What the experts recommend
Salt & pepper: a condimental error?
We tend to think of salt and pepper as natural allies, says Sue Quinn in The Sunday Times. When a recipe calls for “seasoning”, it usually means that both should be used. On dining tables, S&P shakers couple up “like a condimental Rogers and Astaire”. Salt’s central place in the kitchen makes sense: it’s a seasoning that “unlocks aromatic compounds in food”, making virtually everything taste better. But pepper is a spice, like cumin or coriander, with a “sharp, hot bite” that can easily overwhelm delicate flavours. Although it’s perfect in certain contexts – ground over spaghetti carbonara, for instance – it shouldn’t be used as a “generic seasoning”. So why has it come to be seen as “salt’s consort”? Food historians trace this back to the popularity of French cuisine in the 17th and 18th centuries, and in particular the influence of Louis XIV, who is said to have permitted only salt, pepper and parsley on his food. But there are signs that pepper’s ubiquity is now waning. Many chefs report using it far more sparingly than in the past, and culinary globalisation is making us more aware of all the condiment options beyond the pepper mill – from chilli flakes and oil to sriracha sauce and even kimchi.
Why wine is the people’s drink
It is remarkable that wine is still seen as a drink for the well-heeled, said Jancis
Robinson in the FT – although the evidence suggests that it’s now a “bluecollar” one. The average off-the-shelf bottle sold in the UK costs just £6.22, and when asked in a recent YouGov poll to name their favourite alcoholic drink, 28% of British consumers said wine, whereas only 23% chose beer, and 20% spirits. Yet beer continues to be seen as the more democratic tipple: which could be why it is taxed far more leniently than wine, and why, presumably, nearly half of respondents to the same poll said they assumed beer was the nation’s favourite drink. There are many reasons why such attitudes persist – including the wine trade’s failure to market their drink more accessibly (cans, for instance, have become hugely popular in the US). However, I feel that much of the blame lies with “wine bores”, whose “arcane and often selfsatisfied musings” contribute enormously to the persistence in Britain of the myth that wine is a drink for the elite.
Some top tips from leading chefs
If a recipe calls for peeled ginger, don’t ● reach for a peeler, advises Shuko Oda, chef at Koya Soho, in The Guardian. Most of ginger’s flavour lies in the flesh just beneath the skin. If you use a peeler (or knife), you risk losing a lot of it. Instead, you should gently “scrape” the skin off with a teaspoon.
Before juicing lemons or limes, give
● them a roll, suggests Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, chef at Decimo in London. If you push or roll the fruit on a surface, they will give up far more liquid when you come to squeeze them. But if the recipe also calls for the zest, do be sure to remove that first.
Wet baking parchment before using it, ● says Gerhard Jenne, owner of Konditor in London. Parchment can be awkward to get into flan or cake tins – particularly those with corners. If you wet it under a running tap, squeeze out the excess water and then open it up, it will acquire the “properties of a soft cloth”.