A blend of my own devising, the Five Pillars of Greatness are like the Army in my war on the Allium menace; first in and last out. I use it in some form in over half of the main dishes I prepare. I don't keep it as a blend, I just reserve a section of the spice cabinet for the unground components, and mix and grind them on demand. I vary the relative quantities, but here is a general starting point:   Cardamon: 1 part (brightness and good cheer) Pink peppercorns: 6 parts (central aroma and top note) Cumin 4 parts (richness and breadth) Cubeb: 4 parts (depth and complexity) Pequin peppers: 5 parts (fire and brimstone) One recipe I'll post here because it is both simple and extremely specialized. This one is only good for Taco Bell tacos or similar fast food. Add 1 tbsp of Five Pillars to three packets of Taco Bell fire packets. The resulting napalm is tasty enough on tacos to make sure those grons never come back!

These cheerful little dried berries are the red things you see in all those multi colored pepper blends. As far as I'm concerned, those blends were put together by someone who noticed that they were all called pepper and looked pretty next to each other. There is no way I would have come up with that blend for flavor purposes. Pink peppercorns are an awesome spice, and the soul of my Five Pillars of Greatness blend. They have a thin bright red shell over what looks like a little peppercorn, but there the resemblance ends. their flavor is somewhere between juniper and the sweet part of pomegranate. Their flavor comes through, but it is hard to overpower a dish with them, so use them liberally. buy them unground, and add them late in the cooking process for full potency.