One of our wedding presents was a spice rack, which I was very excited for. I’m trying to get better and better in the kitchen, and having an array of tasty flavors at my fingertips seemed like a beautiful start to my experimental ability to make each meal savory and succulent.
Yes, we wanted a spice rack. We registered for a spice rack. But I’m not sure I was fully prepared for the disappointment the spice rack would be in my life.
As I set out our new spice rack on the kitchen counter this morning, I carefully un-boxed and placed each of the 20 bottles of spices into the shiny, chrome lazy suzan stand. As I placed them in, I considered… “should I group them by alphabet or by most common usage…”
As I was considering this challenging question, I started to notice a disturbing trend. There were absolutely NO bottles of spice in this set that I actually use! For reals?!?! Where was the garlic powder, garlic salt, paprika, sage, and cayenne pepper? Salt and pepper, anyone?
Now there was parsley, oregano, rosemary, bay leaves, and thyme: spices at which I am not proficient but which I would like to learn about. But other than that, there were 15 other completely useless spices to me, some which I’d never even heard of and others which I certainly will never use.
Then there was the useless “Pizza Seasoning” jar. Great. Now I have a spice that I’ll actually use (if I ever get around to making that yummy homemade pizza dough I saw on America’s Test Kitchen), but what if I like it?! In no time it will be used up, and then where will I get more of this proprietary “Pizza Seasoning?” I will, undoubtedly, have to go buy another whole spice rack by this manufacturer to get the same blend of scrumptious flavors! I object! And what if I hate it? I will then have to empty the jar, relabel it “Salt” and then have a ghetto spice rack that just couldn’t do the job in the first place?
Rude.
Spice rack makers of the world, are you listening? Make me a spice rack with the proportional sizes and quanities of spices that I actually will use… Thank you!
So the sad news is that I thought by having a spice rack I would be able to at least parially declutter my spice cabinet, but now it looks like I will be returing to the use of the spice cabinet for my oft turned to everyday spices, and using this new shiny spice rack for little more than an advertisment of my cooking prowess.
Yes, mother. My kitchen is no longer a “show kitchen.”
Ooh, try the pizza seasoning on popcorn. Not that I’ve ever encountered pizza seasoning, so no guarantees, but I did once – by way of some strange cosmic joke, I’m sure – end up owning something mysterious called “sandwich seasoning,” and that was AMAZING on popcorn!
The Pizza seasoning is almost certainly a combination of Oregano, Parsley, and Thyme.
If you run out, you could just mix your own. I’d go with 3 parts Oregano, 2 parts Parsley, and 1 part Thyme. For good measure, you could add a few red chile flakes as well if you like the spice. 🙂
i feel your pain.
For some reason this reminds me of the “Gun Rack” rant on the movie Wayne’s World…
Ha ha. We just threw out our spice rack that we got as a wedding present. We only used the basil and oregano… we figured after 8 years, the spices probably weren’t good anymore. Have fun with your new spice rack…so useless for us.
Ha ha. We just threw out our spice rack that we got as a wedding present. We only used the basil and oregano… we figured after 8 years, the spices probably weren’t good anymore. Have fun with your new spice rack…so useless for us. Hey, nice header by the way.
Oops. Repeat – I thought I’d already published…
Hey, I gave you that spice rack! Just kidding. I’m with you on the spice thing, however. Chances are if a recipe calls for a spice you’ve never heard of then there are going to be a lot of other ingredients called for that you most definately will not have just sitting in your pantry. Is it too late to return it??
Yeah, I was really excited for a spice rack too, for the same reasons! But now I only use the parsley (goes great on everything) and cinnamon (for baking and making cinnamon sugar for toast). Pretty much everything else either waits patiently for P to use it when he cooks, or just sits there collecting dust and mocking me. (What do I do with Cardamon seeds, anyway??)
And you’re right, if I try to refill and re-label some of these jars, it will look totally ghetto – why can’t someone invent a ‘build your own spicerack’ where I can buy however many bottles I want and pick what labels I want!
Yes… I actually do still have the gift receipt… but so far my desire for a shiny chrome spice rack in my kitchen is overshadowing the need for yet another gift card to spend…
Hey there: I found your blog because I run a business that sells a new, empty spice rack called the SpiceStack. SpiceStack organizes spices that you already have from the store in your kitchen cabinet.
We thought this was a good idea since most spice racks today come with spices that you never use (as you know!). BUT the problem is that retailers want to sell spice racks that are pre-filled with spices… to make the items better gift items for weddings and such. Also, the spice rack manufacturers can fill the bottles with cheap spices and charge a lot more this way… frustrating because many of those spices are useless!
It kind of reminds me of that scene in Father of the Bride where Steve Martin goes nuts because the hot dogs come in packs of 12 and the buns come in packs of 8. Haha!
Best, Lauren Greenwood, SpiceStack Inc.
May I suggest doing something like we did? http://melaniehess.blogspot.com/2009/02/our-weekend.html
It got the spices out of our crowded cabinet, let us use only spices we have need of, AND let us use a label maker. You KNOW the stage manager in you loves that idea. 🙂