Spice
Chinese five-spice
五香粉
Also called five spice powder, ng heung fan
A Chinese warm blend, usually star anise, clove, cassia or cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel. It is perfume and liquorice-warmth, not a chilli powder, and not five random spices from the rack.
Origin
China, where the blend plays on sweet and savoury together. Cantonese roast meats and red-braises are the dishes that made it famous abroad.
Flavour
Liquorice-warm, numbing if the Sichuan pepper is honest, with clove and cassia in the nose. Stale five-spice tastes of dusty anise only. A pinch should fill a pan.
How it is made
Whole spices are toasted or left raw, then ground together. Ratios vary; star anise usually leads. Shop blends go stale faster than whole star anise you grind yourself.
How to use it
A pinch in a char siu marinade or a pork-belly rub is enough. Bloom it briefly in oil with garlic, then add soy and sugar. It shouts if you dump it — start with a quarter teaspoon for a family piece of meat. Do not fry the powder until it blackens; clove turns medicinal. It is not a substitute for garam masala. Grind a small batch if your tin smells faint.
Storage
Airtight, dark, cool. Replace when the aroma no longer rises from a cold spoon.
Recipes using it
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