THE PEPPER QUEST LAB - Our First Blends

Ma La · Potato · BBQ

We are constantly revisiting our blends. Tasting. Thinking. Feeling. What is missing? What would add a layer of pleasant surprise? Equally looking at what could be subtracted in order for another flavor to blossom. What happens if we roast certain spices? What if we buy a machine where we can experiment with coarser grinds? 

There are so many different variables. So many doors to open. A small shift in the recipe can totally change the whole palette of the blend in the most surprising ways. And it is really hard to pinpoint exactly what is going to happen.

For us it is all about trial and error. Trial and feedback. Trial and cooking. Making version after version. Making smaller versions of some of the spices and seeing what that does. Pairing two flavors first. Then adding another. Keep on testing. Ver 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…

BLENDS THAT WE ACTUALLY NEEDED

The first blends we made were blends for our own cooking. Blends we needed in our home kitchen to elevate our own cooking. A quick, easy way to make a dish taste wonderful. Adding that flavor that has your family asking for seconds. Being able to take a simple ingredient and turn it into something delicious.

The initial step in cooking better food is knowledge. Knowledge of flavors, cooking methods, how to handle produce. The tricks and hacks. The second, in our opinion, is spices. Learning how spices can help you. Since we use all the spice blends ourselves, it is in our best interest if they keep getting better hahahaha.

Ma La

One of the first spice mixes we made was Ma La. We needed a quick way to make delicious, spicy, numbing Sichuanese food at home, street fried tofu, dry-fried beans, shredded chicken salads, minced noodle dishes. Hence the Ma La blend.

We also had amazing spices from China, so it seemed like a good place to start. With this blend we wanted something spicy, but not too spicy as we wanted people to actually use it. We also wanted a spice blend where Sichuan pepper was the real hero. And what better way to make it the hero than to complement it with all the different chillies from Sichuan and China.

But using just those two spices made it kind of flat. With this blend we wanted to create a whole palette of Chinese flavors, so we added background figures, 5 spice as the foundation, plus coriander seeds, bay leaf and white pepper. Essential spices in the Sichuanese kitchen.

→ TRY IT: SICHUAN GREEN BEANS

Serves 2 as a side · 10 min

• A good handful of green beans, trimmed
• Neutral oil
• A knob of butter
• A generous pinch of Ma La Blend
• Flaky salt

Get a wok or heavy pan properly hot with a splash of oil (you want the beans blistering, not steaming). Leave them mostly alone so they char, tossing now and then, 5–6 minutes. Off the heat, add the butter and Ma La and toss so it toasts in the residual heat. Flaky salt and eat while the Sichuan pepper is still buzzing.

POTATO

Green Sichuan pepper is such a nice pairing with potatoes. So are herbs. And pepper. Hahahaha so many things go well with potatoes. We wanted a potato spice for all those potato dishes we love. Savory, herbal, creamy. Buttery cooked potato. Mash, potato curry, gratin, oven-baked potato.

For this blend we chose to focus on things that are green. Hence a green Potato blend with loads of herbs. We added sesame seeds to bring in creaminess and a soft, mellow touch to counter some of the bitterness of the herbs and flower peppers.

Now we use it for all kinds of dishes — beans and parmesan, salad dressings, chicken schnitzel and much more. Really a versatile spice.

→ TRY IT: BEANS AND PARMESAN

Serves 2 as a side · 10 min

• 1 tin white beans (cannellini or butter beans)
• A good glug of olive oil
• A big handful of parmesan, finely grated
• A generous spoon of Potato
• Lemon
• Flaky salt

Drain and rinse the beans. Warm them gently in a pan with the olive oil, just enough to heat through, not fry. Off the heat, stir through the parmesan so it melts into something loose and creamy, then the Potato blend. Loosen with a splash of warm water if it tightens up. Finish with a squeeze of lemon and more parmesan. Eat warm with bread, under a fried egg or alongside anything off the grill.

BETTER SOURCED SPICES

One aspect that keeps making our spice blends better is the continuation of sourcing better spices from new regions across the world. As we sample them our minds start racing and often we end up thinking about new blends we want to make, as well as current blends we want to elevate. Because of this constant influx of new flavors and spices our BBQ #2 blend has never been exactly the same.

BBQ

Our BBQ #2 blend might be the one that has gone through the most iterations of all our blends. And honestly, we are not sure it will ever stop changing. 

When we started it we just wanted a great all-round BBQ spice. Something that could do the work on chicken, ribs, pulled meat. Bold, smoky, a little sweet. The kind of spice that makes the whole kitchen smell like something good is happening.

But then new spices started arriving.

A new black pepper from a different region. A smoked chili variety we had not tried before. A paprika that had more fruit and less heat than what we were used to. Each one would land on the table and we would taste it and look at each other and think — what does this do to the BBQ? Sometimes the answer was nothing. Sometimes it completely opened the blend up in a direction we had not expected.

That is the thing about BBQ as a category — it has so much space inside it. There is room for depth. You can add a layer of something dark and roasted, or push it brighter with red fruit notes from chili or paprika, or let the pepper really sing by giving it more room. We kept experimenting. Peeling things back. Adding things in. Asking the same questions we always ask. What is this doing? Does it earn its place?

Version after version. The current BBQ #2 is one we are really proud of. But we already have some ideas for what comes next.

→ TRY IT: BBQ SMASHED POTATOES

Serves 4 as a side · 45 min

• 1 kg small potatoes
• Butter, sliced into small pieces
• BBQ
• Flaky salt

Boil the potatoes whole in well-salted water until tender all the way through, 20–25 minutes. Drain and let them steam off for a minute, then spread them out on a baking tray with a little space between each one. Press down on each potato with the back of a spoon until it just bursts and flattens. Top every potato with a slice of butter and a good pinch of BBQ. Into a hot oven (220°C) for 20–25 minutes, until the edges are golden and crisp and the butter has done its work. Flaky salt and eat while hot.