Cooking with Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices are concentrated sources of flavor that transform bland grains and meat, making these foods more complex and appealing. They tickle the taste buds in our mouth and provide odors and aromas that arouse our nose. In ancient times, they provided the distinctive tastes of many national cuisines—often making them the most desired and costly of ingredients.

Proper preparation of herbs and spices is essential to maximizing their effect. Craig Claiborne’s Cooking with Herbs & Spices provides a sampling of the cuisines from around the world, showing how 54 herbs and spices can be used to do everything from adding zest to a soup to transforming a sophisticated dinner recipe.

It provides a short set of interesting and pertinent notes about each herb or spice, followed by recipes that rely upon them. It has over 400 original and tempting recipes for every kind of meal or menu, each tested and presented in a clear, step-by-step manner. Its recipes for Cabbage with Capers, Poppy Seed Cake, Tandoori Chicken, and Zucchini-Tomato Casserole have become favorites for many families.

New to the 2012 Edition

Since the second edition, online stores have become available for purchasing spices—examples have been added. References to stores no longer in business have been deleted. The herb and spice descriptions have been updated and corrected in a few instances.

Electronic books have no fixed page numbers. However, for the purposes of the index, the page numbers listed correspond to hypertext links that are located at the same locations of the original text. (You can click on an index page link and be taken to that portion of the text.) References to specific recipes within the text also have hypertext links, in particular for the list of recipes by category in the first section of the book. Color pictures have replaced the original black and white illustrations.