Watching professional chefs on TV channels every day, we get the impression that they use strange combinations of spices or add too many. We use very little of them ourselves, not wanting to experiment with them too much. But do we use basic spices like salt and pepper in the right way?

Find out in our text how the “old” and “new” spices are best combined and what mistakes we most often make when cooking.

How to use salt properly

The basic spices are sugar, pepper and salt, but we will also find it in more modestly equipped kitchens. Salt makes meat juicier and vegetables tastier when used in the right way. If you are looking for something, it is important that the water is very salty – a full spoonful of salt goes to approximately 4 liters of water. A good part of the salt will evaporate from the water during cooking, so you don’t have to worry about whether the food will be too salty.

If you salt a dish, add far less salt, try what you have prepared and add slowly. If you have oversalted food and there is a simple solution – add more other ingredients such as more water when it comes to soup and broth or more butter and flour when it comes to sauce.

How to use pepper properly

Pepper was once considered black gold. At a time when money did not exist, pepper was used to pay for goods, and only rich Europeans could afford it in the early Middle Ages.

Black pepper is most often used as a spice in soups, soups and salads. There is no need to add it always when salt. Black pepper is a great spice because it enhances the taste of food, stimulates the work of the salivary glands and thus increases the ability to taste food.

Pepper is very hard, but it is easy to grind. When preparing cooked dishes, add it just before the end of cooking.

How long do spices last for you?

You put a lot of spices, but you still don’t feel their taste? Smell them before use and if the smell is not as intense as it should be, it’s time to get new ones. The longer the spice stays, the weaker the taste will give the dish.

It is important to heat-treat spices

Fry the spices with a little oil or butter in a pan and then add the other ingredients. It is very important to heat them even when you sprinkle them over dishes like pasta.

Additional tips for proper use of spices

Add spices at the very beginning of cooking, because that will have the greatest effect.

Ground paprika should not be added immediately, because it quickly loses its taste, so add it several times.

Towards the end of cooking, green spices such as parsley, mint, basil, thyme and the like are added; they need some time to warm up.

In cold dishes such as salad dressings, it would be good to add spices a few hours before serving in order to combine the flavors as well as possible.

When you fry the garlic in warm (not hot) olive oil, the smell is softened. For a more intense smell and taste, add garlic at the end of cooking.

Basil is a perfect combination with all those dishes based on tomatoes, and goes great with blue eggplant, zucchini or salty dishes with pumpkin.

Chili is, as we already know, hot, so it is added in small quantities, most often in sauces, sauces and meat dishes.

Be bold and experiment with spices exactly according to the recipes you want to try. Or you can hire one of our four personal chefs to do it for you ☺

After this text, you may find the Spice Road interesting, which is just one in a series of different and equally excellent menus that we offer.

There are many reasons to invite a personal chef to your home. Whether you are preparing a surprise for a loved one, a bachelorette party, a birthday, a business dinner, personal chefs will make you feel like you are in an elite restaurant.

Call us on +381 66 61 000 16 or write to us at info@licnikuvar.rs, we will be happy to answer all your questions ☺