Salt and Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes [Hardcover]

Michele A. Jordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 1999

"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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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 Île de Ré 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 Publishers Weekly

Early in what she calls her "love letter" to salt and pepper, Jordan exclaims: "Salt tap dances naked on your table, makes you blush with delight. Pepper taps you on the shoulder and invites you behind closed doors." It's hard to resist such unbridled enthusiasm, and it's easy to succumb to the spicy mix of history, folklore and recipes that Jordan serves up. A fascinating if lengthy introduction leads to a carefully honed selection of dishes arranged by coursesAwith a side trip through condiments. Not just used for its flavor, salt is sometimes part of the actual cooking method (Shrimp Roasted on Rock Salt, for example); it also creates a suavely unusual Halibut Gravlax and tangy Preserved Lemons, which can be served as an appetizer or included in a stew. Pepper, in all its forms, works its magic on everything from Spaghetti Carbonara to Walnut Pfeffern?sse cookies. Teacher, caterer and prolific author Jordan (Polenta; California Home Cooking) proves that man's oldest spices need not be treated as old hat. Though she may infuriate the dietetically correct with her breezy use of bacon fat, raw eggs and all that salt, she will delight fellow hedonists with her insistence on the freshest ingredients and the boldest flavors.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (April 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767900278
• ISBN-13: 978-0767900270
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,936,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The salt of my cookbook shelf., May 30, 2000

By 

Leslie Janik - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salt and Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes (Hardcover)

Michele Anna Jordan is a food writer for the reader. Her books are a road to travel in and around the subject, enticing one to rummage into spice cabinets, and through specialty stores and farmer's markets. If we can't hop on a plane to Malaysia, Michele will do her best to help us taste it. With Salt and Pepper, I found a welcoming mat for my pleasure of salt. There are no sneers across her pages as I reach for my sea salt to sprinkle more on my Edamame, or the Kosher flakes for my fresh summer tomatoes. "I love you more than salt" - that alone will be reason enough for me to bless each new wedding in my circle of friends with this book and a sampling of salt and spicy pepper!

5.0 out of 5 stars Salt tap dances on your table, makes you blush with delight., September 25, 2002

By 

Donna L. Rose (Santa Rosa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salt and Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes (Hardcover)

By just thumbing through this book for a few minutes, I realized that writing this book was a labor of love for the author. The recipes are magnificent and often unusual, showcasing the complexities of these two spices, ubiquitous to all our kitchens in the US. In addition, in true Jordan style, she researches her subject diligently and with passion. I felt almost ashamed for taking these two ingredients for granted. I have been a fan of Michele's cooking and writing for some time now, but in this book, she let's us see a little more of the person she is. In one of the most poignant vignettes I have ever read anywhere, she wrote about a recipe for Asian Limeade. "The first time I tried the real thing was ...in Borneo....geckos, the same green color as my limeade, scurried across the walls; I don't think I have ever felt so far from home." This is one great book, for the vignettes and for the recipes.