I find the meaning of the word 'seasoning' slightly elusive. Before I started to take cooking seriously, I'd have said that any herb or spice used in cooking could be called a seasoning.
Without having had it spelled out to me, I'm now under the impression that seasoning refers only to the addition of salt and pepper during cooking. Some recipes will simply say "season to taste"; the implication being that salt and pepper will be used for this. Needless to say, not all recipes are consistent in this usage.
Does anyone have a definition of 'seasoning' that disambiguates it from the more general 'flavouring'?
Best Answer
The problem is, both Sarge's and Carmi's answers are right depending on who is using the word. Some people use the word seasoning to just mean salt, some mean salt and pepper, and some mean "anything you want to use to bring the flavor to the desired point, including salt, pepper, lemon juice, spices, herbs, etc." If you are dealing with someone in person, it is best to ask. With a cookbook, sometimes you can figure it out from context or from other recipes. Otherwise, you'll have to make your own best call. In my own recipes, I will generally write "taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and/or more lemon juice as needed".