Niceee Lavender Spice

The iconic honey lavender duck from three Michelin star Eleven Madison Park can only be described as peak deliciousness. When I visited the restaurant in 2016, I was simply in awe with my first bite of the dish.

EMP’s

head chef Daniel Humm even describes their honey lavender duck as “one of the only recipes I feel I've truly perfected” — and that’s saying something from the restaurant rated #1 in the world in 2017.

Much of the honey lavender duck’s flavor is attributable to a four ingredient lavender spice mix. In this post, I’ll detail how you can use that ethereal EMP duck spice on so much more than duck.

When I tried the Eleven Madison Park duck recipe at home, I came to a tasty realization: the lavender spice is perfect on, like, everything. Okay, so maybe not on everything, but it works on a lot more than just duck. In particular, it elevates — of all things — fried food. The spice’s perfect balance of floral, tinging spice, and earthy elements results in a refined, yet hard-to-pinpoint taste that brings life to fried foods and makes them taste less heavy.

I use it for fried chicken, calamari, and even in biscuits. Just replace a small percentage of the flour you’d use with the spice. With enough heat (e.g. from frying or a hot oven), the soapy notes of lavender are subdued and instead lift the spice mix’s other elements. And it’s all the better when paired with a honey-based sauce.

Feeling adventurous? You can also use this spice to attempt the actual EMP duck recipe (my version pictured above!).

The recipe

I make this in large batches and keep a jar of prepared spice around to use at a moment’s notice.

1. Combine the following:

• 2 parts Szechuan peppercorns

• 2 parts dried coriander seeds

• 1 part cumin seeds

2. Blend them in a spice grinder. I threw away a few spice grinders before I finally settled on this one.

3. Once you’ve blended the first three ingredients, mix in 1 part dried lavender flowers. Do not blend the lavender, as this makes the spice taste too soapy.

And that’s it! Enjoy this surprising mix, and let me know what else you use it on.

The Ingredients

I buy all my spices on Amazon because they are half the cost (with twice the volume!) of what you can buy at the grocery store. These are the specific spices I used in my last batch of EMP duck spice.