Jamaican Jerk Seasoning (Dry)

Jamaica is located some 90 miles or so south of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea. Jamaica gained its independence from Great Britain in the early 1960s, although Queen Elizabeth II is the queen of this island nation, and she is represented there by her appointed governor-general, but Jamaica has its own governing system and prime minister. It is tough to think of Jamaica without thinking of reggae music, musician Bob Marley and Olympic runner Usain Bolt.  

 

Jamaica is famous for "jerk" cooking; that is, foods, usually meat, especially chicken, that is marinated with a spice rub and/or liquid marinade, and then grilled or roasted. Foods prepared this way in Jamaica are spicy hot, as they contain hot chili peppers, including the famous "scotch bonnets," named after their shape, but which might make you flip your bonnet from the intense heat they can produce. I've given my version of the dry spice/herb rub here, and I may soon do a version of the liquid marinade, which uses scotch bonnet chilies. Of course, you can adjust the heat level up or down to your own preference with these types of spice mixtures. 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons dried thyme 

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons sweet smoked Spanish paprika

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground red chili pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes

 

Add the ingredients to the container you will use for the seasoning, put the lid on and shake the container until everything is well mixed together. Shake the container again before each usage of the seasoning. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Felt-This is the noun for the type of fabric, as in "felt-tip or felt-tipped pen." It is related to "filter," a word borrowed by English from Latin (with French influence and reinforcement), with Latin having borrowed the base of the word from Germanic, and it is related to "pelt," the verb form meaning "to hit or beat," plus, "to hit with objects thrown, launched or fired in some way," a word from Latin long ago, going back to Old English, and it is related to the second part of "anvil," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Felt" goes back to one of the Indo European roots, "pel" (there are several with varied meanings), with the idea of "beat, hit, beat down;" thus also, "compress." This gave Old Germanic "felt(az)," with the same meanings, and this gave the West Germanic branch of Germanic "feltaz/filtiz," meaning "wool or wool combined with other fur beaten until compressed into a fabric." This gave Old English "felt," where it has remained ever since. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Filz," Low German has "Filt," West Frisian "filt," Dutch "vilt," Danish "filt" (from Low German), Swedish "filt" (also borrowed from Low German, seemingly with the initial meaning of  "felt," but with the wool fabric meaning coming to mean "blanket," although that meaning seems to have also been in Low German).   

Homemade Cajun Seasoning & Creole Seasoning

There isn't any one recipe for either Cajun seasoning, or for Creole seasoning; so, it seems to me that over time, the two have sort of grown together in some recipes, but not all. The two are similar, but not the same, with Creole seasoning having more herbs and much more paprika. Many recipes add salt to both, but I don't use it in either recipe; that way, I can use the amount of salt I want in any dish I'm preparing.

 

 

Cajun Seasoning Ingredients:

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

2 teaspoons minced dried onion 

2 tablespoons sweet smoked Spanish paprika

2 tablespoons sweet (non-smoked) paprika

1 tablespoon ground white pepper

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 or 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper (your heat preference)

2 teaspoons dried oregano

Put ingredients together in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Store in a container with a tight fitting lid. 

Creole Seasoning Ingredients:

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon ground white pepper

4 tablespoons sweet paprika

2 tablespoons sweet smoked paprika

1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder

1 or 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper (your heat preference)

Put ingredients together in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Store in a container with a tight fitting lid. 

WORD HISTORY:

Cable-This word is related to quite a number of words, including: "capable," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from French, to "captive," another Latin-derived word borrowed directly from that language, and it is distantly related to "have" and to "heave," words from the Germanic roots of English. "Cable" goes back to the Indo European root "kahp," which had the notion of "seize, grasp, take." This gave Latin "capere," which meant, "to take, to seize." This produced the Latin noun "capulus," meaning "hilt of a sword, handle, coffin, burial chamber," the accusative form of which was "capulum," which became a word in its own right, initially meaning "hilt of a sword, handle," but then "a halter for cattle and horses," and from that it took the meaning "rope, lasso." This seemingly passed to Old French as "chaable/chable," and this became "cable" in Old Northern French (Norman dialect of French), meaning "strong, thick rope" (seems to have been used regarding strong ropes used on ships), and this was taken to England by the Normans and it was borrowed by English circa 1200. The 1800s saw the word applied to telegraphy and the lines used to transmit messages, and a message transmitted by such was called a "cablegram," which then was simply shortened to "a cable" (mid 1880s?). The word was also used for types of rail cars drawn by or transported along such cables. The mid 20th Century saw the word used for the transmission of television signals not requiring an antenna as "cable television," which then was often shortened to "cable."      

Moroccan Spice Blend: Ras El Hanout

"Ras el hanout" is a spice blend of varying combinations originally from Morocco, but also common in Algeria and Tunisia. Some recipes for "ras el hanout" can contain 2 or 3 dozen different spices! It is commonly used in these North African countries to season lamb, chicken, fish, rice and couscous (a type of pasta of small granules of semolina).  

Easy to make, as you're simply adding various dry spices to a container and then mixing them together. I kept the spices to the more easily obtainable types, but some types of ras el hanout in use in North Africa or imported into other countries may contain some truly exotic ingredients like "grains of paradise," "orris root," "dried rosebuds,'' and others. 

Ingredients (makes 1/2 cup spice mix):

2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet/mild Spanish paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground red pepper, like cayenne
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Use a jar, can or other container with a lid. Add all ingredients to the container, make sure to break up any "clumps" of spices with a fork or the back of a spoon, put the lid on and shake the container very well to mix. Shake the container each time before using the spice mix.   

WORD HISTORY:  

Magazine-This word goes back to the transliterated Arabic verb "khazana," meaning, "to store, to collect or amass." This produced a noun "makhzan," meaning "storehouse, warehouse," and its plural form was "makhazin." Italian borrowed the word as "magazzino" (1300s?), meaning "warehouse," which then expanded in meaning to include "goods stored in a magazzino." French took the word from Italian as "magasin" (likely reinforced by French contact with Arabic in North Africa), along with the meaning "warehouse," which then expanded to include "military materials' depot." English borrowed the word in the late 1500s with the meanings, "warehouse, storage facility for ammunition." The meaning of "collection of written articles" comes from the 1730s, but the idea "seems" to date to about a hundred years earlier when lists were made of items in "magazine storage facilities." Circa 1870 saw the spread of rifles capable of holding multiple cartridges, the gun's chamber being called a "magazine."    

East African Spice Mix: Berbere

This is a common spice blend used in many countries in East Africa, especially in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is so commonly used, many families make their own, so there are numerous variations to recipes for berbere (pronounced as if, "bur-bur-ah"), including for the "heat level." In East Africa, many of the spices are first toasted in whole form, and then they are ground, but to make this blend a little more simple, you can use already ground spices, but you can toast them in a dry skillet briefly, if you'd like, but take care not to burn the spices, which can happen quite quickly... ah, that's what I've been told. (Let me uncross my fingers before I move on.)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper or other hot red ground chilies
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon mild smoked paprika (Spanish paprika is smoked)
1 teaspoon onion powder   

This is the hard part... haha  Put all ingredients into a jar or other small storage container, put the lid on the jar and shake the jar until the spices are well mixed. You should shake the container before each use.

WORD HISTORY:
Zen-This word, distantly related to "semantic," goes back to Indo European "dhyae," which had the notion, "to look, to see." This gave transliterated Sanskrit^ "dhyana," meaning, "meditation" ("mentally looking in a focused way at the various aspects of a subject, often regarding a god, or religion, eventually as part of Buddhism"). This was borrowed by Chinese^^ as transliterated "dzien" (by pronunciation), and this was borrowed by Japanese^^^ as transliterated "zen," with the deep mediation part of Buddhism meaning. Seemingly first borrowed by English circa 1730.

^ "Sanskrit" is an ancient language from the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo European; thus, it is related to English, although much further down the family tree. It is still in use to some degree, especially in India.

^^ "Chinese" in its several forms belongs to the "Sino-Tibetan" language family. It's best known relative is Burmese.

^^^ For such a large language, the overall history and ties of "Japanese" to other languages is a bit sketchy, but it is part of the "Japonic" language family. Over time, some have attempted, unsuccessfully, to connect Japonic, and thus Japanese, to Korean. The similarities shared between Japanese and Korean have been generally assumed to be from borrowings due to contacts between the languages, not directly from a shared common ancestor.