Typical Elaboration and Preparation Methods

Herbs, spices, garlic and onions can be ingredients of the main daily meals as condiments to dishes to provide taste and fragrance to foods, as well as part of drinks, infusions and desserts.
In Spanish cooking almost every dish is flavoured with the use of a chopped herb here or some spice there. However, except from the spicy chorizo or alioli, we never describe Spanish food as being particularly spicy and that is because the use of herbs and spices in Spanish cuisine is subtle and gentle (adding bay leaf, little strands of saffron...), and avoids the need of using sauces.

• Herbs and spices cooking tips (When adding herbs and spices?):

-Add fresh herbs near the end of the cooking time or just before serving as prolonged heating could affect the aroma and nurtrients.
-Adding dried herbs and spices during cooking.
- Whole dried spices and herbs (allspice, bay leaves...): dishes cooking an hour or more, such as soups and stews.
- Ground dried spices and herbs, since they release their flavor quickly:  added nearer the end of longer-cooking and beginning of short ones.

• Garlic is used in such a wide range of Spanish dishes: rubbed on toast for breakfast, fried either whole or chopped, used to stuff meat, and of the garlic mayonnaise "alioli" and other relevant dishes such as paella and prawns “al pil pil”.
• Saffron gives yellow colour of the Spanish paella.
• Cinnamon can be sold in sticks, which occur when the bark is dried and rolls up, or in its ground form. Cinnamon is often reminiscent of Christmas for many people but is used extensively in many dishes in many other seasons. 
• The onion is a very juicy food that can be cooked with little oil and water.

Recipes

1. Pasta with ham, lemon and basil
2. Cream of cucumber
3. Tomato and cheese salad with basil
4. Orange Cinnamon
5. Hake with garlic and parsley
6. Veal stew with Herbes de Provence

• En forma de piezas enteras ( pimienta, hojas de laurel ... ) en platos de larga cocción (una hora o más), tales como sopas y guisos
• En forma molida, para liberar su sabor rápidamente, al final en cocciones largas y al principio en cocciones cortas.