Happiness is building your own family recipe

We can take it that our subscriber members across Australia know a thing or two about cooking.

You need only to look at the Comments and Suggestions page in this Blog every Sunday to see the home cooks level of understanding and enjoyment of working with natural ingredients.

Taking this further you will see that often home cook members bring these natural flavours, condiments and textures together to create and develop their own personal recipes that they happily share. It really does not get much better than that.

Priceless Knowledge

So. How do we continue to share this priceless culinary knowledge provided by home cook Sunday Art of Flavour members ? Well, with your support, we will continue to publish readers recipes and the important kitchen tips.

From this, we hope other readers will be inspired and encouraged to create their own unique recipes that in due course will be become standard home recipes, to be passed on through the family and friends.

Readers might recall reader and contributor Rebecca Harrison sent a text suggesting that a simple braised beef red wine sauce can be not only enhanced but developed into a new recipe by adding Star Anise and Allspice to partner the red wine, garlic, stock and miripoix of carrot, onion and celery to the sauce.

Star Anise and Allspice

Certainly, Rebecca's recipe is not reinventing the wheel but it does present unforgettable and unique flavours with the roast beef, bringing in the licorice like Anise Seed flavours of the Star Anise. See note below.

And pairing this with the wonderful Clove, Cinnamon and Nutmeg flavours of Allspice gives an exciting lift to the sauce without overpowering the beef.

New recipe ideas do not have to be all enveloping. If you would like to check the Comments and Suggestions page of this issue you will see a note from Joseph La Hood suggesting that a simple way to thicken and emulsify a Mediterranean or Lebonese recipe is to add the syrup from a can of white beans.

Spare Beans

This is not exactly a new recipe and Joseph did not say what to do with the beans but you get the idea.

We would love your comments and suggestions on all this and even better, your own recipe creations. Home cooks are in a unique position to add to the priceless store of family recipes that will enrich our lives.

Note: Anise Seed is a spice from the parsley family and is not related to Star Anise, other than the licorice flavour that both share.

Stay well everyone Arthur Huxley www.spiceroadspices.com.au