I’m writing about these two together because to the average American, they just go together. I grew up on iodized salt and pepper from a red and white can. This basically amounts to drinking the toilet water, in my opinion. Sure, it is better than nothing, but you can do so much better!
Salt.
For just about every dish I use standard kosher salt in a 6oz flip lid container that sits on my cutting board beside my pepper mill. Kosher salt has big grains of salt that make it easy to pick up with your fingers. This is the real key to salting foods correctly. Over salting is pretty much irreveserible, with the tiny little grains of iodized salt make it incredibly easy to over salt. Plus, there is something very satisfying about picking up salt in your fingers and spreading it over your dish “all chef like”.
There are many types of salts on the market from all over the world. My second most used salt is an alderwood smoked salt. I found this in my local spice store in downtown Seattle for a very reasonable price. It works great on food you want to add a subtle smokiness to. Things like salmon and chicken work great of course, but adding it to scrambled eggs is great as well.
Pepper
With salt, the flavor different between iodized and kosher is distinct, but not overpowering. The main advantage to kosher is the texture of the salt which allows you to work with it so much better than iodized. Freshly cracked black pepper, on the other hand, has an immensly different flavor than the pre-ground stuff in the can. Honestly, if there is only one thing you change in your kitchen, let it be this. Go buy a pepper mill and some peppercorns. I don’t know what more to tell you. Go buy it and be forever blessed for doing so!
There are several different types of pepper as well. For the most part the average home cook/amateur chef really only uses black pepper and white pepper which has a milder flavor than black pepper but is mostly used in white sauces since it blends in and doesn’t add little black specs to an otherwise beautiful white sauce.
I’ve gotten a few requests to blog or otherwise write down a few of my recipes and to also go through the different spices that I have in my pantry and talk about them.. what I use them for, etc. I’m calling this series ‘Spices’ even though some of these are actually dried herbs, and not spices. I’ll be going through each of the spices (and herbs) in my spice drawer.
As you can see, a good organizational system is key. The 24 6oz jars in the photo above are my ‘main’ spices. I have 30 or so additional ones that are much more infrequently used. Things like cream of tarter and gumbo file (fee-lay) aren’t used enough to hang out in my spice drawer. Not only does this keep you organized, but it let’s you see immediately what you have on hand.
You know pretty quickly when those fresh herbs are no longer so fresh. That black pile of decayed matter in the plastic bag in the bottom of your fridge is a sure sign that poor unrecognizable herb is past its prime. Dried herbs and spices though, aren’t nearly as ‘vocal’ about their expiry dates, but that doesn’t mean they don’t lose steam with age. Different spices have different shelf life, but whole spice berries keep much longer than ground spices, which means they’ll taste a lot better when you use them. A good pestle and mortar or electric spice/coffee grinder is all you need to turn the whole berries into ground spices. Both sell for $10-$25 and are well worth it. I actually recommend you have both. The electric makes short work of cumin and other hard spices that take more effort with a pestle and mortar. On the other hand, crushing fresh garlic into your spices works much better with a pestle and mortar. Minerals are about the only ‘spice’ you don’t really need to worry about. Salts stay good for a pretty long time, as long as they are pure (meaning they haven’t been mixed with something.. like truffle salt).
On average, some people will tell you to throw out your ground spices every 6 months, and your whole spices once a year. I don’t really buy this. Yes, spices do lose their power with time, but they don’t really lose enough to warrant tossing them out completely. At least not every 6 months. You may need to add more though with older spices. If you are baking (which requires very precise measurements) go with new spices so you know the right amount is getting added. If you are cooking, add more until it tastes good. If at all possible, buy everything whole. Some things don’t come whole.. like cream of tarter, but others like nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and of course black pepper, should always be purchased whole.
Most recipes call for ground spices in their measurements unless otherwise stated. Whole berries are generally much larger in volume than they are ground. Take a little bit more than you think you need and grind that in the pestle/mortar or grinder and then measure it once ground. If you need more, grind more. Don’t be too worried about ending up with a lot of wasted spices though.
A good habit is to write the purchase date on the bottle of a spice when you open it. This will give you a good indication of its strength down the road.