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TIMING

Prep: 5 minutes

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GETTING CREATIVE

• Pair this rub with Garlic-Buttermilk Marinade (page 350), Cumin, Coriander, and Lime Brine (page 364), or, most impressively, with Harissa Dip (page 396).

Cumin Rub

Cumin is so easy to love. Nutty, with a hint of pine, it is the aroma that most Americans identify with chili. But in the world of cooking its redolence permeates cuisines around the globe, from Morocco to Mexico (traveling clockwise, of course). The aroma of toasted cumin dominates this rub, yet it takes on complexity with the addition of fresh gingerroot and cilantro. Like all rubs that include fresh ingredients, this one is perishable and should be used within a few days.

TIMING

Prep: 15 minutes

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GOOD WITH

Seafood: shrimp, scallops, salmon, any white-fleshed fish

Poultry: chicken, turkey, game hen, duck

Meat: lamb, beef, pork, veal

INGREDIENTS (MAKES ABOUT 2/3 CUP)

3 tablespoons cumin seeds

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced peeled gingerroot

1 tablespoon kosher salt

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground dried lemon peel or

1 tablespoon grated fresh lemon zest

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat a medium, heavy skillet over high heat for 1 minute. Add the cumin seeds and stir until the seeds are lightly toasted, about 1 minute. Grind in a spice grinder or mini-chopper into a fine powder. Combine with the remaining ingredients.

2. Use as directed in a recipe; can be stored in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator for a day.

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TOASTING SPICES

The flavor of any spice comes from aromatic oils. When the spice is whole, the oils remain relatively inert, trapped inside rigid cell walls. But once the spice is ground, the cells break and the oils are released, which is why the flavors of spices are at their height right after grinding and diminish rapidly after that. Toasting enhances most spices by browning the sugars and proteins in the cells, creating darker and richer flavor components, and by liquefying the oil, which makes more of it emerge during grinding.

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Hickory Orange-Anise Rub

Orange and anise are delicious together: bright and pungent, fruity and earthy, playing off each other’s differences so naturally that their coupleness becomes a more intriguing entity than either one could possibly be alone. The addition of hickory smoke flavor helps to reinforce the pungency of the anise.

GOOD WITH

Seafood: salmon or any other oily fish

Poultry: duck, goose, chicken, turkey, game hen

Meat: beef, lamb, pork

INGREDIENTS (MAKES ABOUT 1/3 CUP)

1 tablespoon ground dried orange peel

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon ground anise seed

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon liquid smoke (see sidebar)

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all of the ingredients.

2. Use as directed in a recipe; can be stored in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

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TIMING

Prep: 5 minutes

WHAT IS LIQUID SMOKE?

Liquid smoke is made by burning hardwood chips (like hickory, mesquite, and fruit and nut woods) in a sealed environment that is inundated with moisture, causing the wood to smolder and generate vapor permeated with smoke. As in making distilled liquor, this vapor is trapped and chilled in condensers that precipitate the gas back into liquid. The liquid is filtered to remove impurities, mixed with vinegar, molasses, and caramel color, and aged to help the flavors mellow.

There is some evidence that liquid smoke has antimicrobial abilities that kill bacteria on the surface of meats, and its antioxidant properties help it to counteract the off flavors resulting from the oxidation of fat associated with warming leftovers. Liquid smoke is very strong and should be used with caution. Overdoing it makes food taste as though it’s been slathered with soot.

Bedouin Dry Marinade

This gorgeous, wonderfully fragrant rub gilds anything it touches with a golden glow and the heady, aromatic combination of black pepper, cardamom, and caraway. It is delicious