Food History

I’m home and trying to catch up too many things. What does this mean? It means you get to discover the letter ’s.’

saffron (crocus sativus) - Hindi kesha; the stamens of a lovely Spring flower, which means I am glad that I do not have to harvest them. Some people recommend using turmeric in recipes which call for saffron, because turmeric is so very much cheaper and easier to use. Saffron and turmeric have, however, very distinctive flavours, so I would only replace the saffron in something so strongly flavoured that the delicate taste of the stamens is quite overwhelmed by the dish. I never use turmeric in a sweet dessert, for instance. More than that, turmeric gives almost an ochre yellow to a dish, which is a different shade entirely to saffron. If these things don’t matter to you, then go ahead and use turmeric, but if they do, then lash out and use saffron, but soak it in a little water first, if you want to liberate the colour.

sage (salvia officinalis) - once used as a tooth whitener (a bit of information you absolutely need to know) it is the classic herb for cooking with goose.

sambal olek - paste made of chillies. The great thing about chillies is they are very good a preserving themselves - grind them up with vinegar, keep them in the fridge, and you have your own sambal.

self-raising flour - plain flour with raising agents added - normally something like sodium bicarbonate mixed with cream of tartar

semolina - named after its shape (semoule, in French, meaning sort of granular) this is a wheat-based flour (well, not quite a flour, more like sand) used for cooking anything from upuma to pancakes.