I was kind of disappointed when one of my favorite Lake Country restaurants, Kahuna’s on Pewaukee Lake, closed a couple years back. I really enjoyed their tropical themed menu with excellent fish tacos, great coconut shrimp, and addictive coconut rice. Last year Baja Grill opened up in the Kahuna’s space. It didn’t get off to a good start, even Journal food critic Carol Depotella made note of their stumble in here recent (and mostly positive) review. However they recently hired Adam Brousil, who had worked at Madison’s popular Eldorado Grill, and as Depotella noted, there was a dramatic shift in the quality, variety, and presentation of the food offered at Baja.
I should disclose that I know the Chef. We were friends in high school and recently casually reconnected through Facebook. He had no idea I was coming in or that I would write about it (he wasn’t even working the night I visited) but I figured I’d share that info and let readers take that into consideration when reading this review. I should also disclose that my favorite kind of cooking is southwest/Tex Mex/Mexican, which probably influences me in reviewing Baja Grill more than an old friendship.
There are several appetizers to choose from and we had a hard time deciding between the Caribbean Crabcakes and the Pan Seared Scallops. We always seem to gravitate towards crabcakes and decided to try the scallops for a change. Four large sea scallops were perfectly seared and served in a pool of a spicy chipotle sauce and drizzled with a buttermilk poblano vinaigrette. Some very good slaw accompanied the dish and served as a nice cool contrast to the heat of the chipotle. I’ll warn you, if you don’t like spicy foods you should maybe veer towards something else on the appetizer menu. If you like a little kick to your food though, this is a “must order.”
Pan Seared Scallops Appetizer (photo from bajapewaukee.com)
My wife and I both ordered from the Pan Latin portion of the menu and both were in the mood for fish. My wife was enticed by the Mahi Mahi special that evening. The fish portions were huge. The Mahi-Mahi was perfectly cooked with a great pecan crust and a coconut and pineapple (think Pina Colada) infused sauce that gave the fish a distinctive tropical taste. The sautéed vegetables served alongside it were delicious as well. There is only one minor complaint and that was the rice. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t at the level of everything else on the plate. That same rice is served with Baja’s Catfish Dinner which featured two large filets of cornmeal breaded catfish with some more of that tasty slaw and some of the best pinto beans I have had at a Mexican/Southwestern restaurant. Instead of cooking and pulverizing them into an unappetizing refried mush like everywhere else, these were cooked enough to make them tender but still retain their shape. The catfish was awesome by itself, even better with the horseradish chipotle cream pooled underneath the large filets.
Cornmeal Breaded Fried Catfish (from bajapewaukee.com)
We had flan for dessert and it was very good. I have probably had flan about 2 times in my life so I don’t have much to compare it to. It was smooth and creamy with an excellent crust with bits of almond in it. I took some of it home and ate the leftovers for breakfast the next day. Speaking of breakfast, Baja Grill also serves a Sunday brunch. I cannot wait to get back and try that as well as some of the Mexican specialties.
Baja Grill is located at W279N2221 Prospect Ave, Pewaukee – (262) 696-4624 www.bajapewaukee.com
Last year I blogged about an awesome meal at Graham Elliot and a perfect cheeseburger at the loser-laden Rockit from a recent trip to Chicago. I also had written up some blurbs about other places I checked out. Here they are:
Heaven on Seven
Located on the 7th floor of an older office building at 111 North Wabash in Chicago is famous for its Cajun cooking. I didn’t have time to stop by for lunch or dinner but I was able to check out their breakfast. I had the poached eggs, Cheddar grits, and Andouille sausage plate and it was excellent. Two perfectly poached eggs sat atop a nice sized pool of creamy Cheddar cheese grits with a ring of thinly sliced Andouille surrounding the plate. So good. I cannot wait to return and try the poached eggs on fried green tomatoes. 111 N. Wabash – 7th Floor, Chicago, IL 60602 (312) 263-6443 http://www.heavenonseven.com/
Southwater Kitchen
The Southwater Kitchen is located in the Hotel Moncao at 225 S. Wabash Avenue. We came on a Friday Night around 7 or so and the place was dead. Empty restaurants on Friday nights always scare me, especially in Chicago. Undeterred we gave it a shot and I am kind of glad we did. The thing about this place is that they cook similar to the way I do at home, which is why I liked it.
My entrée was Pork Tenderloin with cheesy grits, crispy pork belly, dandelion greens, cherries and a smoky pork reduction. It was really good. The pork was a tad more cooked than the medium I ordered but still was moist and tender. The grits were spectacular and worked well with the slightly bitter greens which were amazing. The pork belly was kind of just there off to the side, not tied to the rest of the dish in any way. Pork belly just for the sake of pork belly I guess. Maybe the chef had heard about all the rage surrounding pork belly and just had to add it to his dish. It was good (how could pork belly not be) but again seemed to not be there for any reason. They could have easily incorporated it into the dish. My wife had this sautéed Barramundi dish that had a delicious red wine, mushroom and oxtail sauce and some mashed potatoes. It was also very good. As the server indicated, it was prepared more in the style of how you would serve steak. The dish was heavier than most fish dishes but seemed to work well, not overpowering the delicious fish. The place is overpriced but given their location I can see why. It was a nice place to have dinner with an 8 month old given the lack of customers and the spacious booths. 225 North Wabash Avenue Chicago, IL 60601-2404 (312) 236-9300 www.southwaterkitchen.com
Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread, and Wine
We had some nice olives from their olive bar and a couple of sandwhces. The Bocadillo DeLa Mancha, which featured Serrano Ham, Manchego cheese, field greens, membrillo (quince paste) & whole grain Dijon and the Canard Balsamico, which had herbed duck confit, balsamic cipollini onions, whole grain Dijon mustard, field greens & Fromager D’Affinois, a spectacular French double cream cheese similar to Brie. Both sandwiches were among the best we have eaten anywhere. I tend to dislike sandwich shops because so many of them are boring, bland, and unoriginal. The offerings at Pastoral are none of these things and if there was one near me, I’d eat there several times a week. They also have a killer cheese (and wine) selection. If you are in the area, I’d suggest you pay a visit to this excellent cheese shop that kind of reminded me of Fromagination in Madison (who also makes amazing sandwiches).
Pastoral has three locations in Chicago; Lakeview, Chicago French Market, and the Loop at 53 E. Lake Street (where we visited). http://www.pastoralartisan.com/
Clark Street Ale House
Sure you can enjoy some spectacular brews paired with great food at the numerous Chicago gastropubs like The Gage, The Hopleaf, or Paul Kahan’s Publican but sometimes you just want to belly up to the bar and enjoy a great glass of craft beer at a no-frills, cozy pub. The Clarke Street Ale House fits that bill perfectly. Located at 742 North Clark Street, they offer many (I counted over 20) microbrews on tap, including some hand pulled cask ales and even more by-the-bottle selections. Their selections span the country with special emphasis on brews from Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Free pretzel rods are also available. The staff is super friendly and really knows their beers.
If you are visiting Rockit Bar and Grill on Hubbard Street in Chicago’s River North neighborhood the answer is yes.
While in Chicago a couple months ago I was looking for some late night eats and while wandering down Hubbard Street and I spotted Rockit. Looked at the menu and they said they were still serving so I sat at the bar and ordered a Goose Island Honkers Ale and a cheeseburger.
First I had to deal with some arrogant prick yelling criticisms at the bartender because she didn’t snap to attention the minute he came to the bar (she was the only bartender) and there was e decent crowd. He kept saying stuff like “Is this place closed? because I’d like to get some drinks and nobody is helping me. You must be closed then” and “I own bars in New York and if I saw an employee take this long she’d be fired.” Total cockbag.
I soon got my burger, a Black Angus burger on a pretzel roll with lettuce, onion, tomato and Cheddar cheese. As I bit in it was as if I was tasting perfection. This was one hell of a burger. Thick, perfectly seasoned, juicy, and a perfect medium rare this was a thing of beauty. It was better than any pub-style burger I have ever experienced in Wisconsin, including my favorite at Wicked Hop. The pretzel roll just added to the awesomeness of this burger.
Then as I was eating my very delicious masterpiece I head some whiny dude in his mid-to-late twenties complaining about everything under the sun to his girlfriend. “Whey are we here?” “This place is lame.” “How long do we have to stay here?” He seriously sounded like a 5 year old that was forced to go to church. I’m not sure who was worse him or his girlfriend that has such low self esteem that she puts up with such a whiny little twit. I turned around and not surprisingly he was wearing a Marquette hat.
If you are in Chicago you need to try this burger. However my suggestion would be the check out the Wrigleyville outpost of Rockit. That area tends to be less high strung and filled with more decent people than most of the joints near downtown. Rockit is located 3700 N. Clark (Wrigleyville) or 22 W. Hubbard (River North). http://www.rockitbarandgrill.com/
Photo from AJBombers.com
When I think of businesses that have used social media to successfully pump up their business, three Milwaukee businesses come to mind; Streetza Pizza, a travelling pizza truck who announces its location via Twitter, Blatz Liquor, who tweets special events and tastings as well as 140 word posts about interesting customer purchases, and AJ Bombers, who also publicizes events and specials via Twitter. Often times you’ll even find these three businesses doing events together like the recent Tweetup Meetup at Blatz Liquor.
After following them for a while I had a chance to check out A.J. Bombers last week. I had been hearing great things about their burgers from people, including JSOnline, OnMilwaukee.com and the handful of reviews on Yelp. AJ Bombers is one of those peanut shells on the floor places. Something I really don’t mind but has never really understood. Seems like a big pain in the ass for the workers to clean up. Nonetheless, its nice to snack on some peanuts while you peruse the menu and wait for your food. Also you need to check out the peanut bomber in action.
There is a burger for every appetite with options of up to four (!) 1/4 pound patties on your burger. I wasn’t that hungry so I went with the one patty AJ burger, which has American Cheese, tomato, bomber sauce, and onion. I added bacon and was rewarded with some nice, think slices of crispy smoky bacon. ($1.50 extra). The burger was cooked to a perfect medium with a touch of pink in the middle. It’s always disappointing when places won’t cook your burger to medium or medium rare (Sobleman’s and Mazos I am looking in your direction) so AJ Bombers gets extra points in that department. The burger was so good that I would put it up as one of the best in the City. Yes, even better than that place with the web domain proclaiming that they are Milwaukee’s Best Burger.
The burgers are ala carte so they don’t come with fries or chips however for 2 bucks you can add an order of fries or their own homemade sweet potato chips, which were absolutely perfect and quite addictive.
AJ Bombers may be the most vegetarian friendly burger restaurant around. They have a stuffed mushroom sandwich which consists of a crispy friend Portobello mushroom stuffed with Wisconsin Cheddar & Muenster cheeses, lettuce, tomato, and that delicious bomber sauce. They also have a veggie burger, a black bean burger, and grilled cheese (though vegetarians probably would want them to hold the bacon.
Like many new restaurant/bar combos opening the past year or so AJ Bombers is smoke free! My only complaint (and it’s just being nitpicky) is that there is no tap beer. Though they do have a great bottle selection including offerings from New Belgium (Fat Tire), Bells (Two Hearted and Amber), Lakefront, and New Glarus. For those who want a more traditional brew they have Schlitz, Pabst, Miller, and Bud products.
If you love burgers you need to get down to AJ Bombers. Even if you don’t make a special trip, check them out when you are downtown for a UWM, Marquette, or Bucks game or before attending the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol this winter. If you love great burgers you will not leave disappointed.
AJ Bombers is located at 1247 N Water St., Milwaukee, WI Phone: 414-221-9999 Web: www.ajbombers.com.
Amy Lunde who represents the Food Allergy Initiative wrote me a couple weeks back and asked if I would write about food alergies. Since I don’t have any and am not that familiar with the topic I asked if she would like to post something. She wrote back and sent me the following tips for dining out and provided some links for more information.
Food Allergy Initiative – Eating Out Safely and Finding a Cure
EatWisconsin readers with food allergies can safely enjoy outstanding Wisconsin restaurants by following these tips from the Food Allergy Initiative:
- Do some local research. Check the menu in advance on the internet, and ask your allergist and other families for recommendations.
- Call ahead. Call before or after the busy meal time hour, when the chef and other restaurant staff will have more time to talk.
- Bring a Food Allergy Restaurant Card. It should list your food allergies and state that your food must be cooked in a clean and safe area to avoid cross-contamination.
- Be prepared. Bring your emergency medications, and wear your medical identification jewelry.
- Carry a bag of pasta or other safe food from home. Most restaurants should be willing to make an accommodation such as boiling water and cooking pasta, or heating a safe meal.
- Ask to be seated far from the kitchen, to avoid airborne allergens from cooking and preparing food.
- Talk to EVERYONE. The hostess, restaurant manager, chef and wait staff should be clear about your food allergy. Always trust your gut on whether the staff truly understands.
- Ask what is in your dish and how it’s prepared. Make sure your server understands what you are allergic to, and explain that cross-contamination must be avoided. Maybe request to speak to the chef or the manager just to be sure.
- Keep it simple. If you have to ask a lot of complicated questions about the items on a menu, more simple fare—like a baked potato or steamed vegetables—may be safer.
- Avoid fried foods. Both the grill and the frying oil are ripe for cross-contamination; it is best to avoid fried foods unless you know for sure that they are prepared properly.
- Save dessert for home. Many restaurants order desserts from other specialty shops. Desserts are major sources of hidden allergens, and the restaurant staff may not be able to provide a complete list of ingredients.
- Reward excellent service and build a relationship. If you have a comfortable and successful experience at a restaurant, tip your server well and go back.
As you may know, food allergies have become a major public health problem. Twelve million Americans are afflicted with food allergies, which send 125,000 to emergency rooms every year.
An average of 10 children at every elementary school suffers from severe allergies to foods like peanuts, milk and eggs. Even minuscule amounts of peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish or other allergens can trigger a life-threatening allergic reaction.
The federal government spends only $17 million a year on food allergy research — far less than other important diseases, like attention deficit disorder, which receives $107 million in research funding, or diabetes, which receives $1.2 billion. Scientists say they’re less than a decade away from finding a cure – but only with more research funding from the federal government.
The Food Allergy Initiative is working to find a cure by raising public awareness and advocating for increased research. FAI is the largest private source of funding for food allergy research in the United States.
Send an e-mail to your elected officials today. Ask them to devote more funding to food allergy research to find a cure for food allergies. Thank Senator Kohl for his support of research funding and ask him to keep up the good work.
And sign up today as an FAI supporter. Stay up to speed about FAI funded-research to find a cure.
Thank you for your support!
NOTE: THE FIRST PERSON TO RESPOND VIA TWITTER GETS AN INVITE FOR 2 FOR THE SOFT OPENING ON SATURDAY NIGHT (NOVEMBER 14) http://twitter.com/eatwisconsin
On Monday, Nov. 16, at the corners of Mason and Jackson Streets in Downtown Milwaukee, Ward’s House of Prime will open its doors to the public. Ward’s was designed by a team of restaurant professionals to create a dining experience that provides high-end entrees at a fair price with an atmosphere that is upscale yet comfortable.
The menu features Prime rib (served daily) which shares the stage with a list of entrees, including steak, chicken, veal, seafood, vegetarian dishes and more. Ward’s features a full-plate menu with dinner options that include a choice of soup or salad and potato. The bar menu will provide a variety of main dining options, yet patrons can order items such as prime rib chili in both settings. Appetizers, salads, soups, sides and desserts are also individually featured, as well as a selection of more than 500 wines available by the glass or bottle.
Diners can feel just as comfortable dining on full-plate entrees in the main dining room one evening as they can ordering from an exceptional bar menu and watching sports in the lounge late the next. Seating options include:
- Bar and lounge area seating up to 60 with 6 HD TV’s.
- Main dining room seating up to 70, adjacent to a closed-kitchen.
- Third dining room with an outdoor view seating up to 36.
Special events, client meetings and private parties will be hosted in both the main dining and board rooms. Entrance doors to the main dining room are closed for parties upwards of 70 to create a unique event experience. The board room can host private parties of up to 12.
Ward’s House of Prime is located at 540 East Mason Street, Milwaukee, WI It is open Monday through Saturday, 4 p.m. – 1 a.m. (lounge and bar) Monday through Saturday, 5 p.m. – 11 p.m. (main dining) Reservations, recommended but not required, available at 414.223.0135. All major credit cards accepted.
Last month I interviewed Scott Buer of Bolzano Artisan Meats. For those who are interested (and how could you not be interested in such a cool company) here is some news, updates, and events from Scott:
Bolzano Artisan Meats at Lombardi Food & Wine Experience
Food and Wine Tasting Gala Friday, Nov. 13 6:30pm-9:30pm at Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel
Join us and a ton of great local foodmakers, breweries, wineries and more at this outstanding fundraising event. Great foods for a great cause – all proceeds go to the Lombardi Cancer Clinics. You can win a Bolzano Artisan Meats gift box!
Our First Hereford Hog
Bolzano just got in it’s first Hereford Hog this week. We love Herefords for the same reason we love heirloom tomatoes – they grow slower, taste better, and are raised in small number by folks who care. There are less than 2,000 Herefords in the US, and the only way to preserve them is by eating them!
What’s more is that this means we have the entire hog to dry-cure now. We think this is a good starting point to explore the dry cured meats of Hungary, Austria, Spain, etc, and to invent some Wisconsin charcuterie all our own,to fit our local taste, climate and culture (what foodies call our “Terroir”). Dry-curing takes time, so it will take a while before these are ready, but we’ll keep you updated.
Learn more about the Hereford and other heirloom hog breeds here.
Winter Farmers Market Continues
Thanks to every single one of you who visited our booth at the first day of the Milwaukee County Winter Farmers Market. We pulled a 20-hour shift getting everything ready, but you made it worthwhile. (Especially you two who Early Reserved your whole Speck Prosciutto!)
Don’t forget the market continues until the end of April. See you this Saturday!
Milwaukee County Winter Farmers Market State Fair Park, Tommy Thompson Youth Center
Saturdays 8am-Noon, starting this Saturday, Nov. 7th.
Early Reserve Speck Prosciutto Available Online
Reserving your whole Speck Prosciutto is even easier than before with online ordering. Remember, you can always pool together with your friends, family, Slow Food group or cooking club and share in the whole Speck Prosciutto experience.
Don’t forget our webstore is always open at www.bolzanomeats.com Bolzano Artisan Meats LLC, 3950 N. Holton St. Milwaukee, WI 53212 Ph.# 414.426.6380. E-mail: info@bolzanomeats.com
In honor of the new book by author Douglas Gayeton called “Slow: A Life in a Tuscan Town” a celebration of local and delicious food is taking place on Wednesday, November 18. Called “A Slow Taste of Tuscany” thirty-three restaurants across North America have been chosen to participate. One of these restaurants is Madison’s own own Osteria Papavero where Chef Francesco Mangano creating a special prix-fixe menu with a copy of the book included in the ticket—complete with a signed limited edition commemorative bookplate. The Dinner price includes 1 book. Single price is $65 and the Couple price $100. The event is being presented by Slow Food Madison.
During the event author Douglas Gayeton will be present at Chez Pannisse Cafe in Berkeley along with his editor, associate publisher Katrina Fried. Publisher Lena Tabori will join the celebration at Nick & Toni’s in East Hampton, and event coordinator Taylor Sperry will be at The Good Fork in Brooklyn. Chefs at select restaurants from Boston to Los Angeles will develop menus inspired by the book. The complete list is posted at www.welcomebooks.com/slow/11-18.
Douglas Gayeton’s SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town is a magical and utterly unique portrayal of rural Italian life, and a tribute to the region’s kaleidoscope of charming local characters whose livelihoods and culture center around the everyday pleasures of growing, preparing, and eating food.
Imaginative and interactive portraits are layered with Gayeton’s handwritten notes, anecdotes, recipes, quotes, and historical facts and that cleverly bring context and color to the subject of each sepia-toned image and draw us deeper into this romantic, rewarding, and progressively rare way of life. You will fall in love with the intimate images of an entire town whose lives are profoundly bound to the rhythms of nature and inherently exemplify the popular principles that define Slow Food, a multi-national movement dedicated to preserving local food traditions and honoring local farmers and producers.
The unique interplay of pictures and words conveys a thrilling sense of narrative that transcends the page and transports you halfway around the globe. It is a riveting story told in a riveting way: each image is actually comprised of multiple photographs taken over the course of time (from ten minutes to several hours – a photographic approach critics have dubbed “flat film”). The result is nothing less than a new and startling way of seeing photographs.
Gayeton’s life was transformed by his five-year slow food journey in Tuscany. He now lives on a farm in Petaluma, California with his wife Laura Howard, who runs Laloo’s Goat Milk Ice Cream. “While my book is meant to both educate people and share the beauty of a slower lifestyle,” Gayeton says, “the Slow Food movement also offers valuable insights into how to lead a healthier life, ideas which incidentally are central to Laloo¹s mission as well.”
Photographed over the course of Douglas’ years in Tuscany, SLOW grew out of a request from PBS to document Italy’s burgeoning Slow Food movement. Gayeton told them that while most Italians didn’t know what Slow Food was, their lives exemplified the principles that define the movement.
With an anecdotal charm reminiscent of Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence, Douglas Gayeton’s interplay of pictures and words conveys a thrilling narrative that transports you halfway around the globe to the charming town of Pistoia, nestled in the outskirts of Florence. There we meet the mushroom hunters and sheep farmers, the winemakers and fishermen, the bakers, butchers and chocolate makers whose lives are profoundly bound to the rhythms of nature.
It is a riveting story told in a riveting way: each image comprised of multiple photographs taken over a period of time that can range anywhere from ten minutes to several hours, and layered with Gayeton’s handwritten notes, recipes, facts, and sayings. With this process, Gayeton has managed to introduce the concept of story and time, both compressed and exploded, into his portraits. The result is a photographic approach critics have dubbed flat film; the effect is exhilarating.
When Gayeton makes films he always brings along a still camera. But this time when he looked at his prints he added handwritten notes, which he scribbled directly on the photographs. At first these were meant to remind him of things he’d seen or heard, but he quickly realized that the act of telling his subjects’ stories with words and phrases (and even Tuscan sayings) was more compelling than the film itself.
Gayeton’s photographs were first featured at Slow Food Nation, the Slow Food movement’s first ever event in the US, which took place in San Francisco in September 2008. Over the three days of the event more than 85,000 people passed through the exhibit. Arte Italia opened a SLOW exhibition in Reno (April 30-July 11) and, after travelling, it will return to San Francisco in April 2010. On October 3rd, an exhibition opened at Equator in Los Angeles. Another exhibition opened two nights ago in New York at CLIC Gallery in Soho.
EVENT DETAILS:
Restaurant: Osteria Papavero
Chef: Francesco Mangano
Presented by: Slow Food Madison
Time: 6:00 PM
Address: 128 E. Wilson Street
Telephone: (608) 255-8376
Website: www.osteriapapavero.com
For reservations: please contact reservations@slowfoodwisconsin.org
Event Details: Chef Francesco Mangano will prepare a 3-course prix fixe meal with recipes inspired by foods from the book, Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town. Dinner price includes 1 book. Single price $65, Couple price $100.
Check out this salumi making video Douglas made of Chef John Stewart of Bovolo restaurant for Slow Food Nation or this video of Douglas himself: welcomebooks.com/slow
I was paging through my newest Penzey’s catalog and saw this note on the salt page and was kind of shocked to read this little message from Bill Penzey.
We’re cutting back on salt.
A really good and healthy thing going on with food right now is that people are using less salt. We want to be a part of this. Going forward we will continue to sell reasonably priced generic salts of the earth and sea, but we will no longer be selling the higher priced specialty salts. I feel things have gotten to a point where the specialty salts are glamorizing the use of salt and, with that, encouraging people to use more of it. I have also found that along with the marketing of specialty salt has come a great deal of misinformation, including claims that some salts don’t affect your health like others do. This is just not true and not something we want to be a part of. Salt is salt, it really is, and it tastes no different no matter where it comes from.
With our belief that cooking comes from caring for those around you we feel part of that is caring for the well-being of the people we cook for. We all have our own relationship with salt and I respect that, but as a cook and as a business I feel so much better about working to cut back on the use of salt rather than encouraging the use of more. I hope this makes sense to you,
Bill
I have several issues with this decision. First, I am disappointed that instead of letting customers decide what kind and how much salt to use that Bill Penzey is making the decision for you. Yes you the loyal customer who have fueled the almost unbelievable expansion of Penzey’s across the country are too dumb to realize that salt is salt. From now on if you are buying salt from Penzey’s all you can get is Kosher Flake Salt and Pacific Sea Salt. However that is not really my issue because it’s not like Penzey’s was carrying exotic salts like Pink Salt, Indian Black Salt, or even Smoked salt, my issue is how he is going about this.
The problem is that while salt is salt, there are differences in styles of salt that people use. While there really isn’t much difference in taste there is a difference in texture and how they dissolve. A nice sprinkle of Penzey’s Sel Gris on some grilled Brussels Sprouts has a different effect than if you were to use kosher salt or table salt. Most baking is done with table salt and if you used kosher salt chances are your recipe wouldn’t turn out as well. As a magazine devoted to providing the home chef with great herbs, spices, and blends, I am disappointed they are so dismissive of salt. Without salt you cannot cook great food. Things taste flat, bland, and uninteresting. Ask any chef what is the most important seasoning in the kitchen and they’ll all say salt.
The problem with salt and sodium in our diets is not because of the home cook using a pinch of fleur de sel to season their green beans, it’s the use of salt as a food preservative in processed foods. Look at a can of soup and your blood pressure will skyrocket just by reading the sodium content. Look closer and you’ll likely find that the sodium listed is for one serving and not the entire can (usually 2 servings). Look at any TV dinner, even those horrible Lean Cusines that everyone has been duped into thinking are actually good for you. Look at the boxed chicken broth and stock that everyone uses and see how much salt is in there. So yes I agree there is a sodium problem in our diets but to think that by eliminating the “fancy” salts from the Penzey’s catalog you are helping the cause is just moronic and a little bit narcissistic. Reduce the amount of processed foods you buy and you’ll probably cut your salt intake by more than 50 percent.
Penzey’s is one of my favorite food businesses and I am proud that they are based here in Wisconsin. They have some of the freshest and most reasonably priced herbs and spices around and I’ll continue to support them even though they think I am too dumb to know how to buy and use salt.
