Quatre épices is a

spice mix Spice mixes are blended spices or herbs. When a certain combination of herbs or spices is called for in a recipe, it is convenient to blend these ingredients beforehand. Blends such as chili powder, curry powder, herbes de Provence, garlic salt ...

used mainly in

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

, but can also be found in some Middle Eastern kitchens. Its name is French for "four spices"; it is considered the French allspice. The spice mix contains ground

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

(white, black, or both), cloves,

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

and dried ginger. Some variations of the mix use allspice or cinnamon instead of pepper, or cinnamon instead of ginger. The blend of spices will typically use a larger proportion of pepper (usually white pepper) than the other spices, but some recipes suggest using roughly equal parts of each spice. In French cooking, it is typically used in soup, ragout and pot-cooked dishes, vegetable preparations and

charcuterie Charcuterie ( , also ; ; from french: chair, , flesh, label=none, and french: cuit, , cooked, label=none) is a French term for a branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, ''galantines'', ''ballo ...

, such as pâté, sausages and terrines.

References

Herb and spice mixtures French cuisine {{spicemix-stub