Homemade Taco Seasoning

The love of good food runs deep in our family.  All of our kids including those marrying into the family a very accomplished home cooks with the same philosophy of cooking from scratch.  They are now teaching their love of food to the grandchildren who love to help in the kitchen.  Two of them have taken culinary courses in knife handling and one would dearly love to give up her current career in favour of becoming a chef.  She even took a part time position in a higher end restaurant that also does catering during the summer just for the experience. 

Cooking from scratch is not always about saving money.  That's just a pleasant bonus.  Cooking from scratch is about controlling the quality of the ingredients to get the best flavour possible while avoiding the unnecessary food additives.  The spice aisles are filled with a multitude of seasoning blends including taco seasoning.  The problem with many commercially prepared seasoning blends is they contain MSG, anti-caking agents, as well as other additives some artificial.  The best policy is to make your own seasoning blends tailored to your tastes.

Tone's taco seasoning doen't contain MSG but it does have flour, sugars, disodium inosinate (flavour enhancer), salts, and silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent).  A 23 oz containers costs about $4 at Sam's Club, considerably less expensive than the envelope packets at the grocery store.  Our daughter shared her recipe for taco seasoning that avoids the use of any additives.  I doubled the recipe.  Compared to Tone's the homemade taco seasoning is richly coloured with an amazing flavour.  I definitely will not be buying taco seasoning again!  Of note, you can easily make your own garlic, onion and cayenne powders by dehydrating then powdering much the same way I make tomato powder. 

I love tacos and taco salad!  Flavour is always the key so I tinker with the ingredients to get just the right blend.  This taco salad was made with extra lean ground beef seasoned with the homemade taco seasoning.  It was topped with homemade salsa (hot), organic hydroponically grown and still living Boston lettuce, black olives, organic locally grown tomatoes, onions, sour cream and a blend of shredded cheeses.  The salad was delicious with the meat seasoned to perfection!

Of note is the Boston lettuce, an herbicide/pesticide free product of Canada.  It comes in a plastic clam shell container with the roots still attached.  I watered it when I was unpacking the groceries.  It cost $1.97 for the head of lettuce which is comparable to other heads of lettuce at the moment.  The difference is it will stay fresh and green, continuing to flourish as long as it is watered.  Some fresh herbs come with the roots attached as well.  You can pot them up and with a little TLC you can enjoy fresh clippings year round from that one purchase.  Now this is the way to buy produce!   

Beau Monde Seasoning Mixes

I make a lot of my own spice and herb blends which means not only am I on the lookout for common blends I'm also looking for those that aren't quite so common.  One day I was looking for recipes and came across a recipe calling for Beau Monde Seasoning blend.  Beau Monde is French for Beautiful World.  Now with a name like that how could I not try this seasoning blend?  A bit of research found that there are actually two versions of this seasoning blends and they are not interchangeable!  Most newer recipes calling for Beau Monde seasoning don't take into account there are two versions of this seasoning blend so unless specified use the New Beau Monde seasoning blend.  I decided to make a batch of each so will post recipes using each as I use them. 

Old Beau Monde Seasoning Blend is a spicy, warm blend suitable for poultry, beef, fish, vegetables, sauces and dips.  It was originally made by Old World Seasonings but is no longer available.   It smelled wonderful making the blend!  This blend adds a warm, spicy, aromatic, bolder note than the new beau monde version that follows below.  I also think it would be a bit overpowering for fish and dips so use sparingly to get the flavour you want. 

Old Beau Monde Seasoning Blend
source: unknown

1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp ground bay leaf
1 tbsp ground allspice
 2 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground mace
1 tsp celery seed
2 tbsp ground white pepper

Combine the ingredients and mix well. Pour into a container to use as desired.

New Beau Monde Seasoning differs radically from Old Beau Monde Seasoning.  This is the beau monde seasoning that was originally put out by Spice Islands and used mainly for dips and sauces.  It is light enough to be used for some fishes as well.

New Beau Monde Seaoning
source: Garden Gnome

1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp celery seed
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp organic sugar

Mix the ingredients together.  Pour into spice jar to use as desired.

Homemade Poultry Seasoning

Herb and spice blends are a must in any kitchen and there are many commercially prepared blends available. Some of these blends are trade secrets (eg. Montreal Steak Seasoning) so actual recipes do not exist. Others are regional blends that were created based on available herbs and spices so vary from brand to brand. A good example of this is Herbs de Provence. Anyone who cooks will want to have a good variety of these types of blends on hand. In many cases there are clone recipes that come very close to the propriety blend and in some cases are a better blend. In most cases the homemade blends are cheaper than store bought.

One reason for making your own herb blends is to use the bounty from your garden. I had 40 different varieties of herbs growing in my last garden and while I very much prefer fresh herbs to dry herbs, I found it necessary to dry for use during the winter months. Once dried the herbs can be flaked or powdered to make herb blends.

Poultry Seasoning

I think most cooks at one time or another have been in the midst of making a dish only to realize that they don't have a certain ingredient. Quite often that ingredient will be an herb, spice or blend. Friday morning I was preparing the stuffing for the turkey being served for our dinner party that night. It dawned on me that I hadn't shared some of the herb blends I make and take for granted. Making your own blends takes one more thing off your grocery list allowing you to focus on the basic herbs and seasonings for the ones you buy. This way you can combine both in various combinations to make several different kinds of blends. At the same time making your own allows you to use any herbs you grow and as you know, growing your own herbs is a sure fire way to save money.

Poultry seasoning is a must for homemade stuffing. It is one of the key ingredients! Commercial blends are generally quite expensive per once because they come packaged in small glass bottles. There are three problems with this. First and most important is clear glass caused herbs to quickly lose their flavour due to light damage so you are paying for an inferior product from the get go. Second you are paying for the packaging aka glass bottle. Finally you will often find yourself out of an herb blend when you least expect it so being able to make your own from what's on hand is a real plus. The first four herbs are essentials in your garden. All are perennials that are fairly problem free.

Poultry Seasoning

4 tbsp ground sage
2½ tbsp ground thyme
1½ tbsp ground marjoram
1½ tbsp ground rosemary
3 tsp ground nutmeg
3 tsp ground black pepper

Grind each herb separately using the grind setting on a food blender or use a dedicated coffee grinder. Measure out the ingredients and combine. Place the ingredients into food blender. Grind 1 minute to well distribute. Use a funnel to pour into spice bottles or spoon into a 125 ml mason jar. Seal. Store in a dark, cool area. Use as you would commercial blends.

Yield: 6 ounces