• Just because spices have go-to dishes doesn’t mean you can’t experiment with them in endless ways. 
• Over the past few decades, more and more chefs have tested out unique ways to pair their favorite spices with unusual, unexpected dishes.
• From cumin and chocolate to star anise and bolognese, we have a few recipes that will turn your thinking about certain spices upside down. 

Rosemary and potatoes. Cinnamon and apples. Some tried-and-true pairings you never have to think twice about. But as chefs push the boundaries of flavor, we’re starting to see spice and ingredient combinations that are delicious but definitely worth a double-take. 

Let’s take a look at a few spice pairings that may inspire you to break your usual cooking habits and try something new. 

Cumin and Chocolate

Spicy chocolate is nothing new. In just about any World Market-like store, you can find spicy Mexican chocolate bars or hot artisan truffles. But you don’t see chocolate with cumin every day. 

Chef Paul Foster takes a unique approach with his chocolate cumin fudge recipe, using whole cumin seeds in a rich and creamy dark chocolate mixture. He adds a small amount of cumin just as the chocolate mixture comes off the heat. It’s conservative, so it doesn’t shock the palate. If you’re thinking of trying it, there’s no need to empty your spice jar.   

The flavor is sweet and earthy, with a kick. Cumin is used in all kinds of savory cooking. It’s just as typical in a beef stir-fry as it is on a fajita plate, which is why finding it in a fudge recipe is so fun. 

Curious, but don’t want to commit to a Sunday afternoon of baking? Throw a pinch of ground cumin in a spoonful of warm chocolate sauce and see how it hits. 

Coriander and Blueberry Jam in Buttercream

Cinnamon doesn’t have to be the star spice in your next blueberry-and-buttercream cake. 

Pastry Chef Sasha Piligian of Ena Bakery shared a divine lemon chiffon cake recipe that pairs coriander-spiced blueberry jam with Swiss meringue buttercream. The coriander adds a fresh, almost zesty note you wouldn’t typically get from blueberry frosting alone. 

This recipe calls for coriander seeds, not the fresh leaves (cilantro) you’d throw over a plate of carne asada tacos. Sasha toasts the seeds, grinds them, then cooks them in with the blueberries. It has an earthy, lemony flavor that makes an intriguing addition to a fruity dessert.

The best part is, once you make the jam, you can try it on other things too. Spread it over your toast in the morning or drizzle it over some plain Greek yogurt. The fewer ingredients in the way, the clearer you’ll see how the coriander contributes. 

Star Anise on Pasta Night

Your typical pasta sauce probably doesn’t call for star anise, especially bolognese. And classic Italian pasta sauces have a way of staying, well, classic. It might be why you don’t often hear about some new Italian fusion place opening on the other side of town. 

But Helen’s Bolognese Sichuan-Sicilian fusion is worth a try, adapting a noodle sauce from Carolyn Phillip’s cookbook All Under Heaven. 

The result is what you’d expect from a bolognese: richly spiced meat over pappardelle. However, Helen adds star anise into the saucepan at the very beginning, cooking it with oil and vegetables to give them a sweet, licorice-like aroma. To take the recipe even further, she also adds doubanjiang, a fermented chile bean paste typically found in Asian noodle dishes. 

Between the savory intensity and aromatic spices, a lot happens before the pasta hits the pot. 

Sichuan Peppercorn With Pineapple and Ice Cream

If you’ve been looking for a way to electrify your ice cream, this is it. 

Chef Victor Liong of Lee Ho Fook did the unthinkable in his decade-old recipe on Gourmet Traveller, pairing a sweet and tropical caramelized pineapple with green Sichuan peppercorn ice cream.

Sichuan peppercorns are a multi-layered spice with Chinese and Himalayan roots. Unlike the burn you’d get from a chile, they deliver a tingling, almost numbing sensation. Some say it’s similar to Pop Rocks, which, with ice cream, sweet pineapple, and caramel, makes for an unusual twist. 

Liong roasts his peppercorns before infusing them into the cream. Before churning, he strains them out, removing the grit and texture so each spoonful delivers the intoxicating flavors and aromas of this earthy, edgy spice. 

Experiment With Some Unusual Pairings of Your Own

Today is your day to be daring in the kitchen. Even with staple herbs and seasonings, you can find a recipe that tingles your taste buds in a way you never thought possible. Try the dishes above or explore some additional recipes to venture into new culinary territory.

The post The New Spice Pairings: What Chefs Are Putting Together That We Didn’t See Coming appeared first on Food Richness.