Spices

>>7922653
>What do you always have on hand?

Tellicherry black pepper, white pepper, cumin, coriander seed, dill seed, mace, nutmeg, Chinese 5-spice, Japanese Shichimi, wasabi powder, cinnamon, star anise, allspice, various varieties of dried chili peppers, turmeric root, roasted garlic powder, fresh garlic, saffron, fennel seed, mustard seed (brown and yellow), curry powder (various types), garam masla, freeze-dried chives, spray-dried tomato powder, cloves, mexican oregano, sweet Hungarian paprika, hot Spanish paprika, green cardamom, amchoor. there's probably a few others that I'm forgetting. Oh, and I have dried rosemary, sage, and thyme on hand as a backup, but I nearly always use those fresh.

>What do you use most often?
Black pepper.

>What weird spice do you use in that average recipe?
Nothing really. My spice usage is pretty traditional, I tend to follow traditional recipes for the most part. Oh, I wouldn't call it a "spice" per se, but I do use Chinese fermented chili bean paste (to ban jiang) in many non-chinese dishes.

>>7922653
>What weird spice do you use in that average recipe?
Well, they're not that weird in certain parts of the world, but for myself (a white, protestant-raised american {not religious myself, just noting my background}) I guess the two most unusual are lemon omani and sumac. I have some stranger spices, but those are the "weird" ones I use on a regular basis.

As far as what I have on hand, there's too much to list. I make my own spice blends, spice rubs, and my own curry powders and curry pastes, so I always have many, many spices on hand.

As far as what I use most often, well, the answer to that seems fairly logical. Obviously, I use peppercorns every day (mostly black, but also white and green, and mixed). Lately I've been using a ton of smoked paprika, but that's because I've been doing a lot of smoking and grilling since it's summer. I've also been using a lot of ground aji amarillo lately.

Salt.
Salt.
Himalayan salt.

>>7922653
>semen
>semen
>bay leaf

>What do you always have on hand?

Hungarian paprika
Garlic powder
Roasted garlic powder
Black pepper
White pepper
Onion powder

Lots more but I always have those.

>What do you use most often?
See above

>What weird spice do you use in that average recipe?
Cardamom peach jam

>>7922690
fuck off kenji

I use enormous quantities of fresh garlic slices. Thyme, black peppercorns, fresh parsley.

Apple cider vinegar and red wine aren't exactly spices, but they add something.

I'm still trying to get to grips with ginger, but it's difficult to prepare and cook. The taste is good, but the wood-pulp texture makes it hard to eat. Do you guys have any advice on how to handle it?

>>7922864
>White pepper
I don't use this for a damn thing. Just grinders with black peppercorns are good enough for all pepper needs. Have you had that since 1978 or something? Do you use it in anything but egg drop soup?

OP, I think my weirdest spice in this day and age might be my sweet marjoram. It was in a lot of recipes back from the pre50s in cookbooks but kind of became passe if you don't garden yourself. I find it essential to some stews I make...kind of makes beef or pork taste good the way that bay leaves do, similar but different from oregano. I use it in greek, isreali, hungarian, italian applications, usually meat. It's awesome in paprikash. It and my paprika, are key ingredients when I make my liptauer cheese spread occasionally with a bunch of leftover cheese. So good on pumpernickel or good german bread.

My weirdest spice blend might be my za atar blend, which is a sesame and herb blend that has a bright citrus and green flavor, which is ADDICTIVE. Prolly $3 for a pound at a good middle eastern grocery. I got used to it when I lived in northern virginia. A few of the groceries carried a yummy local bakery flatbread in the bread aisle with the blend and olive oil already combined, all in a plastic bag, 3 of them. A paste of oil + spice and sesame herbs on the bread (kind of like you see in ready to cook garlic bread at the deli). You could broil it to crisp it up, or lay it on the grill to get toasted. OMG it was this chewy bread, and great flavor. I sought it out when I moved away, and like other people do olive oil and herb dips with french bread in restaurants, I go through some zaatar bread phases of my life. It has a sumac spice in it that is unique. Shishkebobs plus grilled zaatar bread is heaven!

>>7922937
You could make ginger vinegar and add that to your food.

>>7922766
I'm currently growing a few Aji Amarillo pepper plants. Delicious!

>>7922937
>I'm still trying to get to grips with ginger, but it's difficult to prepare and cook. The taste is good, but the wood-pulp texture makes it hard to eat. Do you guys have any advice on how to handle it?
Slice off hard edges, peel ginger root casing off with the curve of a spoon. Honestly, I only peel them if they're dirty.
Use a microplane or buy a ginger grater, which is like a molcajete kind of sharp grider surface ceramic bowl. A food processor doesn't do a good job, pulpy like you said. But, if you slice it into medallions you are completely across the grain. From there, you can stack these discs, slice again into non-fibrous little sticks for some recipes or mince as you wish.

>>7922947
I use white pepper with chicken and on veggies. It's less sharp and quite floral.

>>7922966
>It's less sharp and quite floral.
It tends to be hotter too.

>>7922937
The tastiest, most tender part is right by the skin so use a paring knife to scrape it off and don't remove any excess whatsoever.

>>7922653
>What do you always have on hand?
Whatever spices my drunk ass accumulates over time.

>What do you use most often?
>What weird spice do you use in that average recipe?

I put ground cloves into every single thing I make. It started off as a joke when I put some on burgers to be a dick to my brothers, then I grew to love the taste and smell of clove.