Algeria
SEASONINGS
The seasoning profile of Algerian cuisine is more about spices than high spiciness. Sweet and savory combinations are not as common in Algeria as in Morocco. In a global context, Algerian flavor building sits in the moderate range — not as minimalist as Northern European cuisines, but simpler and more direct than Persian or Indian cooking. Parsley, cilantro, and mint are the most popular herbs, alongside generous use of cumin, cinnamon, coriander, paprika, caraway, ginger, and turmeric. Spices are usually added together early in cooking. Base building starts with onion, garlic, oil or smen (fermented butter), followed by ground spices. In many stew or slow-cooked dishes, cooks use raisins, apricots, prunes, almonds, pine nuts, and other nuts to create a sweet-savory contrast.
Spice mixes Ras el hanout, Hror, Za’atar, Tabil are popular.
RAS EL HANOUT – a complex blend of spices that can include up to 80 (!) ingredients, is popular with cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, and ginger at its core.
HROR is a mixture of dry-roasted peppercorns, cumin, coriander, cloves, and nutmeg until they’re toasted and gain a distinctive smoky flavor. The mix of flavors in slow-cooked stews adds a robust and warm spice profile. This is a lesser-known but valued regional spice blend of French origin.
Levantine ZA’ATAR – dried oregano, thyme or marjoram, sumac, sesame seeds, salt.
TABIL – a warm and earthy spice mix beloved in Algeria and Tunisia, used to flavor meats, stews, and vegetables. Made of caraway, coriander seeds, cumin and dried chili.
SAUCES
Popular Algerian sauces are harissa, derssa, and hmiss. Also, chermoula, which may be more associated with Moroccan cuisine, yet some versions are used in Algerian seafood and vegetable dishes. Also, the garlic-based toum, originating from Lebanon, is not traditionally Algerian but has found a way to urban areas.
HARISSA – spicy chili paste from dried chili peppers, garlic, olive oil, cumin, coriander. It is used as a condiment to add heat and flavor to stews, soups, and grilled meats and as a marinade for proteins.
DERSSA is a slightly milder, made of garlic, chili, caraway, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, cilantro, and mint. It is often used as a dipping sauce for bread, vegetables, and grilled meats, as a marinade or dressing for salads. It might sound similar to harissa, but dersa is garlic-forward rather than chili-forward, and has a unique flavor profile due to the caraway seeds and fresh herbs.
HMISS is another popular spicy and tomatoey condiment from roasted red peppers, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and chili peppers. Usually served as a dip or spread with bread or grilled meat, it can also be used as a topping for sandwiches or pizzas. In some parts of Algeria, hmiss is made with the addition of cumin and paprika, giving it a unique regional variation.
Philippines
SEASONINGS
Filipino flavors are built in layers, then finished at the table. First, the cook builds the base in the pot, but the diner also cooperates and participates while choosing and adding sawsawans (dippings) entirely to his liking, and that transforms the whole taste and experience.
Filipino cooking is organized among the three dominant axes of sour, salty-umami, and sweet. The very core flavors are salty and sour, as sweetness appears, but rarely dominates. Heat is optional and very personal (except for Bicol region and Mindanao, where spice pastes and chilies are prominent). Filipino cooking also conspicuously skips fresh herbs as a finishing element, which Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian cuisines rely on heavily.
Salt is fundamentally important to preserve from spoilage, it comes through patis fish sauce, bagoong isda fermented fish paste, bagoong alamang fermented shrimp paste, and soy sauce. Salt as a bare mineral is the condiment of last resort. Umami comes from those same fermented ingredients, from long-cooked meat broths, from dried and smoked fish added to stews, and from annatto-colored fat used to start dishes.
Then the saltiness is paired with sourness, which also helps preserve. The Philippines uses vinegar on a fundamentally different scale and in a structurally different way than its neighbors do. Neighboring cuisines use chili to wake up the senses, but Filipinos use vinegar, and this is the core distinction. Vinegars come from palm sap, coconuts, sugarcane, and sugarcane wine. Sourness extensively comes from fruits – tamarind (sour fruit pod), calamansi (tangy citrus), kamias (cucumber tree, acidic green fruit), guava, green mango, batuan (small green sour fruit).
Anato (achiotte) is a coloring spice. It consists of annatto seeds fried in oil, which turn dishes a bright orange-red color. Simmering ingredients in coconut milk — a technique called ginataan — appears often. Coconut milk gata absorbs and carries fat-soluble flavors, softens acidity, and adds richness. Ginger deodorizes fish and meat, warms broths; bay leaves, a direct inheritance from Spanish cooking, feature braises — adobo, mechado, kaldereta. At the table, achara — green papaya pickled in vinegar and spices — sits apart from the sawsawan lineup to cleanse the palate.
Filipinos flavor building starts with gisa. The gisa is the base for adobo, kare-kare, mechado, afritada, monggo, pancit, many soups. From its contents, it has a lot of ties with Spanish sofrito. Garlic goes first, browning until golden and fragrant. Onion follows, softening in the garlic-infused oil. Tomato goes last, its liquid is released to form the base liquid of the dish.
One of the most personal parts of a Filipino meal is sawsawan, a fundamental Filipino dipping sauce, and ultimate flavor customization tool. Some common elements in the sawsawan lineup include:
Suka (vinegar) — usually cane or coconut, sometimes spiced with garlic and labuyo. Used with virtually everything fried or fatty. The vinegar cuts grease and provides the sour axis.
Toyo (soy sauce) — thinner and saltier than Japanese soy sauce, provides the salty-umami axis. Often combined with calamansi to make toyomansi, the most common everyday condiment.
Patis (fish sauce) — patis has many uses in the Filipino kitchen: as a dipping sauce, as a source of salt, and as a flavoring agent. Many Filipino cooks use it instead of salt. In sinigang, for example, there is no salt in the ingredients list; the dish is finished with patis, which adds salinity as well as its own distinctive flavor.
Calamansi — provides the bright, floral citrus note that lime and lemon cannot replicate. It is squeezed directly over anything that needs brightness.
Bagoong — Fermented fish or shrimp paste for deep, complex umami. It has specific pairings, most notably kare-kare and green mango.
Most sawsawan are assembled raw at the table. Lechon sauce is the major exception, and it is a genuinely unusual preparation as it includes water, sugar, breadcrumbs, vinegar, salt, liver, spices, and pepper. Ground roasted liver is the most important ingredient.
BANANA KETCHUP— condiment made from banana, sugar, vinegar, and spices. Its natural color is brownish-yellow, but it is often dyed red to resemble tomato ketchup. Uniquely Filipino, paired with fried chicken, hot dogs, and fast food
PALAPA — a traditional condiment from the Maranao people of Mindanao, consisting of a spicy and aromatic blend from chopped scallion bulbs, ginger, turmeric, chilies, and often toasted coconut.
