Seasoning Techniques

Meats, poultry, and fish are generally seasoned before cooking, whether they are to be grilled, baked, or used in soups or stews. The seasoning may be stuffed into slits, rubbed over the item, or the item may be steamed in a little water before continuing on to make a soup or stew or sauce. Steaming is done partly to seal the juices into the meat and flavor it, and partly because meat from free-range cattle and poultry tends to be tough and needs to be cooked for a longer time.

The seasonings most often used in Ghana include salt, garlic, ginger, onion, and chili pepper. More recently seasoning cubes or seasoned salt have displaced some fabulous indigenous spices and traditional seasonings. Grinding on a grinding stone is a common traditional technique for preparing the ginger and garlic, but North Americans can grate the ginger and crush the garlic. Onions are often simply sliced, and seasoning cubes are crushed between the fingers. Seasoning cubes are more common in West Africa than granules, for they are more portable and can be sold individually. Hot dried chili powder is sprinkled over the item being seasoned and/or fresh chili peppers may be simply sliced and sprinkled over it or added whole and removed during cooking once the desired heat is reached. Poultry or fish may be cleansed with lemon or lime juice and a little water before being seasoned. Many, but not all, Ghanaians like spicy foods. It is fine to tone down the heat if a milder experience is preferred.