A great ribeye steak or a fillet of fresh fish needs nothing more than a little salt and perhaps some ground pepper. But when used judiciously, herbs and spices can enhance, not mask, the taste of the ingredient you are seasoning.
Spices are made from dried seeds, berries, fruits, bark, and roots. They are usually sold as seeds, granules, or powders. Seeds usually need to be cracked or crushed to release their goodness.
Most culinary herbs are green leaves and stems. The taste of fresh herbs is significantly different from that of their dried counterparts. Fresh herbs are about 80 percent water, so the flavor of most dried herbs is more concentrated than fresh. Some herbs change more than others when dried. Dried rosemary is a lot like fresh rosemary, but dried dill bears no resemblance to fresh. My rule of thumb is 2 parts fresh herbs = 1 part dried (approximately). Some say 3 to 1. It depends heavily on how fine the herbs have been crushed and how fresh they are. Swapping fresh for dried can have a major impact on the recipe. Try to use what the recipe calls for, at least the first time you make it.
When herbs like oregano and basil are dried, they are usually crushed, which allows fragrance and flavor to oxidize and flee. After a year, they can lose most of their oomph. Other herbs, like rosemary and bay leaf, are usually not crushed when dried, and thus retain more of their volatile oils (the things that give them scent and flavor).
Of course you can crush or powder them if you wish. I use powdered bay leaves in some of my rubs because they pack a bigger wallop than crushed. It’s hard to find powdered bay leaf in stores, so I crush whole leaves in my hands and then take them for a spin in my coffee grinder or blender.
The flavors in herbs and spices are generally locked in and need to be crushed, dissolved, and heated to be at their best. Sometimes they are dissolved in our saliva, but during cooking, heat, moisture, and fats from the food help a rub explode into a flavorful coating.
It is common to start cooking a sauce by warming oil in a pan, adding onions and stirring until they wilt, then adding garlic and dried herbs and cooking for about a minute to extract their oils, a process called blooming. There is another benefit to this process: Testing has found that many raw spices and herbs contain pathogens, especially salmonella, because they grow outdoors, where they are exposed to birds, rodents, flies, and other critters. Cooking, even for a minute, can be enough to destroy bacteria.
Rubs do not penetrate more than ⅛ inch.
Dried spices and herbs are often added at the beginning of cooking so they can absorb water and give up flavor, while fresh spices and herbs are usually added a minute or two before serving, to preserve their freshness. Chopping fresh herbs helps them release their flavors more easily.
For black pepper, it is always better to grind your own with a pepper mill as you need it. If you use ground pepper on steaks or other things you are grilling hot, grind your pepper and sift it through a mesh strainer. Save the powder for something else, like your homemade barbecue sauce, and use the big chunks on the steak. Sprinkle them on and press them in with your hands.
When a recipe calls for a particular herb or spice, you really should try to get it. But in a pinch, here are some good substitutions.
Thyme Oregano Savory
Mint Basil Tarragon Margoram Rosemary Sage
Cilantro Parsley Chervil
Chives Green Onion Tops Onion Leek Shallots
Allspice Cinnamon Cassia Nutmeg Mace Cloves
Anise Fennel Seed Ginger Powder
Chili Powder Ancho Powder Chipotle Powder
Hot or Smoked Paprika Mustard Powder
Every good barbecue cook should have signature house rubs to brag on. Just steal my recipes. Keep in mind that a rub tastes very different after cooking. The juices of the meat mix with the herbs and spices, and they undergo chemical reactions catalyzed by the heat.
I keep jars of all of these rub recipes on hand at all times. You don’t want to have to scramble and make a batch every time you need it. Store rubs in tightly sealed bottles in a dark place. They will slowly decline in quality but should be fine for up to a year. If a rub clumps after being stored for a while, chop it up, or spread it on a baking sheet and put it in a 225°F oven (no hotter, or it might burn) for 15 minutes to drive off moisture. Dry some rice in the oven or in a pan and add it to the jar to absorb moisture, too.
Remember, rubs are a surface treatment. They do not penetrate more than ⅛ inch. To use a rub, lightly coat the food with water to help the rub stick (I just wet my hands and pat the food’s surface) and then sprinkle liberally with the rub—even if you are a conservative—not so much that you completely coat the meat. Then rub it in. Work it into the cracks and pores. And you don’t have to let it sit overnight. It just won’t go very far. You can cook soon after applying it.
Salts, rubs, and sauces are like oil, antifreeze, and gas. They all go into the engine, but don’t mix them!
A good rub is like a good orchestra; it has a range of instruments to play all the notes in harmony. They are:
Sugar. Sweetness is a flavor enhancer, helps browning, and is essential for crust formation. You only need a little to have a big impact.
Savory. Savory flavors come from amino acids called glutamates, green herbs, some spices, garlic, and other flavorings. They add richness, depth, and complexity.
Spicy. Hot chile pepper sensations, often called spicy flavors, are often included in rubs because they add excitement. Black pepper is another common source of spicy, as are ginger, horseradish, and mustard powder. Go easy.
Salt penetrates deep into the center of the meat, so the amount you apply should depend on the weight of the meat. Spices and herbs are large molecules and sit on the surface, so they should be added in proportion to the surface area.
You need more salt on rib roast than a ribeye steak, and more on a ribeye steak than on the thinner skirt steak. But the quantity of spices and herbs is about the same per square inch. Applying the salt, spices, herbs, and sauce separately is like controlling the gas pedal, brake, and clutch. Work them in harmony, but separately. There are other good reasons to keep salt out of your rubs:
1. You do not need any salt at all on cured meats like ham, bacon, or corned beef, but you might want a rub.
2. Nowadays almost all turkeys and many other meats are injected with a salt solution at the processor. If the bird has been salted at the plant, you don’t want salt in your rub.
3. Some people are on salt-restricted diets.
4. Leaving salt out of the mix also gives you room to add a finishing salt just before serving. A sprinkle of large-grain salt on a steak as soon as it comes off the grill gives it real pop. If you plan on using a finishing salt, you can cut back on the salt before cooking without reducing the herbs and spices.
Most spices and herbs dissolve better in water than in oil. You can put a rub right on bare meat, or you can help it stick by moistening the meat with a little water, a slathering of mustard or ketchup, or some cooking oil.
My experience is that they make little difference in the final outcome. So here’s my typical routine: I dry brine well in advance, then I wet the surface lightly with water and apply the rub perhaps 30 minutes before cooking. Finally, just before cooking, I add a light coating of oil to help prevent the meat from sticking to the grill.