Five Spices for Latin American Cooking

To speak of Latin American cuisine is akin to speaking of East Asian or European cuisine. It is far from unitary, but the several Latin American cuisines share some preparation techniques, ingredients, and flavors, albeit in different proportions and combinations, depending on the region. The following five seasons are essential for Latin American cooking and are a worthwhile addition to the pantry:

1. Garlic. As in the cuisine of the United States and Southern Europe, Latin American cuisine uses garlic liberally. Any cook knows that garlic is necessary to make beans in authentic Latin American styles, but its uses go beyond this. Garlic purée rounds out the flavor of many a Latin American sauce, and it is also a common meat marinade. Fresh garlic is the most common in Latin American cuisine, but keep some garlic powder on hand, as it makes adding more garlic to a dish that has too little very easy.

2. Chile. Chile is indigenous to the Americas, and while it has become popular worldwide, it sees the most use in the cuisines of Mexico and Central America, with US cuisine a close second, and is a common ingredient as far south as Peru and the coincidentally-named country of Chile. The fruits are cooked as a vegetable, smoked to become chipotles, puréed into adobo paste or various sauces, made into chilera relish in Costa Rica, or ground into powder and used as a spice rub for meat. At once sweet and hot, it contributes well to meat, bean, or tomato dishes.

3. Cilantro (Coriander Leaf). Coriander seed sees little use in Latin American, but the greens, which taste soapy and have a parsley-like pungency, are frequently addded to fresh salsas and relishes, and are one of the several ingredients puréed to make the parsley-based Argentine chimichurri sauce which has become popular in South America.

4. Epazote. Epazote grows as a weed in North America; many who pull it don’t even realize that in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, it is often cooked with beans. Tasting of kerosene, licorice, and mint, it adds a subtle background flavor that is difficult to duplicate by any other means. It also reduces the intestinal gas associated with the dish, but should be used sparingly, as in large quantities it is a labor-stimulating abortifacient which could cause trouble for pregnant women.

5. Cumin. A European spice, originally from the Near East, cumin was introduced to the Americas by Spanish colonists. Having a warm, curry-like flavor, it goes well in beans or as part of a spice rub for meat, and is used in this way in regional cuisines from Texas all the way down to the tip of South America. It goes well in nearly anything made with chile powder or crushed chile flakes, but some Latin American cuisines make heavy use of it, and others don’t employ it at all; consult recipe books to verify authenticity.