Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, and it comes from the stigmas of the flower Crocus sativus. So that producing it should not be altogether too easy, each flower has only three stigmas, 5-6 cm long, and the aroma is found only in their tips, over a good centimetre. Harvesting is therefore pure handwork - a kilo takes about 150,000 flowers - and the price is in keeping.
Because of the high price the world is teeming with saffron forgers, and I can fairly bluntly urge anyone on a holiday in the south to leave that cheap bag of something claimed to be saffron unbought. Most probably the tourist is being sold turmeric, the tasteless lower parts of the stigmas, dyed and dried marigold petals, the "silk" from a cob of maize, or at the very least saffron generously cut with these. In the Middle Ages saffron forgers were sentenced to death, and in Nuremberg, I gather, they were burned at the stake. These days a good many more of the swindlers are to be found among the living.
The saffron sold in the shops here is presumably genuine, but every now and then one hears it said that the quality is middling. A while ago I ordered an ounce (28.34 g) of saffron stigmas, that is, exactly those upper parts, from Vanilla, Saffron Imports, an online shop in San Francisco. The shop has a good name in the newsgroups, and I have had no cause for complaint either. An ounce costs $35.95 and shipping to Europe another $17, which brings the total to 44 euros. That works out at a little over one and a half euros a gram. At my local shop half a gram of saffron costs 2-3 euros, and the same amount of the internet saffron only 0.78 euros. Kept dry, saffron lasts for years, so besides the high quality one can try to justify the order to oneself on economic grounds as well...
In any case there is now saffron enough to hand out to others, so I decided to try a recipe for saffron chicken that I had seen somewhere on the net. I replaced the chicken with turkey breast fillet, since one happened to come my way. Judging by the spices the recipe is of Indian descent, for the saffron keeps company with ginger, chilli, garlic and cardamom.
I put the saffron to soak first. Half a teaspoon of stigmas had turned the splash of water in the glass orange before I had finished slicing the onion. It would take two or three of the little sachets from the shop to make up the same amount, so at my local shop's prices something like four to nine euros' worth of saffron would go into this dish. Taken from my own supply it cost a couple of euros. Rice would have been the more traditional accompaniment, but I made garlic mashed potato to go beside the turkey, and the yellow-orange sauce soaks into it nicely. The red flecks of chilli stand out clearly in the sauce.
Recipe card
Saffron Turkey
- serves three to four
- Soaking the saffron at least 30 min
- Simmering about 25 min
You will need
| 1/2 tsp | saffron (or two or three shop sachets) |
| 1 kg | turkey breast fillet |
| 2 tbsp | butter |
| 1 | large onion |
| 1-2 cm | fresh ginger |
| 1-2 | fresh red or green chillies, to taste |
| 1-3 | cloves of garlic |
| 1/2 tsp | ground cardamom |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| light Maizena sauce thickener (a cornflour thickener) |
Method
- Heat a small splash of water in a glass until it is close to boiling and stir the saffron into it. Let the aromas dissolve for at least half an hour; the longer, the better.
- Slice the onion into strips, crush the garlic cloves, grate the ginger and chop the chillies finely. Cut the turkey into 3-4 cm cubes.
- Heat the butter in a pan and add the onion, ginger and chillies. Fry gently until the onion has softened and turned a nice brown.
- Add the garlic, the cardamom and the saffron water. Add the pieces of turkey and stir so that they are coated in the sauce.
- Add the salt and simmer gently under a lid, stirring now and then, for about 25 minutes or until the turkey is cooked through. Thicken with the Maizena if needed.
- Serve with garlic mashed potato or, more traditionally, with rice.
The flavour of saffron is fairly mild, so it should not be covered up with other strong spices. Its heady scent, which spreads through the whole flat, is all the more powerful. Whenever saffron is used it is important to soak it first in hot water, vinegar or alcohol. Otherwise an expensive spice goes to waste.
