As you all know my brother and Mom opened a spice shop in Oklahoma City last September. Since the shop is in OKC I don't get to stop buy and get new spices as much as I would like, but do place phone orders quite frequently. We are enjoying our new spices and can't wait for grilling season to begin so we can try out all our new rubs. Mom and Abbey have both given their spice reviews this week so I thought I would jump in on the fun. They are both much better cooks than I am so check out their reviews as well for great spice info. Here is a link to mom's and here is a link to Abbey's reviews.This is a picture of our spices on the spice rack that Zach built for us. I know the question on everyone's mind, how did I organize them? The answer is a shocking, they aren't organized at all, the short ones are all mixed in with the tall ones and everything. It actually never crossed my mind until my mom and sister called me for organizational ideas for Abbey's spice rack, knowing that I am OCD and sure that I would have a system of some sort. What can I say and I am growing and letting things like this go. See yesterday's post of me not stressing out about things not being organized. These are mostly our rubs/blends with the other herbs and spices in the spice cabinet.
These are some of the current favorites in our house.
For Chicken my favorite is a California Citrus Rub This is a spice that I first got while visiting Able in Colorado, years ago. He took me to the Savory Spice store in Boulder on that trip and I have been using this spice ever since. It has a great citrus flavor, but also has red pepper flakes in it which gives it a little unexpected heat that I enjoy. It is also a salt free blend if you are looking for a good mix with less salt. This is this is great in a marinade of olive oil and lemon juice, then grilled to perfection.
Ingredients: Black pepper, lemon peel, orange peel, garlic, white sugar, crushed red pepper, and parsley.
My most used spice, surprisingly, has been Mole Verde Spice. I use it to make chicken taquitos (recipe for which can be found here on my sister's blog), on quesadillas, and on black beans. Zane loves black beans for lunch, so to give them a little flavor I sprinkle Mole Verde, salt, pepper, and a little cumin on them, giving them just a little zing. I got the 1oz bottle initially and have refilled it a couple times already.
Ingredients: Pumpkin seed, green chiles, sesame seeds, masa harina, salt, cilantro, epazote, garlic, onion, parsley, cumin, pepper, cloves.
We recently bought half a pig so we have a lot of unseasoned sausage. I like this much better than store bought since we can do our own seasoning. You can buy unseasoned ground pork and do this as well. It really is much tastier than what comes prepackaged. We have two different sausage blends, but our favorite is the Frying Pan Pork Sausage Spice. This makes the sausage taste like you think breakfast sausage should taste like, but to the extreme. The other blend, South Fork Italian Sausage Spice is also good, but obviously makes an Italian sausage flavor. Frying Pan Pork Sausage Spice is a must have if you are seasoning your own sausage, which I highly recommend.
Ingredients: Salt, honey powder, pepper, sage, onion, garlic, rosemary, ginger, thyme, parsley, majoram, red pepper, and coriander.
We also happen to have half a cow in our freezer so there are lots of hamburgers being fried at our house. The Great Plains Bison Beef Rub has been a game changer for our hamburgers. Zach has always played around with different ways to season our hamburgers and I never knew how delicious a hamburger could be until we found this spice blend. It brings out all the wonderful flavors of our grass fed beef. We will never go back to generic steak/hamburger blends we had before.
Ingredients: Sea salt, coffee, black pepper, garlic, onion, coriander, fennel, sugar, rosemary, savory, and bell pepper granules.
Zach also smokes/grills a lot of pork and pork steaks. Here are his suggestions for grilling and smoking pork. We do have a lot of blends that we haven't gotten to try yet, since we bought most of our spices late in the grilling season last year. So far these are his favorites: Platte River Rib Rub, this was another spice that I bought while in Denver and has been a go to ever since. Zach says, "this is great for a general pork seasoning, grilling or smoking, with a less sweet flavor." His other favorite is Pearl St. Plank Rub which is his favorite for smoking, because "it has a little bit of sweetness, it carmalizes well, and has a bit of heat in the back."
Ingredients in Platte River Rub: Spanish paprika, salt, brown sugar, black pepper, medium chilli powder, roasted garlic, toasted onion, nutmeg, and hickory smoke flavoring.
Ingredients in Pearl St. Plank Rub: Maple sugar, smoked paprika, salt, chiles, garlic, and yellow mustard powder.
Lastly my other most used spice, other than the everyday things like garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, curry ect., is the Cantanzaro Herbs. This has replaced my Italian Herbs and Spices mixture from my previous spice shop (which shall remain nameless). To be fair when I compared the ingredients they are virtually the same, but how much more fun does Cantanzaro Herbs sounds? I put this in my store bought spaghetti sauces or any type of Italian food I might be making. It adds a great flavor to everything.
Ingredients: Garlic, lemon peel, marjoram, basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano.
Oh I almost forgot, I love the Tomato Powder as well. My favorite part about it is that I can make a small quantity of a tomato paste without having to buy a can of tomato paste, use a tablespoon, then waste the rest. I also put this in red sauces or anything with a tomato base, giving it a much richer taste.
As I said earlier I don't live by the shop so I make all my orders over the phone, paying with a credit card. They ship the spices to me directly and I usually get them in a couple days. This is how it works for everyone, not just because I'm related to the owners. I often check out the website to see what other blends I might want to try, but then call my order in to my personal spice man. Here is the shops contact information if you are interested in trying some new spices or blends. Baseball season starts Monday so I'm sure we will be doing lots of grilling, trying out some of our new blends soon. I will let you know if we find a new favorite.
Contact information:Phone: 405-525-9119 (Yes, we do take phone orders and will ship.)email/facebook okc@savoryspiceshop.comTwitter: @savoryspiceshopokc4300 N. Western Ave., OKC, 73118Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6 Sun. Noon-5
Ingredients: Sea salt, coffee, black pepper, garlic, onion, coriander, fennel, sugar, rosemary, savory, and bell pepper granules.
Zach also smokes/grills a lot of pork and pork steaks. Here are his suggestions for grilling and smoking pork. We do have a lot of blends that we haven't gotten to try yet, since we bought most of our spices late in the grilling season last year. So far these are his favorites: Platte River Rib Rub, this was another spice that I bought while in Denver and has been a go to ever since. Zach says, "this is great for a general pork seasoning, grilling or smoking, with a less sweet flavor." His other favorite is Pearl St. Plank Rub which is his favorite for smoking, because "it has a little bit of sweetness, it carmalizes well, and has a bit of heat in the back."
Ingredients in Platte River Rub: Spanish paprika, salt, brown sugar, black pepper, medium chilli powder, roasted garlic, toasted onion, nutmeg, and hickory smoke flavoring.
Ingredients in Pearl St. Plank Rub: Maple sugar, smoked paprika, salt, chiles, garlic, and yellow mustard powder.
Lastly my other most used spice, other than the everyday things like garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, curry ect., is the Cantanzaro Herbs. This has replaced my Italian Herbs and Spices mixture from my previous spice shop (which shall remain nameless). To be fair when I compared the ingredients they are virtually the same, but how much more fun does Cantanzaro Herbs sounds? I put this in my store bought spaghetti sauces or any type of Italian food I might be making. It adds a great flavor to everything.
Ingredients: Garlic, lemon peel, marjoram, basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano.
Oh I almost forgot, I love the Tomato Powder as well. My favorite part about it is that I can make a small quantity of a tomato paste without having to buy a can of tomato paste, use a tablespoon, then waste the rest. I also put this in red sauces or anything with a tomato base, giving it a much richer taste.As I said earlier I don't live by the shop so I make all my orders over the phone, paying with a credit card. They ship the spices to me directly and I usually get them in a couple days. This is how it works for everyone, not just because I'm related to the owners. I often check out the website to see what other blends I might want to try, but then call my order in to my personal spice man. Here is the shops contact information if you are interested in trying some new spices or blends. Baseball season starts Monday so I'm sure we will be doing lots of grilling, trying out some of our new blends soon. I will let you know if we find a new favorite.
Contact information:Phone: 405-525-9119 (Yes, we do take phone orders and will ship.)email/facebook okc@savoryspiceshop.comTwitter: @savoryspiceshopokc4300 N. Western Ave., OKC, 73118Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6 Sun. Noon-5
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