fun way to like kind
of just find new flavors to play around with.

Speaker 1 (01:20:18):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:20:19):
Just put in a low oven for a long time too. Yeah,
you don't even need a dehydrator exactly. If you just
want to put it on proof, like the lowest setting.
Your oven will go on and I would crack the
door a tiny bit. Some ovens will shut off if
you do. But you can sometimes put like a chopstick
or like a pencil or something just in the door
to hold it open, just a.

Speaker 1 (01:20:36):
Crack so some air will escape. Yeah, I think Jamie's
got a good point there. I think it's interesting and
a way to use like I said, use some of
the leftovers and some of the scratch. I think you
can do a lot with that, which is awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:20:47):
Oh yeah, because I mean how many times you throw
away the top of the tomato, Oh you totally and
like the pieces of pepper and you know, all this
kind of stuff, and they really have so much flavor
in them, especially when they're dehydrated and concentrated. You can
get a lot of really cool, you know, things to
come together for yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:21:05):
You know. I think too. I mentioned the company Spiceology
that I like that I've done a lot of stuff
with these guys, and they're not sponsors the show or anything,
but like they have a lot of these variety packs
that you can get from them that aren't very expensive
that you can do a lot of fun stuff with
and learn different flavors without having to break the bank
on and stuff. So I mean you find something that yeah,
you know has like a I got like a jerk

(01:21:26):
seasoning or blackening seasoning or any kind of that, just
start trying. I think the easiest way to try it,
to taste it for the first time is just put
it on a chicken breast and grill it, you know,
put it around a chicken breast and grill it and
just just that way you get the flavor and you
can taste it and see where it's at for yourself. Totally.
I love the Greek Freak. I love the Yeah, it's
a great season. That's a really really good one, you know.

(01:21:47):
And again that's a salt based seasoning as well, which
I think is important. I think having solved is very
very important something like that. And you know, I reached
out to people on social media and I said, what
is your you know, some of your favorite spices that
you like to use and things like that, and Chef
Robert Preto, Old Uncle Bob himself chimed in and said,
Spiceology's Greek Freak. It's one of his favorites. And I

(01:22:10):
couldn't agree more. It's such a useful spice and season.
It's got a little regino garlic, red chili flakes in there.
What a great season. Great for salad dressing, is great
for steak, great for chicken. It's a really really good one.
I couldn't agree more. Joffey, what do you like it on?

Speaker 3 (01:22:22):
I love it on chicken exactly. I make a garlic chicken.
It's like a like a Greek chicken. I add a
little lemon zest to it, like you said, yeah, and
that's just it just adds so much flavor to it
when you do that, right, Oh, excuse me, I don't
know what just happens, Yeah, which is so much flavor
out of it. And it's like you could add to
a little bit of yogurt and then rub it on

(01:22:42):
some chicken and it it just absorbs in there and
breaks it down and then really adheres to it well,
and it adds a great flavor.

Speaker 1 (01:22:49):
It's a it's just a fun, fun spice. It's delicious.
How about that? Yeah, try that one. It's definitely worth
on a tomato salad. Oh just like even like yeah,
especially this time of years, nice fresh tomatoes. Come on.
What are we talking about here? Right? Mm hmm. You know,
I want to see if I can find it here
to find outw much that Greek freak is right now,
because I know sometimes it's hard to get, but you know,
it's it's definitely one hundred percent worth looking up to

(01:23:13):
a Spicology's Greek freak. It's a great seasoning and your
spicology dot Com you know, they have a small container
right here. Here you go. You get a four ounce
container for fourteen ninety five. Yeah, it's great, which you know,
isn't that bad at all. And the big container's nineteen
ninety nine, which is the sixteen ounce. Yeah, so that's
what I would get because it's just once you start
using it, you'll use it and everything. It's like, it's great.

Speaker 3 (01:23:33):
A little sprinkling tomato sauce or a little sprinkle on here,
Oh it goes well with this. It's just it's a
really fun spice.

Speaker 1 (01:23:39):
Yeah, it goes, It goes a long way. So that's
a good one for sure. Definitely give it a try.
I think you'll like that one a lot. I couldn't
agree more. The pity in the hound says garlic, garlic, garlic, garlic,
which I think is you know, I couldn't agree more.
I think having garlic as a seasoning or a spice
is very very important. I think having fresh, having granulated,

(01:23:59):
having powder, just having all forms of garlic. Because I
used to say anything delicious starts with gunnies and garlic.
Always agree.

Speaker 3 (01:24:06):
I agree, I mean using garlic and you're gonna hate this,
but I like I like using a little dried mustard
and a lot of things too, like.

Speaker 1 (01:24:15):
Like we call it the OMG baby. Yeah, I don't
hate dry mustard. I think has a place. I don't
hate it.

Speaker 3 (01:24:22):
Yeah, unused mustard and garlic together it's like such a
such a a basis for so many different things like interest.

Speaker 1 (01:24:29):
I just know the more that you heat mustard, the
less flavor it gets.

Speaker 3 (01:24:32):
Oh yeah, I was thinking, like even in all the
dry situations, it's like, you know, every vinigrette has a
little must and garlic, you know, interesting every it's a multipier. Yeah,
it's like it's like so many yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:24:43):
But you'll also find a lot of barbecue guys who
will rub the meats with mustard versus a binder because
as it cooks, it just the flavor just doesn't really
do anything. It does nothing for flavor. It just works
as a binder. I agree over the long you know
the cooking process on there. Chef Dan a spice man
on on Instagram says cumin is a spice of love
to incorporate it a lot. He likes to incorporate a

(01:25:04):
lot because of its depth of flavor. I agree, cuman
is a fantastic spice to use. However, like we mentioned before,
it is very very potent and strong. You gotta be
careful with that one, Jeffy. You can overpower the story
dish very very quickly.

Speaker 3 (01:25:17):
Easily, easily, and it gets it gets like like if
you put too much human in something, it almost gets
like bitter and it over it. It just becomes all human.

Speaker 1 (01:25:32):
Yeah, and it it almost tastes like feet. Yeah. It
definitely has like a weird scent to it, right, It's
like not good. Kimberly twelve twenty says she's a fan
of red pepper flakes. She says she's got great red
pepper flakes and puts it in almost everything. Now. I mean,
I agree, red pepper flakes are delicious and you can
do a lot with it. I would be careful again

(01:25:54):
something like that too, because then it starts to be
the only flavor you start to taste in something but
red pepper flakes and everything from clan to chicken to steak.

Speaker 3 (01:26:02):
I don't think that's the right run there, Jeffy. Yeah, No,
I agree, red pepper flicks are a staple.

Speaker 1 (01:26:06):
Need to have them. Yeah, So don't be afraid of
get in there and give it a try. I think
it's my pizza. I have a slice of pizza. I
always pinch a red feber fix myself with what the
red pepper flakes? There? You may have eight eight eight
eight eight, that's five eights over there. Chind and and
said I'm a fan of black pepper. I said, yes,

(01:26:29):
I agree, black pepper definitely very important, but you know,
keep it away from the open plame and but yeah,
very very important. Yeah, black pepper's delicious. It's hard to
argue that one too. I mean, who's not going to
say black pepper is not important? You know?

Speaker 3 (01:26:41):
Yeah, I mean salt pepper, the ogs, I mean those
are the two that's the original seasoning.

Speaker 1 (01:26:45):
Yeah, I just think, yeah, very very sumple one got
to keep it in there. Who else do we have here?
We have Melissa? Wait, ma hand is that her? Melissa underscore?
Catherine underscore. So we got two underscores there in your
name right. As a fan of chili powders likes to
use chili powder and everything from soup to chicken to steak,

(01:27:06):
chili powder is a winner. I mean, I said before
in my some of my top three, chili powder has
to be in there because you're gonna use it every time. Yeah.
I got so many more in here, but I'll give
you one more that I can come up with I
can find here. Let's see, how about Joan Corretta. Okay,
all lower all lower case letters there. Joan's a big

(01:27:27):
fan of salt, and I agree. We started this whole
show talking about salt being one of the most important things,
so you got to keep it in there. I just
all the time. We got to move here. Friends. We
appreciate you guys hanging out with us here on Plumb
Love Foods. We'll see you guys next Saturday right here
on w I c C. Have a great day, friends,
Just on the mic, Making Hotstown subberiously was started at

(01:28:01):
night