A skilled chef can make a tasty dish without using spices

Some ingredients are tasty on their own.
An unskilled chef can make a tasty dish without using spices.
A skilled chef can use spices to make bland or boring ingredients tasty.

Did you just now write all that shit?
>you in the circle
Or is it just that you got something to think about huh? Try to make a sauce without salt and pepper. It's doable

you ever forgot to add salt to something? it will be basically tasteless, unless you draw it out from salt-rich ingredients, which kinda kills the purpose of not using salt

>it will be basically tasteless, unless you draw it out from salt-rich ingredients

But that's the whole point of this thread. It won't be tasteless if you choose the right cooking technique.

For example, if you used any kind of method with relatively high heat (pan-frying, sauteeing, grilling/broiling, or baking at a high temperature) then you would brown the food. Browning creates the malliard reaction and also caramelizes sugars in the food. That creates a lot of flavor. If you were to grill the food over wood/charcoal then you'd get the added smoky flavor.

>> which kinda kills the purpose of not using salt
Yet that's completely irrelevant in the context of this discussion.

GTFO OP. I'm not even a skilled chef, and I can make chicken taste amazing only using:

>salt
>pepper
>garlic
>paprika
>cumin
>coriander
>cilantro
>cayenne

So fuck your "hurr durr if u can't mak fud without spice ur not a chef"

First I want to know why he would want to?

I'm not a good cook at all, but even I can imagine it can't be hard making a decent sauce using a mix of tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil and some salt. Perhaps include some onions and garlic and add some grated cheese on top to make it look nice.

>Depends entirely on what part of the world you're talking about.
>muh eurocentrism
No, classical cooking literally refers to Britush-French-Italian, but mainly French, cooking. That is what it means to be a classically trained chef. And most of those techniques don't involve spices.

No salt allowed

Basil and salt are both spices, and if the onions and garlic were granulated, technically they would be too.

>classical cooking literally refers to Britush-French-Italian, but mainly French, cooking

It does?

>>And most of those techniques don't involve spices.
You're telling me that French cooking doesn't involve spices? What the fuck is a bouquet garni then? Quatre épices? Sachet d'epices?

>You're telling me that French cooking doesn't involve spices? What the fuck is a bouquet garni then? Quatre épices? Sachet d'epices?
There are no actual spices in any of those.

I'd call (fresh) basil a herb (bordering on being a vegetable), but alright, these rules should really be better defined. I'd also call salt a mineral f.e.

>There are no actual spices in any of those.

1) I should have known I was talking to a pedantic sperghead.

2) What do you think the word "espices" means in French?

3) Do you think the French never used black pepper? Capers? Caraway? Celery seeds? Cinnamon? Go read a fucking cookbook.

Step one: make stock

That's a dumb as fuck statement. Since when is not using spices a test for a skilled chef. Neck yourself fag.

1.) I've met country music legend Marty Stuart like five times, so stfu.

2.) My godmother is from France, she told me a lot about it, including what are spices and what are not. I don't like words with "spic" thrown in the middle, racist.

3.) None of that crap is a spice or in any cookbook worth reading.

>Since when is not using spices a test for a skilled chef.

You've clearly never worked in the industry, especially higher end. Chefs often ask this kind of stuff from potential new hires. The idea is to challenge the cook to see what kind of skills they have.

But like said, it's an interesting point of discussion. Look at this very board, for example. It's often that someone will post something like "how to I make X taste good". You'll see many of babby's first reply: use X spice or Y sauce. You'll see fewer of the replies focusing on technique. Challenging yourself to make food taste good with technique alone is a great way to improve your cooking skill. I'm not proposing that people stop using seasonings--far from it. But I think it's important to understand that you can get flavor from technique as well.

Who are you quoting?

Also isn't cilantro and coriander the same thing?

t. Bong – we say coriander

Yes, they are technically the same plant. But in American English "coriander" refers to the seeds and "cilantro" refers to the leaves/stems.

I wondered if that was the case. I should have said that we use coriander for both. Does "cilantro" come from Spanish?

Nah only white people think you can cook without spices cause they too sensitive

Yeha youre quote Reddit

Sure. Put almost any vegetable in the oven for a couple of hours and the taste starts to come out

You know, I really don't want to deal with you right now.

I'm not a skilled chef. I'm also almost out of my favorite spices. Where do you by yours, Veeky Forums? I've been buying garbage tier bargain brands. Anywhere I can order decently priced/quality stuff?

spicehouse.com

I'm VERY pleased with them. Excellent quality at reasonable prices.

Hey thanks user. Related, is there actually any quality difference between salt brands? It always seemed like a scam to me, but my dollar store salt is basically sand.

Basic "table salt" is mostly the same regardless of what brand you buy. (I buy generic store brand).

Kosher salt comes in flakes rather than small crystals. It sticks to food better than crystals.

Then you can get some fancy stuff that's basically unrefined sea salt. It has a bit different taste because it contains other minerals than just sodium chloride. These also tend to be in larger crystals so it gives some crunchy texture when you bite into it.

>Table salt is mostly the same

Guess I'll stick with dollar store stuff then. I've seen little wooden things to keep salt "fresh" for sale. Is that something I should be doing? I just keep it in the cardboard box it comes in.

use a mix of tomatoes, some are sundried to add msg, some are fresh

he actually answered it pretty good

>no salt allowed
that wasn't really specified tho, S&P should at least be allowed but if not, I will personally use fish sauce instead to deepen the flavor

It's the truth, whiteboy.

Spices aren't cheat sheets. They're just as valid of ingredients as a tomato is.

no

I think that just functions to capture moisture. An old trick I've seen was to put a little sack of rice in the salt. Seems a bit unnecessary to me tho, unless moisture is a problem.

Post your info, user.

Just point out to him how all the top chefs are white

That's exactly right. You can also use a piece of a saltine cracker, that works too. Or you can buy salt that comes with an anti-caking agent in it.

You sever see the slogan "when it rains it pours" on Morton salt? That's a reference to the anti-caking agent they have. The salt still pours even in high humidity weather.

Even though you're a fag, you're right.

-A good piece of beef can be delicious with just some salt.

-Fresh broccoli, carrots, asparagus etc. can all be made very pure by cooking or sauteing them with just a little salt

Cheating or not, but using cured meats can add a fuckload of salt and flavor. Some smokey bacon wrapped figs, prunes or asparagus are to die for and literally require only 2 ingredients.

I'm telling you spices aren't a very important part of the cuisine.

As opposed to Indian cooking you mentioned where, for example, many main dishes begin by frying dry spices.

Even if you consider fresh herbs to be spices (they're not) spices still aren't central to French cooking.

Sounds like you're moving the goalposts.

Your original comment was:
>>And most of those techniques don't involve spices.

Now you've changed that to "aren't central".

Anyway, you're clearly wrong here. Go pick up any French cookbook and it will be filled with references to herbs and spices.

I agree with you that they don't use as much/many as the Indians do, but to assert that they "don't involve spices" is brain dead.

You're not getting it. The body of the dish and the flavor is built up by the cooking process itself and a handful of ingredients, not spices. I like spices and use them frequently precisely because I'm not skilled/consistent enough, too cheap to get high quality ingredients, and generally just don't have the time to rely on classical techniques. But it's totally possible and not rare at all to make great food without spices.

>Now you've changed that to "aren't central".
Putting chopped parsley in a sauce isn't a technique. It might taste good, but if you're doing it correctly, it's going to taste good without it.

In case you forgot my first post
>Classical cooking doesn't use much spice.
I stand by this statement because it's 100% true.

>The body of the dish and the flavor is built up by the cooking process itself and a handful of ingredients
I'm well aware. I already posted that, in fact. See: and .

I also explained that the use of spice is linked to distance from the equator, in My point is that it's absurd to think that that French (and other classical cuisines) don't use spices at all.

>My point is that it's absurd to think that that French (and other classical cuisines) don't use spices at all.
Literally no one said that.

>>Classical cooking doesn't use much spice.
>I stand by this statement because it's 100% true.

The constant and frequent mention of herbs and spices in Esocffier would disagree with you.

Who the fuck asked you? Speak when you're spoken to, semiliterate cunt.

What food do you like to buy with your government welfare, you smelly
N I G G E R ?
I
G
G
E
R
?

clearly states that most classical French cooking doesn't use spices.

I say no, most classical French cooking does use spices, which is backed up by looking at classical French recipes, such as the aforementioned Escoffier.

The very first thing that a reader of Escoffier will be greeted with is the section on preparing stocks, etc. It is described, literally, as the "foundation of the kitchen" upon which everything else derives. And guess what? Every single one of those stock recipes includes spices.

You wanna meet up and settle this on the streets bitch?