Salt and Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes - Hardcover

Jordan, Michele A.

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9780767900270: Salt and Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0767900278 ISBN 13: 9780767900270

Publisher: Broadway, 1999

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"Salt tap-dances naked on your table, makes you blush with delight. Pepper taps you on the shoulder and invites you behind closed doors. Both are shameless in the endless pleasure they impart."
--from the Introduction

In her new book, Michele Anna Jordan celebrates the world's most ubiquitous ingredients, common salt and pungent pepper (black, white, and green). After reading Salt & Pepper, never again will you take these pantry staples for granted. Jordan explores the history and lore of salt and pepper, their importance in our culture, and their essential contributions to the pleasures of the table. In addition to its intriguing, evocative narrative, Salt & Pepper explains traditional techniques for cooking in salt crusts and doughs, and offers an astonishing variety of classic and innovative recipes, from Onandaga Salt Potatoes and Salt Cod Chowder to Steak au Poivre Rouge, Green Peppercorn Mustard, and Roasted Strawberries with Black Pepper. Tasting and usage charts for both salt and pepper, a comprehensive glossary, and a resource guide make Salt & Pepper an indispensable companion not only for casual and professional cooks, but for anyone who eats.

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Review:

In Salt and Pepper, Michele Anna Jordan reminds us that salt is the spice of life: we cannot live without it. Pepper, on the other hand, is only a much enjoyed culinary pleasure.

Such bold statements are typical of Jordan, who writes with a strong voice. She is informative, challenging, opinionated, and poetic, giving us vivid images of places and flavors. She describes the delicate salt from the French �le de R� as "salty jewels for the tongue to savor."

Jordan takes us to Malaysia, sharing how peppercorns are grown, harvested, and processed, and to Poland, where chandeliers now hang in their rock-salt mines. She explains how Lampong, Sarawak, and Malabar peppercorns differ, and compares the salt from O-shima Island in Japan to Lima and Sea Stars salts.

Finally, Jordan shares the ultimate mystery of salt--that no one yet understands exactly how and why it improves the taste of what we eat.

Jordan's food is elemental and intriguing. Spaghetti with Black Pepper and Nutmeg, Green Peppercorn Mayonnaise, and dozens of other recipes require only three to five ingredients. There are also wonderfully complex dishes, such as Pork Roast with Dried Plums and Black Pepper, spiked with smoky Chipotle chiles and orange zest; and Poached Meat Loaf with Peppercorns, zinged with mustard and aromatic with green peppercorns. Potato lovers must not miss the roasted Clay Pot Garlic Potatoes or her Onandaga Salt Potatoes--new potatoes boiled in heavily salted water. --Dana Jacobi

From the Back Cover:

"We like cookbooks that give us useful information and fresh understanding, as well as recipes. We read this book cover to cover and it made us, as it will make all readers, newly attentive to the culinary versatility and the many tastes of salt and pepper."
--Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, authors of Flatbreads and Flavors and Seductions of Rice

"It amazes me that so little has been written about the two foods we eat most often. Here is a book that tells us about these two ingredients--one essential to life, the other to the flavor of almost everything we eat. Now that there are so many varieties of salt and pepper available, each with its own subtle nuances, a book like Ms. Jordan's is long overdue."
--James Peterson, author of Fish and Shellfish and Vegetables

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