When My Missus and I need top-quality spices outside the realm of picante, we head to El Once. Pigeonholed into a narrow store front on Av. Corrientes near Pueyrredón is Doña Clara.
Mainly an extraordinary supply-depot for bakers and cake decorators, Doña Clara has a nice selection of herbs and spices ...and the best thing is that they are amazingly fresh some of the best I´ve ever had.
Saturday, we decided to try a spice we´d never heard of: baharat.
In Arabic, the word simply means spices. It´s a blend of paprika, cumin, black pepper, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and nutmeg. The smell was intoxicating. Our senses were reeling. My Missus started floating around the ceiling jabbering about how she wanted the whole world to smell like this.
Apparently it's a staple in every kitchen in the Levant and Iraq ...and quite a few Turks and Iranians like it too. We can thank the city's history of a big population of Syrians and Lebanese.
It´s fun to use too! I was headed back home to cook-up a batch of shredded pork to slather on Tortillas Pancho Villa ...so I decided to try some baharat in that. Wow. Super killer yummy. The flavors really pop with some salt and habanero pepper.
It's earthy and pungent and perfumy. I´m going to try it in anything that I would normally add cumin. Great spicy successes are a rare thing here ...Saturday was a red-letter day!
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