Gershman Liza - The good cooks book of salt & pepper : achieving seasoned delight, with more than 150 recipes

Other Books by Michele Anna Jordan

More Than Meatballs

The Good Cooks Journal

The Good Cooks Book of Mustard

The Good Cooks Book of Oil & Vinegar

The Good Cooks Book of Tomatoes

Vinaigrettes & Other Dressings

The World Is a Kitchen

Lotsa Pasta

VegOut! A Guide Book to Vegetarian Friendly Restaurants in Northern California

The BLT Cookbook

San Francisco Seafood

The New Cooks Tour of Sonoma

Pasta Classics

California Home Cooking

Polenta

Pasta with Sauces

Ravioli & Lasagne

A Cooks Tour of Sonoma

Copyright 1999 by Michele Anna Jordan

New material copyright 2015 by Michele Anna Jordan

Photographs copyright 2015 by Liza Gershman, except where noted

Originally published as Salt & Pepper in 1995 by Broadway Books.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Erin Seward-Hiatt

Cover photo credit Liza Gershman

Print ISBN: 978-1-62914-576-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62914-966-0

Printed in China

for

Gina and Nicolle: I love you both more than salt, and pepper, too.

Acknowledgments

First, I must acknowledge writer Sallie Tisdale, whom I do not know. Her remarkable book Lots Wife: Salt and the Human Condition is the finest treatise I have read on salt. Her writing, so rich with passion and curiosity, is a continuing inspiration, as is Marilynne Robinsons exquisite novel Housekeeping , which I have quoted in this book.

Many thanks to Harriet Bell, my former editor, and Doe Coover, my former agent, for believing in this book long before salt had caught fire. And to my current editor, Andy Ross, mahalo for finding it a new home. Nicole Frail and the team at Skyhorse Publishing get a huge shout-out, too, for shepherding my beloved little book through production. Thank you so very much ; I am both grateful and humbled.

There are no words in English to adequately thank photographer Liza Gershman and the team of volunteer assistants who worked on a crazy schedule to help produce Lizas lovely images. Fabiano Ramaci, Rayne Wolfe, Kelly Keagy, Sherry Soleski, Clio Tarazi, and Deborah Pulido, you all offered invaluable support and I offer an enthusiastic grazie!

Cultivate, a sweet little cookware store in downtown Sebastopol, loaned many props for our photo sessions. Thank you! And thank you for your kindness and support of my books. Thanks, too, to K & L Bistro, a fabulous family restaurant in downtown Sebastopol, for the marrow bones (twice!) and for always taking such good care of me when I stumble in after too much work.

Marty Goldsmith, vice president and senior trader at Ludwig Mueller Co., Inc., in New York has generously shared his vast knowledge of the world of pepper for both editions of this book. Thank you, Marty!

Tourism Malaysia provided crucial support and introduced me to a region of the world I might not have discovered on my own. A heartfelt terima kasih to Lily Musni and Sharifah Danial in the Los Angeles office, Raja H. J. Normala and her associates in the Kuala Lumpur office, and Talib H. J. Long in Kuching, Sarawak. Many thanks to Malaysia Airlines, too.

Had it not been for Bill Penzey of Penzeys, Ltd., I might not have gone to Malaysia at all, so Bill, thank you . (But would you please get Naturally Clean Black Pepper back in stock!)

In Malaysia, so many people were kind and helpful that I am sure I will forget to name them all, and I offer my apologies in advance of my thanks. That said, thank you very much to Elizabeth Foo of the Legend Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, to Fiona Fong of the Holiday Inn in Kuching, and to Anandan Adnan Abdullah, former general manager of the Pepper Marketing Board and a gracious and charming host. It was through Anandans efforts, and those of his assistants Chong Vui Hok and Joseph Lau, that I was able to return to Sarawak for a second visit not long after my first. I have fallen completely in love with the city and the state of Sarawak, and the island of Borneo. And to Narain Nallathamby, who was my guide in Kuala Lumpur, thank you for indulging my whims and curiosity, and for being a wonderful companion. And to the sweet Ramlee Eli, hugs and fond memories.

Thanks to everyone who helped along the salt trail, especially Jill Singleton and Skip Niman of Cargill Corporation; Andy Briscoe of the Salt Institute; Brian Abendroth, and the folks at the Grain and Salt Society. And to Elizabeth Erman of ASTA, thanks for leads to pepper traders. Special thanks go out to the Poland Tourism Board, too, for whisking me off to the Wieliczka Salt Mine so soon after Id finished the first edition of this book.

And heartfelt thanks and love to my daughters Gina and Nicolle; my grandson Lucas; my son-in-law Tom; my dear friends John Boland and James Carroll; my friend Ken Poco Torta Behrens; my childhood friends Bobby and Connie Howard and Linda Zalesky; my kumu Shawna Alapai and all my hula sisters and my dear friend Mary Duryee. Finally, to the DeLaura family, I offer my deepest mahalo nui loa for having you back in my life.

And to Patrick Bouquet, wherever you may be, I miss you more than salt, every minute of every day.

Introduction

to the Second Edition

When I wrote the first edition of this book, I thought it was a year or two ahead of the curve. I believed the salt wave was about to crest and would soon crash across our tables in a rush of deliciousness.

I was wrong. It was to be a decade before the frenzy for signature salts reached its crescendo. By the time it happened, my little treasure chest of a book was all but forgotten. Author Mark Bitterman rode the wave like a champion surfer bathed in a salty mist. His book Salted (Ten Speed Press, 2010) shows 157 different salts and he has carved out a unique position for himself in this savory world. He is a salt sommelier or selmelier at The Meadow, which he co-founded. The shopthere are three locations and an online storesells more than a hundred premium salts. Good job, Mark!

A dozen or so other books on salt, including a second one by Mark, have appeared since Salt & Pepper vanished from retail shelves.

Specialty salts are now everywhere or nearly so, readily available to chefs, home cooks, and anyone eager to explore the planets salty heritage. Theres even a salt named after Sonoma County, even though it has no physical connection to the glorious place where I am lucky to live. It is more like the GMC Sonoma truck, inspired by a name that much of the country views romantically, as an Eden, a paradise of good living and all that it involves. This perception is, to a large degree, accurate but that is a story for another time. One of the things we do not produce here is commercial salt. We dont grow peppercorns, either.