The Pantry Ingredients Alton Brown Keeps In Low Quantity But High Quality

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No-nonsense kitchen guru Alton Brown isn't afraid to share with his audience the right and wrong ways to go about doing pretty much anything when it comes to cooking. He's a stickler for doing things the proper way without being sanctimonious, which extends to sourcing the best possible ingredients, particularly spices. As he shared in an interview with EatingWell, he favors a tightly curated approach to these culinary essentials, saying, "I'm a big believer in spices and have a small collection of very high-quality spices."

On Facebook, Brown goes a step further by sharing his "Good Eats" on-set spice rack with Food Network viewers, confiding that his preferred method for storing herbs and other seasonings is in small round metal cans that he attaches to the inside of his cabinet doors to keep them away from the triple threat of light, heat, and oxygen that affects spice flavor and quality. While he uses Velcro to secure his spice tins vertically, he notes that using magnets would also work. To maintain freshness, he recommends swapping out spices every six months and shares that herbs often have an even shorter shelf life. He also makes it easier to keep track of freshness by writing dates on the containers.

Spices even factor into Alton Brown's top cooking tips, as in his charcoal chimney-grilled cheese that adds dry mustard, smoked paprika, and black pepper to the cheesy filling. He fully embraces the tenets of using spices like a pro chef, including buying high-quality spices for top flavor. You can also shop like the Food Network star by checking out the offerings from his go-to purveyor, The Spice House, which sells both whole spices and blends, like its Back of the Yards garlic-pepper rub — he gives a special shout-out to the company's "flatpacks," which he uses to refill his metal spice containers.

If you are more adventurous in the kitchen and willing to try some notable, uncommon spices like green cardamom or nigella seeds, just make sure to keep your quantities in check. You don't want to end up with copious amounts of select costly spices that may languish on the shelf before you get back around to using them. For the full Brown effect, buy whole spices instead of the pre-ground kind, and use an electric coffee grinder to pulverize them at home. You should also consider following Brown's lead and steer clear of buying spices in bulk or at the grocery store (choosing higher-quality, more potent small-batch and single-origin spices instead) — and, of course, never store them on the countertop.