Re: Chinese Five Spice
I've had many missteps with 5 spice. Too little is too little. A little too much is way too much. Love the flavors, but I've always found it tricky.
Here's a way that works for me.
I put it into the rice water before anything else. Once the water comes to a boil and the rice is added and simmered, the 5 spice gets absorbed and adds that savory taste to a dish.
= new reply since forum marked as read
more of the volatile/aromatic oils. Some will evaporate, too. I suppose you could look up the food science details about each spice to determine if you're losing more than you'd like 
So, recipe of your five-spice blend? (hint)
That's the standard. What I buy is imported so not sure what the blend is. Done right in a dish I love it.
I thought you were making your own. I looked it up in a book I have on spices, and their recipe is
1 Tbs Star Anise
1 Tbs Fagara
1/2 Tbs Cassia or Cinnamon
1 Tbs Fennel Seeds
1/2 Tbs Cloves
And other than their instruction to grind them all together, it only says "use sparingly"
Had to look up "fagara" as I've never used anything by that name before. From the book, "Called by many names - anise pepper, Sichuan pepper, Chinese pepper, flower pepper (from its Cantonese name fahjui) - the spice is not in any way related to our familiar black and white pepper. Fagara is the red-brown dried berry of the Chinese variety of the small prickly ash tree."
There's more, but that's the most relevant info
