How to Use Saffron

After taking pains to get some saffron, what can you do with it? The most classic use is rice dishes: risottos, pilafs, and paellas. A small pinch adds brilliant color, aroma, and flavor against bland grains. Desserts are another go-to, and saffron can tread anywhere vanilla does, such as custards and cookies. (The flavor profiles of the two are similar: sweet, heady, and musky.) Saffron takes best to light meat and vegetables, such as poultry, cauliflower, and onions. Combine those in a quick braise with saffron, cinnamon, cumin, and almonds and you have a North African-esque dish that tastes like it took way more time than it did.

For general cooking, it's best to add saffron early on in cooking so its flavor can infuse into the other ingredients. If there's water already in the pan, just crumble in the threads. Otherwise soak them in a tablespoon of water for ten minutes before adding to the pan.

If you want saffron's delicate flavor to really come to the fore, keep the other flavors and seasonings to a minimum. But I most enjoy saffron as a supporting player, less for its flavor than for the depth of flavor it gives a whole dish. A small pinch in a large pot of food makes a substantial change its character: The flavor is richer, fuller, and much more aromatic. My favorite saffron dishes are humble affairs with simple ingredients and spices, like plov, an Uzbek rice pilaf studded with carrots and onions. The saffron adds a hint of luxury and some sophisticated sweetness.

Whether you dress it up or down, saffron's worth getting to know. The quality stuff is easier to find than ever, and if you purchase by the gram or the ounce, it's an affordable luxury that'll pay for itself over and over.