It seems to me that we have a good amount of salt on hand.  If you had asked me 10 years ago about which salt I liked best, I would have looked at you a bit askew and said “Mortons”.

Nowadays, I have a minumum of 3 kinds of salt on my “quick-draw spice shelf”, and my son(4) asked me the other day why we had all those salts.

We did an impromptu tasting.  His review : they all tase salty.

These salts all do taste salty, albeit slightly unique in flavor.  What’s more important, though, is how they feel. Some are very crunchy, some a bit finer, some a bit flaky…each has a unique texture that suits them to different purposes.

My favorite…for sprinkling on top of foods last minute I’d have to say Maldon Sea Salt is my go-to salt.  For Soups and stews I prefer the La Baleine Sea Salt…and..well, you get the idea.

I wouldn’t say I’m a salt-junkie, but there’s hardly a food I cook that doesn’t call for seasoning, and salt is a staple.  I think the Roman Legion used to pay soldiers with Salt, hence “that man is not worth his salt”…which would account for the high dropout rate of Roman soldiers…

Another Podcast in the Can!  This episode we discuss in depth the miracle that is Japanese Mayonnaise

More of the usual ‘food banter’ including some Kentucky Prosciutto that ages 2 years, what we happen to be eating this last week, and more foodie wit and wisdom.

Subscribe in a reader

Yes!  We too have joined the rank & file of the facebook digerati.  Why not?  We’re sure we’ll have some fans soon…either of our amazing products, crazy pricing, or perhaps you just like listening to us ramble on the Podcasts.

I love butter. I know, I know…I say I love everything. I do. I really enjoy cooking, and I think that’s because I love eating…if I hated eating, well, I probably wouldn’t care so much about the cooking part.

The uses for butter are endless, and I’m not going to spend hours creating an exhaustive listing of the hundreds or thousands of ways I use/eat butter.

But making my OWN BUTTER?!?!? I never even considered it, since I don’t currently, nor do I have any plans to, own a chrurn.

No Churn Needed:

Danny at the Over The Hill And On A Roll blog has the instructions on making butter with just two ingredients:

16 ounces of heavy cream, chilled
1/2 teaspoon salt
Basically, you’re just beating the cream until it “start to look like scrambled eggs” and separates into butter and buttermilk. After that happens, you’ll remove the butter from the remainders and squeeze it into a “ball-o-butter”. Quick, simple, and it’ll make your cookies better.

I’ve noticed that more and more I’m seeing food-based posts on Lifehacker.com…thanks guys, for improving just about every aspect of my tech-geeky and now my food-geeky life!

Gotta go home now and make some butter…later!

In this episode, we discuss Bacon…need I say more?

Subscribe in a reader

Another one in the can!  Take a trip with us this week to discover the wonders of White Truffle Oil, the How of Honey, and discover what we’re eating and where the heck Anthony is?

Subscribe in a reader

 I was having an email conversation with a customer the other day about my last blog post regarding La Chinata Smoked Spanish Paprika.  He said, in essence, that he had no idea how to use it…what it was for, or how much to use?

My answer was simply, try it on something…anything, and decide if it tastes good.  Now, I know that isn’t a very scientific answer.  I followed this up with…”but use it on something everyday, something you can redo in a hurry.  Don’t utilize it on something you’ve invested alot of time on if you are unsure about it.  Just get a good FEEL for what it tastes like.”

AS I wrote to him, I realized that a TON of our products fall into this category.  I consider myself lucky to be so close to all these great ingredients, and I bring home alot of items to try.  My first use for most any spice is scrambled eggs.  If I like a spice on eggs, I can explore it further.  My first use for any oil is fried eggs….if they taste good either cooked in the oil or with the oil drizzled on top, I know I have a winner.  For me, eggs are the go-to sample food.  Cheap, and quickly replenishable.

So what’s this post about?  It’s simply about not being afraid to try something new or unusual just because you’re not sure what to do with it.  My feeling is, if you see it, it catches your eyes, or you’ve seean or heard about it as an ingredient on TV or radio and you want to try it…go for it!

Chances are, if we’re selling it, it’s going to be an affordable risk, and one you’ll be glad you took.