Product Description
PURPOSE
WHAT IS IT?
Quatre Épice (kat-ruh eh-piece), is a classic French spice blend, historically developed as an alternative to pricey allspice.
Also called “French Four-Spice” in many English-speaking countries, it is a mix of aromatic, warming, and piquant spices.
Like Asian five-spice, the spice blend often has more than four spices. It’s that flexibility to play with the blend, moving a bit here, and there, between sweet, and savory applications, that makes it a great alternative to using allspice.
EXPERIENCE
Quatre épice’s flavor profile includes, most commonly:
- Ground white pepper, or black pepper, or a blend of both;
- Cloves;
- Nutmeg;
- Dried ginger.
Some variations of the mix substitute cinnamon for ginger.
CULINARY GEOGRAPHY
Native to France, the quatre épice seasoning remains quite popular in their cuisine. It is also used in nations that were former French colonies, especially in the Middle East.
It will appear in recipes in Tahiti, and Vietnam. In Vietnamese cuisine, though, it has mostly been substituted for Asian five spice, as French influence in the culture has faded more significantly.
TRADITIONAL USES
- Quatre Épice Cake
- Cookies, and other desserts;
- Ragouts, soups, and stews;
- Charcuterie and sausages;
- Pâtés;
- Meats and seafood;
IMPROVISATIONAL ‘RIFFS’
- In a citrus and roasted fennel quatre epices salad;
- My lemon curd American pancakes use a bit for aroma;
- Great on grilled vegetables, especially squash;
- Amp up a hot cross bun with a little nice spice!
THE BACKSTORY
Quatre épice’s origins are not entirely clear. It mimics the flavor profile of allspice berries, which were often hard to come by in France, and their colonies. Allspice was imported from then British colonial Jamaica, and the colonial Dutch Antilles, in the days where both governments were hostile to France, Trade was limited between the nations, but the flavor of allspice was one that French chefs, and home cooks, had to have. It appears that the blend, then, began as an allspice substitute.
AKA
- French Four Spice
- French Fourspice
- Quatre Epice
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