Asked what the elemental spices to have in a pantry are, and the list I rattle off will vary depending on the day and my mood, with one exception: there will always be cumin.
Because cumin is essential toSichuan-style lamb.Crucial for curries. Required forMexican molesandTex Mexcasseroles. And key tohummus.
So yes, cumin is essential, always and forever. But one more thing: when I talk about cumin, I'm not talking about the ground stuff. I'm talking about the seeds.
The fussy, tsk-tsk reasons about freshness apply. "I would never use ground cumin," says Ethan Frisch, the founder ofsmall-batch spice company Burlap & Barrel. "Unless you've seen it being ground, chances are it's way old."
Fair. But if there are a few reasons to hate on ground cumin, there are many more to love on the whole seeds, starting with the sweet, earthy aromas that waft up from the mortar (or spice grinder) just milliseconds after you crush them. The release of aromas signals the release of flavor, too—a "brighter" cumin flavor, Frisch says, than the subtler flavor you get when you use the seeds whole.
That choice—whole or ground—is the benefit of stocking the whole seed. (That applies to all spices, of course, but if I'm being honest, I only make this arulefor my most commonly used spices: cumin and black peppercorns.) Stocking the whole seeds also gives you a third option, something I'll callpar-ground: seeds that have been pounded in the mortar just a little bit, so that they break up into rugged pieces that have the bright flavor of ground cumin but also some of the texture of whole. It's my personal choice for roasted vegetables and rubbing on chicken or steak—any situation where it's okay to have some bites that have a stronger punch of cumin than others.
Cookbook authorChitra Agrawal goes a different way: she uses whole seeds "90 percent of the time," she says. Often she's blooming the seeds in hot oil—in other words,making atarka—and then pouring the cumin-studded oil overdal, grains, and vegetables. "The cumin flavors the oil and, in turn, the vegetables or rice I pour it over," she says. The bonus: the occasional crunch of a fried cumin seed.
It's also common to slip a few whole seeds into the dal itself while it cooks. Frisch never bothers to grind his cumin seeds when they're being slow-cooked this way, because "the seed softens and sort of dissipates into the dish." The result: soups and stews that have the subtle background flavor of whole cumin seeds, without the texture.
Frisch also rarely bothers to toast his cumin before he uses it. On this point, he and Agrawal diverge—Agrawal prefers to toast before she grinds. A toasted seed will taste, well, toastier, so it's a point of personal preference. But it can also be a matter of quality control: older seeds that have lost some of their flavor benefit from a toast, which imparts some flavor back in.
But old, lackluster cumin is a much bigger problem when you buy it pre-ground, which is why my colleague Anna Stockwell called for the whole seeds in thisbreakfast skillet. "I chose to use whole cumin seeds, lightly crushed along with coriander seeds and red pepper flakes, because I’m very bored of the texture and taste that ground cumin can have—especially if it’s been sitting in he cupboard for a long time."
She saved her most potent reason for last: "Seeds are so much more fun than dust."
