As some of you feel about bay leaves, that they’re flavorless, that’s kind of how I feel about paprika. It’s red coloration — the mild kind, anyway. Hot paprika does bring the heat. And smoked paprika brings the smoke.
The mild kind — maybe if you used tablespoons of it in a stew you might taste it, or in a spice rub for grilling.
I’ve bought it from good sources (the Spice House and Kalustyan’s in New York) and I don’t get much from it.
-------------------------------- “It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray
Posts: 13890 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005
I always put a little sweet paprika in deviled eggs. It's subtle, but I can taste it. I also have a recipe from Deborah Madison for a mushroom stroganoff that has a fair bit of sweet paprika in it, sort of a mushroom paprikash.
-------------------------------- When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
Posts: 38217 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010
Sweet paprika adds a very subtle taste to deviled eggs (as others have said), potato salad, and cream-based soups. Those are about the only dishes where I use it, but I do like it in those. And it's pretty.
My kids used to compete to be the one who put the paprika on the potato salad, so I must always have some in the house. It brings back good memories.
I've never really found a use for paprika. I don't believe I've ever deviled an egg (I like them, though, I've just never felt compelled to make them), and I've never thought to put it into potato salad. My son swears by it when cooking fish, primarily for the color (I assume, since it has never seemed to have much taste to me.)
Posts: 35428 | Location: West: North and South! | Registered: 20 April 2005
