Title: Chinese and japanese spice info
 Categories: Spice, Mixes
      Yield: 1 Servings
 
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  The Japanese use many aromatic ingredients in their cooking, although
  few are spices. Those most commonly used are wasabi and sansho, which
  are exclusive to Japanese cuisine, chilies, mustard, ginger and
  sesame. All are used with moderation.
  
  The Chinese use some spice mixtures, to flavor meats and poultry and
  in marinades. The best-known spice blend is five-spice powder, but
  Chinese supermarkets also stock large bags, labeled mixed spices,
  which contain cassia, star anise, cardamom, dried ginger, Sichuan
  pepper, licorice root and cassia buds. This mixture is used in a
  technique common throughout China called flavor-potting, where meat
  is steeped in a rich spiced sauce; the sauce permeates the meat and
  the meat enriches the sauce. The blend has a predominantly woody
  smell of cassia combined with anise.