Cajun Seasoning

One of the most essential steps to an amazing dish is seasoning. Salt, fresh herbs, or spices are added to food to enhance the flavor. Properly seasoning and learning to salt, taste, and adjust to achieve the perfect combination of flavors is the most basic way to begin your cooking journey.

If you're a beginner and just starting your cooking journal there are a ton of cookbooks out there you can purchase. A great book I would recommend to purchase for ideas on blending spices is "Herbs & Spices". This book has over 200 herbs and spices, with Recipes for marinades, spice rubs, oils, and more. It also provides suggestions on pairing the herbs and spices with proteins and vegetables.

One of many spice blends I like to make is a Cajun blend for Seafood Gumbo. For cajun and seafood dishes most people like to use "Old Bay" seasoning. Old Bay seasoning is a blend of celery salt, paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and other spices that are exactly what you want to sprinkle on shrimp, crab boil, fish, fries, chicken, and vegetables. I have nothing against the Old Bay seasoning, I just prefer to make my own. When using this mixture on fish I like to add additional seasonings to enhance the flavor profile.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 3/4 cup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons garlic powder

• 2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning

• 2 tablespoons paprika

• 2 tablespoons salt (I use Pink Himalayan Salt)

• 1 tablespoon black pepper

• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

• 1 tablespoon onion powder

Note: You can add 1 tbsp of bay leaf powder, but I like adding a whole bay leaf 

Additional Ingredients for fish:

• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground clove

• 1 tsp ground allspice

• 1 tsp ground ginger

Instructions:

In a small bowl, whisk all ingredients together. Store your seasoning mixture in a jar with a tight-fitting lid or a storage container.

Enjoy this seasoning mix on seafood and veggies!

V's Seafood Gumbo

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