Ingredients
Cloves
These are the small dried unopened buds from the tropical clove tree. The strong spiciness of cloves is used in Western cooking for adding to sweet things such as pies and cakes or in mulled drinks, as well as in pickles, for studding into baked hams or into onions to flavour savoury stews and sauces. Indian cooking tends to use them just in savoury dishes, particularly with rice and meat.
Cloves also add their slightly bitter taste to several spice mixes, including Chinese five spice, Indian garam masala and the French quatre épice.
They can be bought whole or ground and should be used sparingly as their flavour can easily overpower.
Related recipes
- Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic
The garlic in Tom Parker Bowles' chicken casserole softens and mellows giving it a sweet and creamy sauce - Ham shanks braised in cider with cloves
Paul Heathcote serves this old-fashioned slow-cooked feast with potatoes and mustard - Roasted ham with cloves, chilli, orange and lime
For a fusion version of a buffet favourite, try David Massey's citrus-flavoured ham served with piquant, stir-fried pak choi
