Marlene Parrish - What Einstein Told His Cook 2

The word herb comes from the Latin herba , meaning grass or green blades. To a botanist, herb is the term for all the soft, nonwoody parts of plants. In common usage, though, an herb (or in Britain a herb) is any leafy plant material used for its flavor, aroma, or reputed medicinal properties.

Herbs have historically been used not only in cooking but in mystical ceremonies and, allegedly, for healing. Today’s flood of “herbal remedies” and supplements is only the latest incarnation of the age-old snake-oil industry. For some reason, many people believe that if it’s “herbal” it’s “natural” and therefore healthful. (“Here, Mr. Socrates, drink this cup of hemlock tea. It’s an all-natural herbal supplement.”)

The word spice , on the other hand, has no scientific standing; it’s a catchall term for any plant material, usually excepting leaves, that adds strong aromas and flavors to foods. The word comes from the Latin species , meaning assorted merchandise, originally referring to the commercial goods imported from the Orient, of which spices were an important part. Spices may be roots, rhizomes, barks, seeds, fruits, or flowers, but most often they are seeds. Herbs are usually green and relatively mild, while spices can be brown, black, or red and have more pungent flavors.

Because most spices are native to tropical regions and herbs typically grow in temperate climates, cultural and linguistic differences often complicate the picture. For example, the cilantro plant and its herbal leaves are known by that Spanish name, but its seeds, called coriander in English, are a spice.

It would be nice to think that Nature created all those fragrant and flavorful botanical substances purely for our gastronomic delectation. But who do we Homo sapiens think we are, anyway? There must be some other evolutionary reason for plants’ having developed the special chemicals in herbs and spices that so delight us. And there is.

Most plants depend for reproduction on pollination by bees and other insects, whom they must attract by some combination of physical and chemical devices. The perception of flower colors is the major physical enticement, but chemicals are just as important. Many plants have developed fragrant chemicals called essential oils (see “Quintessential but not essential,” on chapter 8) that are quite volatile, that is, that waft readily off into the air. (It may be noted in passing that flowers and perfumes are often a prelude to human reproduction as well.)

Other plants contain unpleasant-smelling or -tasting chemicals to repel foragers, and yet we humans find them pleasant when used in small amounts to flavor our foods.

Three families of plants provide the lion’s share of our culinary herbs and spices.

The mint family (Lamiaceae) provides us with basil, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, lavender, and catnip.

The parsley family (Apiaceae) gives us anise, dill, coriander, caraway, cumin, poison hemlock (!), and such distinctively flavored vegetables as carrot, celery, parsnip, and fennel.

The mustard family (Brassicaceae) includes radish, horseradish, and many vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, turnip, rape, and rutabaga, all of whose leaves have a peppery flavor, although they are not generally used as herbs.

In a class by itself is the genus Capsicum , included within the family Solanaceae. Capsicums are the spiciest of all spices. They are the fiery New World hot peppers that, as we shall see, are neither hot in the literal sense nor peppers.

Because there are more than a hundred herbs and spices used around the world to add zest to foods, all I can do here is fly low over the landscape and point out a few notable landmarks. But if there is anything—and I mean anything —you want to know about any herb or spice, go to http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/, a multi-lingual website operated with obvious passion by one Gernot Katzer at the University of Graz in Austria.

THE FOODIE’S FICTIONARY:Celery—weekly or monthly wages

Spicy Chocolate Crinkle Monsters

Sugar and spice and everything nice—that’s what these dramatic cookies are made of. They owe their appeal to their monstrous size, a hit of black pepper on the tongue, and an after-burn of cayenne. They look like the oversized cookies that you see on bakery shelves or in coffee shops at outrageous prices. Commercial coarsely ground black pepper is okay to use instead of grinding it fresh, because of the consistent size of the commercial grind. Note that olive oil stands in for butter in the recipe. A spring-loaded ice cream scoop is ideal for portioning the cookie dough.

2 cups granulated sugar

¾ cup mild olive oil

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons coarse black pepper

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1.Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 2 cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

2.In a large bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and olive oil. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, pepper, salt, and spices, mixing well to combine. Sifting is not necessary.

3.Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until no patches of the dry flour mixture are visible.

4.Place the confectioners sugar in a wide dish with shallow sides, like a soup plate. You will need this when you shape the cookies.

5.Note on shaping the cookies: To measure the volume of your ice cream scoop, fill it with water, then pour the water into a glass measure. It should measure ¼ cup. If you don’t have a scoop, use a ¼-cup measuring cup to portion out the dough. Because there is oil in the recipe, the dough will not stick to your hands or utensils. To make a smaller cookie, shape the dough into balls the size of a large walnut.

6.To shape the first cookie, scoop out the dough with the ice cream scoop and release it onto the confectioners’ sugar. Using 2 spoons or your fingers, roll the ball around in the sugar to coat well. Transfer the ball to the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, placing the balls 2 to 3 inches apart.

7.Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies have crinkled tops and are no longer soft to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to rest on the cookie sheet on a wire rack for 2 minutes, then transfer them with a pancake turner to the rack to cool completely.

MAKES 16 LARGE COOKIES

QUINTESSENTIAL BUT NOT ESSENTIAL

I hear a lot about essential oils in everything from spices to skin moisturizers and aromatherapy products. What’s essential about them? Are they like the essential amino acids we must have in our diets?

No, not at all.

Essential oil is an unfortunate name. An essential oil is not necessarily an oil in the chemical sense, and may not even feel oily at all. Nor is it “essential” in the sense of being indispensable. Aromatherapy and cosmetic flacks take advantage of this misunderstanding by touting the essential oils in their products as if they were somehow imperatives for health and beauty. The adjective essential in the name means simply that the substance is the aromatic essence—the concentrated spirit, if you will—of the plant.