I Thought The Texture Of The Blend Was Brilliant.
Several months ago, I got a call from a customer of ours.
He wanted to know, if he could drop by our kitchen right away.
“Of course, love to see you!”
An hour later, he walked in with small Tupperware container.
I knew the look, he had a blend he wanted us to recreate.
“Kathy, I don’t remember the store or souk where I picked-up this spice.
So I don’t know whom to contact. Do you think you can help me out?”
I love to play with spices. Nonetheless, these situations can be a little
nerve wracking because you never know what a customer will bring-in.
Often I find myself peering into a tattered plastic bag filled with old spices,
bought on a memorable vacation trip, long ago. Or I might be asked tweak an old
family recipe. Everyday is different!
But our customer is a real foodie . So, I knew this was going to be wild.
If he needed input identifying the blend’s ingredients, it must be a doozie.
He handed me a small container with course spice-like stuff in it.
Good news! The blend was still moist and exuded a vaguely smoky aroma.
It was relatively fresh. Yay! We had something to work with!
And, our customer had been cooking with the blend so he was familiar with the
flavor notes he wanted emphasized.
The blend was a deep black maroon color with pink berries, whole spices pieces
shards of an orange flower. (like Safflower) which are rarely found in an American or European blends.
As I smelled and tasted it…I was sure that about 70% of the blend was a specific Middle Eastern chili.
while the rest of the spices were there to frame the flavor notes of the chili.
Looking at the blend pressed it in my hand, I realized it had been crafted by an expert!
“Can you tell what’s in there?”
“I think the main ingredient is a chili, but I will have to really examine this to get the balance of the elements.
Plus, there is something else in here that gives it a hint of sweetness. This is a wonderful blend- where did you get it?”
“On a trip to Istanbul.”
Hagia Sophia Istanbul
“Wow- that makes total sense. The key element is probably a Turkish chili called Isot or Urfra Biber. It’s a chili of medium heat that tastes like a mixture of chocolate, tobacco and raisin.”
“What about the orange pieces that I see in the blend? I think those are Safflower.
But what are the pink berries?”
“You are right-on about the orange pieces. They are safflower- not saffron.”
But, I am not sure what the pinkish berries are- but they taste familiar.”
“Sumac?”
“Ymmm, I don’t think, so”
We looked at each other. I needed time to process and our customer needed to hurry to an appointment.
“ Well do you think you can have something soon?
We have a dinner party coming up and I want to showcase a roast using this blend.”
I‘ll give it my best shot and call you as soon as I whip-up a test sample.”
When he left the kitchen, I was totally psyched. I love a good spice challenge and this one was a beaut:
Reverse engineer an exotic spice blend and complete the assignment within a couple of days.
I called Bill and asked him to join me in a spice parley.
I gave Bill the background. Then, we started to taste and play with the blend.
We were going for a vibrant chili flavor with hidden accent notes.
This was a blend that would be used to flavor meat- so it had three requirements:
- Work as a rub for roasting
- Work as a seasoning for a marinade
- Lend a nuanced flavor to the cooked meat so it could finished or contrasted with a sauce.
One of the obvious elements of the blend was the texture. It was exceptionally course.
Several of the ingredients were whole or shredded, like the Safflower, so we knew that there were
probably less than 10 ingredients.
This would be tricky to recreate but not super hard like some of the Indian blends which can contain
15 or more ingredients or are “blends of other blends”.
I pulled out some Isot and tested it against the blend. Match! We were 70% of the way home
Other spices like the Safflower were easy to spot. Plus, I knew from past experience,
that a nice background of spices would help to frame the flavor notes of the Isot.
We went with Coriander and two softer Chilies for our bridge or blending spices and a bold herbal note to add balance.
The bridge or blending spices are key to creating a rounded blend. We needed to get the Isot to shine, but in context.
By framing the Isot, we would leave the door open for the cook to add a finishing sauce.
We were up to about 6 spices.
But we still had two unknowns: the pink berry and that sweet element that was hidden in the oily Isot chili.
The pink berries were oddly challenging. I knew this taste: mint-eucalyptus almost sweet- hmmm.
I just couldn’t seem to identify it. So I took a field trip over to Rainbow Grocery.
When I get stuck, I go to Rainbow Grocery. Some how staring at the isle full of glass jars seems to really
help me to think through the problem or bring up an old memory.
Luckily, Marisa was on the floor. Over the last year, we have become friends and will often trade our thoughts on flavors, spice, recipes and stuff. I showed her the “stump the spice girl” blend. She tasted the pink berry and smiled.
“Kathy that is Pink Peppercorn”.
Pink Peppercorns Convey A Fresh, Sweet, Eucalyptus like Aroma.
“Marisa you are a goddess! Thank you.”
I may be the geeky spice girl but Marisa, truth be told is a spice goddess.
I was really closing in. I had uncovered all of the blends secrets, save for one.
What was that sweet taste hiding in the Isot.
Bill and I went round and round.
“No, you’re full of —-, it’s this. No, you’re full of —-, it has to be this.”
We knew it was a sweet berry of some sort. But what?
After pouring through several Turkish cookbooks and the Turkish Embassy Web site,
we finally we had all the elements!
As we started to blend, we made several batches.
Each time, we would taste and then work to layer in flavor through tweaking the
proportions and refining the grind or texture.
The first two passes were ok, then we hit upon the correct order of addition and particle size.
TA-DAH!
We had it. All the major flavor notes were there.
We marched home and promptly make a roasted pork tenderloin that I finished
with a chunky apple/raisin sauce. It was good! Time to call our cusotmer.
Four days after the initial phone call, our customer was one happy guy.
We Nailed It!
We each uncapped a bottle of fine Calistoga Water and christened the blend “Old Istanbul”.
Today, I am proud to offer this blend to you. Try it as a rub on Pork Tenderloin or as a marinade for Lamb. You will love the deep inviting flavor and subtle sweetness of the pink peppercorn and raisin berry notes hidden in the chili.
As spice fans know, 
