Azerbaijan
SEASONINGS
Spicing in traditional cuisine is light, built on delicate saffron, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, sumac, and coriander flavors, complemented by fresh or dried mint, dill, and parsley. Herbs are integral ingredients, not just garnishes. An important element in Azeri cuisine is tartness and acidity, induced by apricots, peaches, pomegranates, sour plums, sumac, vinegars and narsharab sauce. Yogurt is frequently used in sauces. Unlike Georgian cuisine, which also uses fresh herbs and tangy elements, Azerbaijani cuisine doesn’t rely as heavily on walnuts or garlic as a base but instead incorporates the mild sweetness and subtle spice. Chili sauces are largely absent, as heat is not a defining flavor.
Azerbaijan is one of the world’s oldest centers of saffron, cultivated for more than a thousand years in some regions of the country. Saffron, grown in Azerbaijan, is not inferior to any world brand and, with proper storage, does not lose quality for long. It is a central spice in many national dishes (pilafs, bozbash, pit, etc.), even desserts halva and baklava.
The above-mentioned narsharab is a bright and aromatic pomegranate juice reduction without added sugar, though it may be elevated with basil, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, and bay leaves. Meanwhile, pomegranate molasses, popular in other cuisines, may sometimes include added sugar and be slightly sweeter.
Originally from the Caucasus region, ajika, tkemali, and bazhe sauces (see Georgia for more info) are also found in Azerbaijani cuisine.
AJIKA – a spicy condiment made of hot peppers, garlic, coriander, tomato, fenugreek, marigold and salt.
TKEMALI – Pungently tart sauce made of cherry and red-leaf plums, cumin, coriander, dill, chili pepper, pennyroyal and salt.
BAZHE – rich and creamy sauce of ground walnuts, coriander, fenugreek, blue fenugreek, marigold petals, and sometimes onions and garlic.
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.
