Flavour and spices are the fundamental base to any cooked or baked dish. The Flavour Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dorenenburg has summed up that flavour is an equation of taste + mouth feel + aroma + the X-factor; what is perceived by the other senses will give you flavour or the ability to learn the language of food. In its simplest terms; flavour helps to let you know what you’re eating and express memorable emotional connections like making your mouth water when you think of your favourite meal or dessert. The most popular flavours are vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Cinnamon is a flavour that gives a warm comfort to food and can best be enjoyed during the autumn-winter months. The taste can best be described as being both sweet and slightly bitter and can be pungent. It is best used in giving heat to food, it is always better to add this ingredient early to allow it time to release its oils and flavour characteristic properly to dish. Cinnamon goes well with sweet breads such as bread pudding and gingerbread, vanilla, raisins and both brown and granulated sugar.
Nutmeg is similar to that of cinnamon, as it is put with food of comfort ideal for the autumn-winter months. It is known to give a sweet taste and it must be noted that you should always use nutmeg in moderation. Nutmeg is a great complement to puddings, custard and other baked dishes as it goes well with butter, milk or cream, eggs and chocolate.
Vanilla is the most universal flavour of them all. Vanilla doesn’t have a season like cinnamon or nutmeg and is known for its sweet flavour profile that it adds to a dish. Vanilla can be placed with almost anything; as we know vanilla is definitely found in baked goods, complementing butter cinnamon, coffee, chocolate, nutmeg, sugar eggs and milk.
While thinking about what recipe would best carry the fantastic embrace of these flavours; I thought that the simplest and most popular would be Bread Pudding. Why? A basic bread pudding is made of bread, eggs, milk and sugar and is then enhanced with vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon
To Read More: Purchase your copy of Volume 9 #6 January-February 2018