Spices!
A lot of people have been asking me lately, Mike, how do you feel about spices? The answer is, I don’t agree with them. People shouldn’t use spices in cooking, it’s cheating! Too often I see chefs (in the middle of cooking!!) taste a dish and say, “oops! Needs more lemon saffron!” and just sprinkle it on. Then they serve the meal like they had done it all on purpose! HOW DARE THEY! If your dish needs something added, you blew it!! Throw it out and start again. That’s called cooking! Which is why when I go into a restaurant I often ask the waitress to tell the chef to cook my meal with no spices.
Honestly, anyone can make ANY meal taste amazing if they’re was allowed to rub salt on it, roll it in tarragon, soak it in a bay leaf marinade and just keep tasting it until it’s delicious! Just like a baseball player can hit a ton of home runs if they’re all juiced up on steroids. But that’s illegal!!! And steroids are exactly the same as salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, or any other food-fraud lie!
And that’s my .02 cents.
Just to clarify, a spice is anything that can be shaken out a jar with holes on top (yes, that includes ketchup!) A helpful rule of thumb: “If Simon & Garfunkle sing about in in Scarborough Fair, it’s cheating!!”
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