Blackening Spice Blend-This spice blend is very precious to me, sentimental really. When I landed my first cooking job in a real, from scratch kitchen, this was the first recipe I ever made myself and wrote down. I've always felt quite a bit of pride that it's been with me for 30 years, and I have never needed to change it at all.
This spicy, (but not at all fiery!), all purpose spice blend is so versatile, I think that you'll find that it can go into almost anything savory. It has a reputation as being a super spicy blend that is only for cajun and creole cuisine, totally not true. You'll see it used all over the place in the recipes on this site. You can use a store bought alternative, but making it yourself is better on multiple fronts, freshness and affordability being just a couple.
Let me tell you a little story about a chef legend named Paul Prudhomme. I will try to be brief, but keep in mind, this was a man that inspired myself and thousands of chefs like me to don the coat and wield the knife. He is pictured here with Emeril Lagasse, ( I think you know him, right?), his appointed successor as the chef at the world famous Commander Palace restaurant, (a giant step up in his career that arguably started him on the path to stardom). When chef Paul opened his restaurant K-Pauls in the French quarter in New Orleans, he had been making custom spice blends for years, and created this one specifically for seasoning and subsequently hard searing redfish. Redfish at the time was not considered to be particularly popular, and therefore relatively inexpensive. He put the "blackened" redfish on the menu, and within a few years, the fish became so popular as to push the species almost to extinction. To this day, redfish cannot be bought as a wild product, only farmed, and the regulations concerning game fishing for red drum, (the actual name), are extremely specific and heavily enforced. Prudhomme had not only created a legend out of a "trash fish", but also birthed a whole new cooking technique. Meeting him when I was a young aspiring chef is one of my most treasured memories.
Ingredients
- cayenne pepper
- ground white pepper
- ground black pepper
- dry whole thyme
- dry oregano leaves
- granulated salt
- onion powder
- granulated garlic
- paprika
- dry basil leaves
All that you will need to do is combine everything and store in a well sealed container. I would suggest that this is done gently, and if you are sensitive to pepper in the air, perhaps wearing one of those face masks that we all became familiar with a couple of years back to avoid sneezing fits.
Variations On Blackening Spice Blend
You can make a number of different variations of this blend:
- you can choose to omit the salt, and add it to individual recipes "to taste"
- removing the basil and thyme, but adding cumin and chili powder in their place will make this a more southwestern version
- you may see some iterations of this blend with sugar in it. unless you literally want a burnt flavor in your finished food, don't do this. BLACKENED DOES NOT MEAN BURNT!
Blackening Spice Blend
Equipment
- 1 Mixing Bowl
- 1 pair of gloves nitrile, latex, or other
- 1 Measuring Spoon Set
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp. paprika
- 2 tbsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp. ground black pepper
- 1½ tsp. ground white pepper
- 3¾ tsp. dried whole thyme
- 2¼ tsp. dried whole oregano
- 1⅛ tsp. dried whole basil
- 1½ tbsp. onion powder
- 1 tbsp. granulated garlic
- 1 tbsp. granulated salt
Instructions
- mix all ingredients together thoroughly by hand, being careful to not allow it to get airborne.
- store in a tightly sealed jar or other storage container in a cool, dry area.
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