Customer Reviews

Salt and Pepper: 135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes

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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!

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.