Three Ottolenghi Spice Tins, and What to Put Them On

By Emily Patrikakos, Brand Executive at The Gourmet Pantry.

Aleppo pepper is a dried red chilli from either side of the Syrian and Turkish border, sold as coarse crimson flakes rather than powder. It is fruity and slow, not sharp. It anchors one of the three Ottolenghi spice tins we stock, and it is the one people search for.

Those tins sit slightly apart from the rest of the Ottolenghi range. Nearly everything else arrives wet: harissa and pesto in jars, marinades and sauces in bottles. The tins are the only dry seasonings on the shelf, which makes them the cheapest way in and the hardest to know what to do with. A jar of harissa announces itself as a sauce. A tin of flakes tells you nothing.

The three tins at a glance

All three are $12.95. Two hold 50g and the Aleppo tin holds 40g, which looks like the worse deal until you see how they get used. The chilli goes on at the end, by the pinch. The other two go on before the heat, by the teaspoon. The 40g tin outlasts both.

What Aleppo pepper is, and what is in the tin

The chilli is named for Aleppo in northern Syria and grows across that region and southern Turkey, where it is sold as pul biber and sits on restaurant tables beside the salt. The pods are dried and ground coarse with salt, which is why the flakes look slightly damp and deep brick red rather than dusty orange. The heat is mild and turns up late. What lands first is fruit, somewhere between raisin and dried tomato.

Our tin is Ottolenghi Aleppo & Other Chillies, and the second half of that name is the honest part: a blend built around Aleppo, not a tin of Aleppo alone. That makes it more useful rather than less, since a single chilli tends to be one note. Use it as a pinch over finished food, never stirred in at the start. It is also the tin for a table that includes someone who says they do not like spicy food. They will eat this and ask what it is.

Citrus and spice, and where it lands

Ottolenghi Citrus & Spice is the bright one. Dried citrus peel does the work, with warm savoury spice underneath, and the effect is a squeeze of lemon you can apply before roasting instead of after. Lemon juice in a hot oven mostly evaporates and takes its sharpness with it. Our earlier guide to the citrus and spice blend goes further into the label.

One teaspoon covers four chicken thighs. Rub it in with oil and salt half an hour ahead, or straight onto the tray. It suits white fish, potatoes, cauliflower, chickpeas and any grain salad that would otherwise need a dressing made. The citrusy chicken, fennel and potato traybake is the fullest version, on one tray in 55 minutes.

Sweet and smokey, the tin that empties first

Ottolenghi Sweet & Smokey is paprika led, with smoke and just enough sweetness to round it off. It works on the food people eat standing up, and on the barbecue. Unlike the chilli it goes on before the heat, through oil or grated cheese, so it toasts rather than sits. The sweet and smokey cheesy garlic bread is the shortest demonstration of that.

Two of the three, tasted before you commit

This only makes sense once you have handled the whole range. The sweet and smokey seasoning also turns up as the coating on Ottolenghi Sweet & Smokey Marcona Almonds, 110g at $17.95, so you can meet the flavour over a glass of wine, not a roasting tray. Aleppo has a second appearance too: the Ottolenghi orange dressing, 250ml at $24.95, lists aleppo chilli beside orange zest and olive oil, so a green salad will show what the chilli does before you buy a tin.

One clarification, because it catches people out: Ottolenghi Rosemary Spiced Nuts, 110g at $14.95, are their own flavour, not a tin you can buy. Both bags belong among Christmas nibbles to put out before lunch.

Six things to put them on this week

1. Fried eggs. A pinch of Aleppo once they are plated and the yolk is still soft. Nothing else, not even pepper.
2. Warm flatbread. Brush with olive oil, dust with citrus and spice, cut into wedges.
3. Cheese on toast. Half a teaspoon of sweet and smokey through the grated cheese before it goes under the grill.
4. Chicken and potatoes. One teaspoon of citrus and spice, one tablespoon of oil, salt, four thighs, 200°C.
5. Nuts warmed in a dry pan. Two minutes over medium heat, then half a teaspoon of sweet and smokey and salt.
6. Yoghurt or hummus. Spoon it flat, make a well, fill it with olive oil, then Aleppo across the top so the flakes float.

If the wet half of the range is new too, the miso pesto is the usual first jar: our guide to how to use miso paste covers what it can stand in for.

Aleppo chilli butter, the easiest thing to do with the tin

Both the burn and the colour in a dried chilli are fat soluble, which is why the flakes belong in butter rather than scattered dry over hot food. Beat two teaspoons of Aleppo flakes into 125g of soft butter with a good pinch of salt, roll it into a log in baking paper and chill it. The red pigment bleeds out within a minute or two, well before any heat registers, so the butter comes out the colour of paprika and still tastes gentle. Scattered dry over a cob on the barbecue the same flakes give almost none of that colour and scorch bitter instead.

Grill corn until it is charred in patches, then put the butter on after it comes off the heat and never before, because milk solids burn at barbecue temperature and take the chilli down with them. The log keeps two weeks in the fridge and three months in the freezer, and it slices from frozen with a warm knife. Cut it into rounds before freezing with squares of baking paper between them and you can pull out two at a time, for a jacket potato, roast pumpkin, prawns off the grill, or on toast under a fried egg.

Questions we get asked about these tins

What is Aleppo pepper and how hot is it?

A sun dried red chilli from the border country between Syria and Turkey, ground coarse with salt, which keeps the flakes slightly moist and deep red. The heat is mild to moderate and slow to arrive, well short of a bird's eye. Use a generous pinch where you would usually use a careful one.

What can I use instead of Aleppo pepper?

Turkish pul biber is the same chilli under another name. Failing that, mix roughly four parts sweet paprika to one part ordinary chilli flakes: colour and most of the fruitiness, with the heat under your control. Urfa biber is darker and smokier, so it changes a dish rather than standing in for one.

What is in Ottolenghi's citrus and spice blend?

Dried citrus peel leads it, with warm savoury spice underneath. Our earlier guide to the blend picks out lemon peel, cumin, sumac and nigella as the notes to expect. The tin carries the full list, so read it before cooking for anyone with an allergy.

How long do spice blends keep once opened?

Ground blends fade rather than spoil. Kept lidded, away from the stove and out of light, a tin is worth finishing within a year of opening. The test is your nose: rub a pinch between your fingers, and if it smells of nothing it will taste of nothing. Avoid the shelf above the cooktop, the one almost everybody uses.

Where can I buy Aleppo pepper in Australia?

The Gourmet Pantry ships the 40g tin Australia wide, and shipping is free on orders over $100. Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post. Australia Post carries it from there, so order ahead. The other two travel in the same box.

Which one to start with

Buy sweet and smokey if you cook for children or over coals, citrus and spice if you roast most weeks, Aleppo if you keep wishing for colour and warmth on finished food. All three sit with the jars and bottles in the Ottolenghi range, and the Ottolenghi hampers box them up together for someone else. For the wider festive shelf, start with our Christmas hampers.