Layering Spices From Wayfarer's Spicery

Cooking with all natural blends can be tricky if you haven't used them before.

One of the key things to remember is to layer your spices while you're cooking. This can be achieved through a few different methods, but there are two popular and easy ways to do it.

The first is to use the blend in multiple places. Using our Cajunish blend, for example, you may decide you'd like to use it as a rub on a pork cutlet. To elevate things a little further, with just a few more ingredients you can use that same blend to make a Cajunish BBQ style sauce to go with it. Check out our Recipes section to see some sauces we recommend.

Another classic and simple way to layer the spices is to use them at different points during the cook. Different spices will bloom and become more flavorful and aromatic at different temperatures and levels of cooking. Spices like Paprika for example will bloom well over direct flame while grilling, but things like citrus peels will burn away or lose a lot of their flavor as the oils escape with the heat. To combat this, reseasoning your dish at various points will help boost the flavor further. Generally, we recommend using our blends at 3 different points during the cook.

If it is a blend that is meant to be used as a finishing spice as well, we recommend an initial seasoning, seasoning within the last 25% of the cook and again as a finishing spice once cooked.

If it is not a finishing blend, we recommend an initial seasoning, a seasoning when there is 60% of the cook time remaining and a final seasoning when there is 20% of the cook time remaining.