Take a walk down the spice isle of your favorite grocery store. There are numerous spice blends to chose from. After years of trying many of them, I wanted to see what kind of blend I could come up with. After a few tries, I created my Creole Shake blend.
After having success with my Creole Shake, I figures I could make my other blends as well. This week, I am sharing with you my recipes of my blend creations, Blackening Spice, BBQ Spice, Smoke Rub, Seafood Seasoning, and of course Creole Shake seasoning blend.
Here is my all purpose seasoning blend. I use it in most of my dishes. My secret ingredient is ground bay leaf. It is hard to find ground bay in most stores. I have a small spice/coffee grinder that I use. The fragrance of freshly ground bay leaves is out of this world.
Creole Shake Seasoning Blend
4 Tablespoons paprika
4 Tablespoons granulated garlic
3 Tablespoons sea salt
2 Tablespoons ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons granulated onion
2 Tablespoons basil
2 Tablespoons thyme
1 Tablespoon cayenne
1 Tablespoon oregano
1 Tablespoon ground bay leaves
1 Tablespoon white pepper
Blackening seasoning is often found on fish. However, it also is a great seasoning for beef steaks. I use this seasoning to bronze fish and steaks. The pan is not heated white hot as you do for blackening. This allows you to have all the spice of blackening without the smoke that is created during the cooking process.
Blackening Seasoning
3 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
4 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons white pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
I use BBQ seasoning when I light up my grill. It is great on chicken and ribs. I also put a little of this in my BBQ Shrimp recipe, which has nothing to do with the grill.
BBQ Seasoning
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup smoked paprika
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon granulated onion
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
This rub I developed for my Smoker. I use it on everything I smoke: chicken, ribs and brisket. I think it has a good balance of heat and sweet.
Smoke Rub
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup smoked paprika
1/4 cup Kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon granulated onion
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
2 teaspoons Ground chipotle pepper
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
I had been using my Creole Shake blend on seafood but I thought something was missing. After playing around with my original blend, here is my Seafood Blend. It has more ground bay than my original.
Seafood Seasoning Blend
4 tablespoons paprika
4 tablespoons granulated garlic
4 tablespoons ground bay leaves
2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoon granulated onion
2 tablespoon thyme
2 tablespoon basil
2 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon white pepper
While I usually only use my own blends, there are still a couple of blends that I buy remade. Cavendar’s Greek Seasoning makes a great shake over French Fries and Homemade Potato Chips. For steaks, I use Smoky Montreal Steak seasoning. If I get lazy and don’t feel like making my BBQ spice, Who Dat’s Mesquite BBQ Rub makes a great replacement. Don’t be afraid to make your own or add something to a store booths seasoning blend. To rephrase a popular proverb, Spice is the variety of life.
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