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Is there a handy metric or equation for estimating how much to adjust a spice when adjusting the size or volume of a dish? For example: a tagine recipe has 2 cups of water and uses 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, if I want to turn it into more of a soup by adding 2 more cups of water while maintaining the strength of flavors, does the cinnamon increase to 1/2 tsp (double to mirror the amount of water) or 3/4 tsp? Thank you.

Melissa
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    When you're talking about proportions, you need to think about the proportions of everything, which your question doesn't - a tagine may have other sources of liquid than the water, and are you planning to adjust any other ingredients or just water+spice? – Chris H May 11 '23 at 12:40
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    It also depends how fresh your spices are. I remember when I swapped my supplier from 'supermarket' to 'good' I had to learn to reduce proportions I'd had memorised for years [Bay leaves were the most striking, I had to quarter my previous amounts]. A good rule is to always know you're under-spicing initially, especially on a long cook where you've plenty of time to make adjustments. You can always add more half way through, but you can't take any out. – Tetsujin May 11 '23 at 14:38
  • very related, maybe even a duplicate: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/9458/is-there-any-truth-to-the-idea-that-you-shouldnt-multiply-seasonings-when-multi – rumtscho May 11 '23 at 18:26
  • It's a duplicate. Aaronut's answer fits this question perfectly. Melissa, check out that other question. – FuzzyChef May 11 '23 at 22:37
  • @FuzzyChef I apologize, I didn't know this question was a duplicate. Thank you for taking the time to reply. – Melissa May 13 '23 at 14:12
  • Melissa: No need to apologize! That's why we mark duplicates ... so you can find the earlier answer. Hopefully it helped you. – FuzzyChef May 14 '23 at 01:20
  • If you're trying to determine a quantified metric, it's important that you define precisely *what* characteristic it is that you're quantifying and comparing. For example, are you referring to the "heat" level? That would be measured by [SHU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale), and is not always equal ("cayenne pepper" can come in varying mesh and SHU's). – Arctiic May 16 '23 at 05:49

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Water isn’t the only other ingredient that’s in the recipe. If you double (or even triple) the spices while only doubling one other ingredient, it is very likely that the spices will be more prominent.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I would recommend making the dish once while only adding the additional water, tasting it, and then adjusting the seasoning if required. Note that adding spices later in the recipe will mean that you may not get a chance to toast or otherwise bloom the spices, but they also won’t have had a chance to harmonize the same way, so they could end up either more prominent or less prominent vs an early addition depending on the specific dish.

Joe
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  • Agree. There's always a dilemma with aromatics, though - you can bloom them & let them long cook, or you can add late for the 'nose' when serving… or you can do *both*. Definitely needs practise, though. You learn this stuff with experiment & repetition… – Tetsujin May 11 '23 at 16:49
  • I was going to increase all the spices by a similar ratio. – Melissa May 11 '23 at 16:56
  • @Melissa, it’s not just the other spices. It’s all of the other ingredients. If it was an infusion that’s just water and spices, that’s one thing. If it’s a stew that you’re turning into a soup, then there are vegetables, meat, etc. – Joe May 12 '23 at 17:17