When fresh and fragrant, a spice mix is the ultimate flavor shortcut: You get the benefits of a handful of spices but only have to buy one jar. They’re like footie pajamas (shirt, pants, and socks) for your spice cabinet. Five-spice powder, a blend commonly used in the cuisines of some regions in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand (among others), is no exception. It’s a textbook flavoring in sumptuous dishes like crispy pork belly (siu yuk, in Cantonese) and brothy pho. And it plays just as well in sweet applications, like cookies and loaf cakes.
Five-spice has a consistent flavor profile—think warm, deep, and distinctly spicy without being fiery—but it isn’t always made up of the same five spices (and there aren’t always, or even usually, only five). The number refers to the five traditional Chinese elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) and flavors (sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and acrid/pungent), of which five-spice achieves a harmonious balance.
Many Chinese five-spice blends comprise ground star anise seed, cinnamon or its close relative cassia, cloves, Sichuan pepper, and ground fennel seeds. Other variations may include ginger, nutmeg, turmeric, cardamom, galangal, Mandarin orange peel, white or black peppercorns, and licorice root. (Are you counting? That’s way more than five ingredients.)
The blend is often used in marinades, stews, and braises to complement fatty meats like duck, goose, or pork, but it can bring warmth without sugary sweetness to other dishes too. Add a smidge to your favorite nut or snack mix, fall fruit galette, banana bread, sugar cookie dough, cream cheese frosting, carrot loaf cake, or granola. Or sprinkle some in when you’re whipping cream or simmering oatmeal. Start conservatively—some manufacturer’s blends may be pungent (and you can always add more to taste).
Five-spice powder is also the backbone of senior test kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk’s new Five-Spice Crackle Cookies, lending the dramatic holiday bake an incredible depth of flavor. Picture a molasses cookie amped with even more warming notes and cozy complexity. Be aware that the permutation of spices in your chosen blend will affect the cookies’ flavor: Select one with a prominent Sichuan or white peppercorn note for more tingly heat, or choose a blend with more anise and fennel aroma for a sweeter bite. Does your five-spice have orange peel? Expect a hint of citrus! Enlist a few friends to make a batch, each with a different brand of five-spice powder, to taste the differences. Or choose your favorite tried-and-true blend (Jesse’s store-bought five-spice mix of choice is Frontier Co-Op Five Spice Powder for its funkier notes) and make a batch alongside any of Jesse’s new holiday cookies for your next cookie swap.
When buying five-spice at the grocery store or online, look for mixes without salt. If you have the opportunity to give it a whiff, try to detect a fresh licorice aroma. Interested in toying with your own blend? This recipe is a great place to start. The trick to making a blend that lasts is to use whole spices: cinnamon sticks and Sichuan peppercorns, for example, and blitz them to a fine powder in a spice grinder (or well-cleaned coffee grinder). Pick and choose the spices based on flavors you like. Start with the big four: cinnamon or cassia, cloves, fennel seed, and star anise, then mix in something punchy like powdered ginger, white peppercorn, or even green or black pepper. Then see above for other spices used and mix and match at will.
Use your five-spice blend as a wing rub, as breading for pork cutlets, in a fragrant mix for cocktail peanuts, or any of the abovementioned recipes. Either way you go, store your five-spice powder in an airtight container in a dark, dry place. And remember, like any spice, it has an expiration date. When it starts to lose its aroma, it’s time to get a new jar. And it might be time to make some more cookies—or ribs, whichever.
This version of the classic blend is made with up to eight spices. It’s worth using them all for the fullest flavor.
Editor’s Note: This story was first printed in August 2019. It has since been updated with additional reporting by Li Goldstein.
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