Welcome to a new year of good eats and food fun! We’re kicking 2021 off with a celebration of base ingredients. It will be a month filled with herbs, spices, whole foods and fundamentals inspired by Lior Lev Sercarz, the mind behind Mastering Spice: Recipes and Techniques to Transform Your Everyday Cooking. Lior’s other book, The Spice Companion, is a longtime and well-worn favorite in the shop. It’s clear, direct approach to ingredient story telling is just what we need when answering the who, what, where questions of herbs and spices.

In Mastering Spice, Lior expands into pairings and ‘master’ blends for vegetables, proteins and bakes. His pantry and fridge stocking guide is the best I’ve seen. Lior starts the book with a ‘How to’ explaining the utility and purpose of mastering basic techniques for home cooks. It's fun, informative and a perfect kick off for what's to come. This book is for us – empowered home cooks looking for simple ways to add flavor. We tried a few recipes from this book and loved them. One of our favorites? Cardamom + Pink Pepper Brownies. Get the recipe here!