March Madness: Brackets and Seeds
With March Madness upon us, photocopiers in offices across America are being used to record NCAA basketball picks—for entertainment purposes only, of course. Around the water cooler (I prefer a bubbler, but that’s another story) there’s lots of talk about brackets and seeds. With the weather in suburban Boston warming up, I’m looking at a different kind of March madness, also with brackets and seeds.
My kitchen’s barbecue spice shelf only has two brackets, but there are plenty of seeds. You’ll never find any ground cumin or coriander on my barbecue spice shelf. But I do have jars of whole cumin seeds, coriander seeds, caraway seeds, celery seeds, fennel seeds and mustard seeds. Don’t bother trying to find any ground black pepper either, because it’s not there. But you will find plenty of black peppercorns, pink peppercorns and Sichuan peppercorns. I’ve got whole allspice berries too. Never ground.
Why whole seeds? Just like coffee beans, seeds retain their flavor much longer on the shelf in their whole form. And just like coffee beans, they supply more flavor intensity if ground right before using, even if fresh. Although it’s become over-dramatized at some restaurants, there’s a reason why waiters wield huge pepper mills and ask if you want freshly ground pepper on your salad or meat. Freshly ground is a quantum leap in flavor from pepper that may have been ground a year ago and lost its mojo months ago.
Sure, it’s very tempting to go to your local CVS and buy several of their 99-cent jars of ground spices, but if there’s no flavor in that jar, where’s the value? If you’re going to invest as much as 18 hours buying, preparing and smoking your meat, why not invest another dollar or so in a spice upgrade?
After investigating specialty spice shops, you might find—as I did—that there are some real bargains there. Shops like Christina’s (Cambridge MA) and Kalustyan’s (NYC) also let you add some excitement to your rubs with several varieties of fennel and dozens of different peppercorns, plus the various paprika permutations among sweet, hot, smoked, Spanish and Hungarian. Even for the most exotic items, you’ll find that whole is less expensive than ground.
Whole seeds pack more flavor than ground, but toasted whole seeds have yet another dimension of flavor. Throw some whole seeds into a dry frying pan over medium heat for a just a few minutes. Allow them to smoke, then stir and remove after they get some color but before they have a chance to burn. You’ll wind up with some serious flavor. The toasting process awakens and releases the oils within the seeds, adding a pleasingly burnt, nutty aspect and intensifying the essence of the seed. It’s a lot like roasting peanuts or coffee beans.
I like to grind the seeds for my rubs in an inexpensive coffee grinder. Unless you enjoy really unusual coffee or heated arguments with your loved one, it’s a good idea to use a different grinder from the one you use for your morning brew. Try experimenting with different textures, varying between fine powders and bumpy mixes. Sometimes after grinding, I’ll throw some whole seeds into my rub.
Using quality ingredients in a rub can take a little extra time and money, but I think the small investment has a huge payback in flavor. How many times have you heard Emeril tell you to throw away those months-old jars of spices in your cabinet? He’s right.
