Nutmeg is the seed of nutmeg, a tropical evergreen tree. Grows up to 12 meters, lives up to the 1st century. The fruits resemble an apricot in shape and size. If you break the yellow pulp, a bone is found inside, the core of which goes to the production of spices.
What is the taste and smell of Nutmeg?
The spice has a tart sweet aroma. It is very stable, so it is recommended to have a separate dish for grinding whole kernels. It tastes hot and spicy, astringent.
How to Get Nutmeg Seasoning?
When the nutmeg fruit ripens, it bursts and its bone is exposed. On top it is covered with a thin skin – macis. First, the bones are dried in the sun to separate the film, which is later also ground and used as a spice. Finish drying over a wood fire.
Then the bones are split to get the core. Nutmeg is sold whole or ground into powder.
How to Use Nutmeg Seasoning?
Powdered nutmeg is added to the food. Professional chefs prefer to keep whole kernels in the kitchen, which are ground on a grater just before seasoning the dish. So the spice preserves the taste and smell as much as possible.
How to Choose Nutmeg?
To assess the quality of the spice, you should pour it in a thin layer on a white sheet of paper, press another sheet on top and look at the result. The presence of large solid inclusions indicates the presence of shells and other plant waste in the seasoning. The color should be uniformly brown, gray-green shades indicate poor product quality. The sour taste indicates the addition of nutmeg fruit pulp to the spice.
What dishes Can Nutmeg be Added to?
The universal aroma of spice will emphasize the taste of a wide variety of dishes. It is added to desserts: jams, pastries, puddings, sweets. Especially successfully complements the natural taste of cottage cheese and cheeses.
Traditionally, spices are used for the preparation of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. There are lovers of tea and coffee with ground nutmeg, it is indispensable in mulled wine and ale.
In Oriental cuisine, they are seasoned with rice, meat and fish dishes. Europeans like to add nutmeg to sauces and salads, mushrooms and vegetables.
In the culinary industry, this seasoning is used in the manufacture of sausages, canned fish and meat, chocolate and cheese, ketchup and mustard.
When using nutmeg, chefs are advised to focus on their own taste and consistency of the dish. The spice emphasizes the tenderness and lightness of purees, pates, souffles, sauces.
When and How Much to Add?
In the dough, nutmeg is added during kneading. For other dishes, it is recommended to pour the spice at the end of cooking, otherwise it will be bitter.
To avoid toxic effects, the amount of seasoning should not exceed 0.1 g per serving of the product.
How to Replace Nutmeg?
The unique taste of nutmeg is difficult to replace with anything. If it is not, it is better to simply exclude it from the list of ingredients. In some cases, you can try to experiment and replace the spice with cardamom, freshly ground allspice or a pinch of curry.
Combination with other Spices
Cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, pepper, bay leaf, suneli hops are most harmoniously combined with nutmeg.
A peasant dish with a royal name – “Dauphin” – from Dauphin, which traditionally belonged to the heirs to the French throne, the Dauphins. Gratin Dauphin is served as an independent dish or as a side dish. Treacherously tasty, but high in calories…
A delicious and simple dish for lovers of pasta casseroles. To be honest, I tried to use the search engine, if I missed it, I will delete the recipe without any problems.
The taste is so incredible! Delicate, very fragrant! Before a simple dish! Not potatoes, but a miracle! Many variants know that they are united by the fact that cream, cheese and milk are added to potatoes! I will offer another option to my friends! And your whole family will be able to appreciate it!
I want to offer you a simple, but nevertheless delicious snack for the festive table. Mini profiterole in such eateries is ideal for a buffet table or as an aperitif. From this amount of ingredients, about 50 mini-puffs with stuffing are obtained.
I want to offer you an unusual lean dessert. I must say that I did not expect that it would turn out so delicious and interesting! Beetroot pie acquires a deep burgundy color and apple-spicy taste… Brown sugar gives a caramel flavor! And all together forms a harmonious chocolate delicacy. And no one will guess about the main ingredient of this dessert, well, if you don’t admit it yourself.
Chocolate cake with cocoa – you will say, looking at the photo. And you will be right, but only half right. Because there are 2 more important ingredients – beetroot, which gives this brownie moisture and an amazing reddish hue, and sweet soy sauce, which is responsible for a pleasant aftertaste.
I suggest you try a very fragrant and rich soup of red fish with mushrooms. This is a divinely delicious and healthy soup. It has a lot of vitamins. Salmon can be replaced with trout or salmon.
Dear cooks, I suggest cooking a very simple, tasty and healthy casserole. It is prepared elementary, the result is very good! A light, tender and pleasant dish that will saturate without extra calories.
I want to share with you a very interesting recipe for casserole of vegetables and minced meat. The taste is so amazing that the dish will become a worthy decoration of the festive table, although I cooked it as a regular Sunday dish.
