Spice world: How to create your own seasoning blends

Chef Colt Patin has a can on his cook station at the Louisiana Culinary Institute labeled “Louisiana Napalm.”

He was seasoning a whole alligator at Crawfish Town USA for Travel Channel host Andrew Zimmern when the name for his signature seasoning was coined by Zimmern himself. After five years of refining and perfecting the recipe—an evolved and more potent iteration of his all-purpose blend—Patin’s Louisiana Napalm will hit markets by August.

A Cajun and Creole chef with a masterful hand for seasoning, Patin taught us a few things about how to make your own seasoning blends for everything from chicken and pork ribs to stir-fried veggies and jambalaya. The key, he says, is finding the perfect ratio to balance your salts, peppers and sweetness—and taste-testing along the way. lci.edu

Top tips for making your own spice blends at home

1. Begin with salt as the foundation of your blend, but don’t use it as a crutch. The salt should pave the way for more complex flavors of herbs, peppers, sugars and any other sweet notes, not overwhelm them.

2. Store your blend in an airtight container—a Mason jar would work. If humidity causes clumping, throw the mix in a coffee grinder before use. A batch of freshly blended seasoning should be used within two weeks for best flavor.

3. Toast fennel seeds, clove, whole peppercorns and other bigger ingredients in a clean pan over medium heat to intensify aroma and infuse more depth of flavor.

4. Use a coffee grinder to grind coarse ingredients such as peppercorns and leafy, dried herbs like basil, rosemary and bay leaves into a fine powder. This way, all ingredients will mix easily, and bigger ingredients won’t sink to the bottom.

5. Test your blend in small batches using simple foods. Patin recommends scrambled eggs for testing blends—they’re easy to cook, versatile and a good blank canvas for other flavors.

Where to start:

Hover over the icons below to find out how to make several spice blends