Reactionary

I’ve been on the cooking kick lately, as usual around the holidays. I’ve been poring through cookbooks, watching cooking shows, arranging and rearranging my pantry etc. I’ve noticed a trend, which I’ve noticed before but every time it sneaks into my consciousness again it bothers me all over again: What is with the salt and pepper?

It seems like the majority of cooks and cookbooks hit the salt and pepper over and over again for flavoring food. Why? No wonder cooks across America are used to eating desiccated meat and bland carb and vegetable dishes and call it good. It’s not. I remember when I was in college, a roommate of mine shared her chicken wings her mother had made with me. She thought they were a revelation but they were dry and dead. Salty doesn’t equal flavor and adding it too early in the cooking process of anything but especially meat, dries it out until it resembles cardboard. Do not do this. It kills your food and ensures your palate is only just rudimentary. I usually add it last and then very little. Salt is the major culprit, but pepper when relied on to do most of the heavy lifting for flavor is one-dimensional and boring.

Example: The recipe for pesto in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook calls for salt and pepper. This travesty is what made me post about this today. Why in God’s name would you want salt in something as delicate as pesto? I used the fruttato extra virgin olive oil in it and it’s awesome.

Posted on December 9th, 2007 under Life, Rant •  Print •  Email • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback