/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>6351113
You're not using enough of it. It's a vegetable - don't put a scant teaspoon of it into a dish, use that stuff by the tablespoon!

...yeah, you're not using REAL, paprika...

Try a dish with paprika as the focal point. Chicken Paprikash comes to mind.

>>6351113
I have that exact kind in my apartment. I dunno, I just like it and like
>>6351127
you use it pretty generously because its pretty mild if it is sweet paprika.

Anyone prefer paprika on your french fries? I like Old Bay more, or white/malt vinegar with salt, but it's nice sometimes.

>>6351149
I usually put old bay and malt vinegar on mine so i dunno.

>>6351144
>you use it pretty generously because its pretty mild if it is sweet paprika.
Because it's not so much a spice as it is a dried vegetable and major component of the sauce/gravy. When you treat it like that it makes more sense.

>>6351113
This guy >>6351127 is right. You need to use quite a bit of it to really be able to taste a difference but if you use enough, it can be very delicious.

I like it for rubs on meat. I specially like it on chicken when we barbecue. It mixes with the chicken's own juices while cooking and it turns it into a sticky sauce just from a rub.

>>6351113
For the most part the stuff we get in the us has no flavor and is basically a coloring agent. You're better off subbing in chipotle.

It should be fairly peppery and smokey.

>>6351185
This, minus the substituting chipotle thing. That makes no sense.

>>6351113
There are a kajillion different varieties of paprika in Hungary alone not to mention the international sorts. Where I live, Hungarians are in very, VERY short supply and most of the paprika sold here has been dumbed down in flavour to appeal to American tastes of 40 years ago, when anything that tasted of anything was too strong a flavour for them to handle.

I started buying it from Polish import shops, but that was expensive, so I switched to Turkish import shops, which was a buck cheaper, but the quality was piss poor.
Then I met a Slovenian here who recommended buying it from Aldi. It's not quite as good as the proper stuff, she said (and I agree), but for the price (about 80% less than the stuff from the Turkish market), it's a very good substitute, so that's what I use.
I cook very, very heavily with paprika.

Now, as for flavour or lack thereof: have you ever cooked a Japanese curry? For a 1 litre pot of curry, you use 4-6tbsp of Japanese curry powder to flavour the roux. Making paprikás, you use about the same amount.
I can give you a long-stewed (5-6 hours!) beef paprikas (marhapaprikás) recipe, if you'd like. I use beef knees (for the stock) and brisket and it's really quite cheap to put together. Chicken paprikás (csirkepaprikás) is even cheaper and takes far less time but I don't like the taste as much.

>>6351672
>Where I live, Hungarians are in very, VERY short supply and most of the paprika sold here has been dumbed down in flavour to appeal to American tastes of 40 years ago, when anything that tasted of anything was too strong a flavour for them to handle.

Watch out, you might get accused of hating America by our resident insecure "patriot"

>>6351113

>>6351113
You've had chorizo right? Smokey paprika is the main flavour. I would never thought to have described paprika as bland. Maybe buy better stuff? There are many types.

>>6351683
If I hated America, I wouldn't have chosen to pack my shit and move across the pond to live here. Just stating the fact that older Americans dislike flavour does not even come close to implying that I dislike America.

Smoked paprika is totally dank
You should get some

>>6351113
>I've never noticed it adding any significant flavor to anything

Sounds like you have crappy and/or old and flavorless paprika. It should have a distinct flavor. How old is the container you have? I have used that exact brand before and found it to be quite flavorful. Is yours old, perhaps?

>>6352052

I bought it about a month ago.

>>6352122

Sure, but that's just one of many variables. How old was the container before you bought it? How was it stored? That brand should be quite flavorful. If it's not then it's either lost its flavor over time, or you are using tiny little amounts of it.

>>6351805
listen to Nigel, guys, Nigel knows

I will put this shit on ice cream if not physically restrained from doing so

>>6351113
I use it as a garnish on top of hard boiled eggs, or cream cheese stuffed celery spears. Regular or smoked, it's also good on the outside of a cheese ball, like for a cocktail party. Smoked paprika has a ton of flavor and can be used to get grill flavor where there is none available. Think bloody mary rim, or on top of a potato salad batch.

I probably ony use it in dishes that heavily feature it like another said, paprikash, whether I'm doing, chicken, pork or beef, it's got to be in great quantity and most delicious if tempered by a little sour cream or cream in the broth. It's not really a sub for chili powder. If you're looking for that, then simply buy dried chilies and puree once soaked for oomph, or use a jarred roasted pepper in your dish instead.

>>6351683
Paprika should be often replaced. It gets very stale after opening, and even darkens. Should be pretty bright red if fresh, not that maroon dark brown stuff.

>>6351805
wow, nigel is swole af

Whats the best place to get good paprika? I wanna make some chicken paprikash, my grandma used to make it all the time since she was married to a Hungarian man.
There's an indian market (not sure how good it is) and some more hipster/expensive markets a (trader joe's, lucky's, fresh market) around me.
Or if I can't find anything good, what's a good brand to order?

>>6354399
find a local spice store or worst case get some from the supermarket

Brands are somewhat important as is organic, but with ground spices the most important thing is how it's stored. If you need to get some at the store, make sure it's in an opaque air-tight container like OP. Get a smaller container unless you're gonna use it all the time. This will force you to get fresh fairly often. Don't store your spices too near the stove, as heat will change/destroy the flavor.

>>6354413
>local spice store
Worst. Advice. Ever.
Many spice stores have no scruples. I'm not going to say "most," but that's entirely possible. For a bunch of these businesses, if it's a powdered spice or herb you're asking for, they will sell the lowest quality rubbish at you at the highest price they can and not think twice about it. For someone who doesn't know good paprika from bad, as evidenced by >>6354399's post, going to a spice shop is a crap shoot.
Rather, better s/he find a packaged brand that works for him/her.


>>6354399
You clearly live in America. Aldi in the US has surprisingly good quality paprika for next to nothing. It's not the best quality, but it's only about a half notch below the best paprika I've had in the US and only a full notch (or notch and a half or two) below paprika from back home.

Trust me. I'm quarter Resian (mixed Slovene/Hungarian/Italian people living in western Slovenia and northeastern Italy). I know paprika. I go through about a pound or two every year.

>>6354595
Interesting. I can think of three amazing spice shops in my city. They're all really friendly and let you try almost any of the products. I'm a chef and I can say that the quality on all the spices is high. The shop that I frequent has a better selection and slightly better quality, but I've never had bad spices from one of these stores. Sounds like you had a bad experience.

>>6352131
>>6351672
Thanks, Anons. I, like OP, was using too little of it, and was also using OP's pic paprika because it was the one I grew up with in my house. (Mom knew how to cook American, she didn't know how to cook Hungarian. Will use rest of OP's paprika and will look for more advanced paprika like dat Chiquilin up there.)

>>6351113
You're probably adding too many ingredients to your food. People from the anglosaxon World are always guilty of adding too much shit to their food instead of buying goodquality produce.