Salt by Weight

I keep running into a roadblock with my recipes. Salting is the key element to seasoning food, and I don't know how much salt to tell people to use.


I use Diamond Crystal Kosher salt because I salt by hand. The big crystals of Kosher salt are easy to grab and sprinkle, unlike table salt, which has such tiny crystals that I can't get hold of it. I know that a two finger pinch of Diamond Crystal Kosher gives me a half teaspoon of salt. (Yes, I measured.) I've been using it for a while, and I have a good feel for how it works.

But when someone takes that into their own kitchen, with their own fingers and a different brand of salt, what does it mean?

With salt, density matters*. I've read that Diamond Crystal Kosher salt, with its large flakes, weighs half as much by volume as table salt, with its tiny grains. In other words, a half cup of table salt packs in as much salt as a whole cup of Diamond Crystal. (Morton's Kosher supposedly weighs in between the two, at 3/4 cup).
*Salt...it is your density.

I should take this information at face value. It's from Cooks Illustrated, so I'm sure they did their research. But I am borderline obsessive-compulsive thorough. I decided to measure all the different types of salt I use, from ultra-fine grained pickling salt to Maldon sea salt with its huge flakes.

Here are the raw numbers:

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Sauteed Chicken Liver

I roast whole chickens a couple of times a month, usually on my rotisserie. I like to dry brine chicken, so the first thing I do when I get home is salt the chicken and put it in the refrigerator to rest.

This leaves me with the envelope of giblets. You know the one; a paper pouch with the neck, gizzard, and liver. The neck and giblets I put in the freezer for later.
*I have a zip-top bag, full of necks and wingtips and other trimmings, waiting for my next batch of pressure cooker stock.

The liver is my treat. I eat it right away, sprinkled with salt, seared in a little olive oil.

If I'm feeling fancy, I make an open-faced sandwich, toast with the liver on top, maybe a little grainy mustard. But that's rare. Most of the time I eat the liver straight from the pan, fat and juices dripping down my chin. I lean over the stove, trying to keep my shirt clean and saying "ouch" a lot. The liver is still hot when I pop them in my mouth.

Recipe: Sauteed Chicken Liver

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Review: Tamar Adler, An Everlasting Meal

An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler is the best food book I've read in a long while. It isn't a cookbook, though there are recipes. It is a narrative about a cooking centered life. Tamar talks about simple food as a source of joy and sustenance. It is a friendly, rambling story about ingredients. The book is full of hints, tips, asides and suggestions about how to use food to its fullest.

I'm the kind of person who saves bones from a roast chicken to make chicken stock. This book felt finding a friend. Tamar writes about the best part of dried beans (the extra broth), the best part of oranges (the zest), and how she won't buy meat unless it makes more than one meal (again, my roast chicken gives me a Sunday dinner, plus leftovers, plus bones for stock).

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Pressure Cooker Pasta and Bean Soup (Pasta e Fagioli, AKA Pasta Fazool)

Now that it's winter, everyone wants soup.

My sister-in-law wanted to know why I didn't have more soup recipes on my blog.

My wife asked for more soup in our weekly meal plans.

And Frank, my barber, was rhapsodizing about his mom's old style Italian-American cooking. When I asked him for an example, he started with mom's pasta and bean soup.

Pasta and bean soup? (Or Pasta Fazool, as Frank says it?) I can do that.

Pasta e Fagioli, pasta and bean soup, is simple. Cook some white beans. Use the thick, creamy bean cooking liquid to cook pasta. Serve them together. Easy, right?

I think I can improve on that. (No offense to Frank's mom.) I pressure cook the beans, making this a weeknight meal. I brine the beans while I soak them, to season them all the way through. I add a bunch of aromatics to the pot, including a fistful of herb stems, a Parmesan rind, and a whole head of garlic.
*Yes, toss the whole head of garlic in there, skin and all. We'll pull it out after it gives up its flavor to the beans. Make sure to trim off any roots, though. They hold on to dirt, and dirt is not an aromatic.

Finally, I cook a half pound of small pasta in the bean liquid. It soaks up all the flavors and turns this into a thick soup, one that borders on a stew. Still simple, still delicious.
*No pressure cooker? No worries. See the Variations section for cooking instructions using a standard dutch oven.

Recipe: Pressure Cooker Pasta and Bean Soup (Pasta e Fagioli, AKA Pasta Fazool)

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Road Trip: Homer Laughlin Fiesta Retail Store and Seconds Warehouse

I love bright, vibrant colors. That's why I'm so attached to Fiesta ware. I buy new colors as soon as they're released, to add variety to my pictures.
*Yes, I'm an addict. I can quit any time I want. Wait, is that marigold? I must have it.

A friend who grew up in Pittsburgh saw my stack of multicolored plates and said "Is that Fiestaware? My mom would make special trips to their factory store…" What's that? Factory store? Only an hour and a half away? Road trip!

Homer Laughlin is in Newell, West Virginia, at the tip of the Northern panhandle, sandwiched between Ohio and Pennsylvania.
*If you are scared of heights and coming from Ohio, like me, ignore the directions that take you over the Newell Bridge. It is a historical landmark, a fine example of early 20th century steel suspension bridges, with a roadbed of open mesh steel. It felt like driving across a fine mesh strainer. All I could think of was how far down the Ohio river was…and what a great view of it I had through the road. I sang Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy to avoid a panic attack.
**"Don't worry, be happy now. Oooh, ooooh ooo ooh…"

There are two sides to the store. The first is the Homer Laughlin Retail Store, with a beautiful display of all currently available Fiesta ware. The prices are roughly the same as in regular stores, except for some seasonal sales, and sales on discontinued pieces. The selction is impressive - every single piece in every available color. For a Fiesta fanatic like me, it felt like a candy shop. Looked like one too, with all the colors.
*I want…no, want is too soft. I need the limited edition marigold soup tureen. It's only $275. Would I ever use it? Maybe. But I need one!

The other side of the store is the Seconds Warehouse. It is full of boxes stacked with slightly flawed Fiesta ware. The flaws vary, and are usually related to the glazing. Some pieces are barely distinguishable from first quality; others have obvious flaws. The color selection and pieces were limited as well; some plates had more than one box, filled to overflowing; others were limited to a handful of pieces. The advantage to the seconds? The price. They are half off regular dishes. If you are flexible about the colors, can live with minor imperfections, and are patient enough to pick through things with major imperfections, you can get some great deals.

Homer Laughlin Fiesta Retail Outlet
800 Fiesta Drive
Newell, WV 26050
Open 7 days a week, except on major holidays (see website)
Monday through Saturday: 9:30am - 5:00pm
Sundays: 12:00pm - 5:00pm
Phone: 1-800-452-4462 Option #2
Website: HomerLaughlin.com

My Five favorite Fiesta pieces:

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Rotisserie Boneless Beef Ribeye Roast Stuffed with Beef Sticks, Cheese, and Peppers

It's so crazy, it just might work.

That's what ran through my head as I watched Steven Raichlen's Brazilian stuffed rib roast. It was wild - tunnels of sausage, cheese, and peppers were pushed through the roast, poking through the other side like a colorful porcupine.

Normally, I want straight up beef - salted, peppered, cooked medium rare. That's it. But this…this was something else. When Steven skewered it on a rotisserie spit, I knew I had to try it. How could I possibly resist?

I cheated a bit - instead of slicing strips of pepperoni or ham, I used beef sticks from my local butcher. Stuffing the roast was tricky. The beef sticks and carrots were strong enough to push through the guide holes, but the softer ingredients weren't making it. I used the handle of a wooden spoon as a leader; I pushed the handle all the way through, then pulled it back while pushing a strip of cheese or pepper through from the other side. As the handle slid out, the cheese slid in. Mostly; I had to work a few extra peppers in from the other side of the roast to even things out.

The result? Do you like deluxe pizza, with all the toppings? That's how this roast tastes, if you replace the pizza crust with a big slice of beef. It sounds weird, but it tastes really, really good. I know this is a Brazilian recipe, but the final taste was very Italian. It was a lot of fun to carve and serve - the inside looks like the world's largest pimento loaf. If you're looking for a recipe that will shock and awe the neighbors, give this one a try.
*Or at least convince them that you've finally gone around the bend. Beefy olive loaf, that taste like pizza?

Recipe: Rotisserie Boneless Beef Ribeye Roast Stuffed with Beef Sticks, Cheese, and Peppers

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Things I Love: Calphalon Contemporary 4.5 Quart Nonstick Sauce Pan

"It is not necessary to send back the covers with the pans" they said...that's so sad.

A great philosopher once said: you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.

I talk a lot about my love of All-Clad on this blog, but this nonstick sauce pan from Calphalon is the pan I use the most. It's my rice pot, the perfect size for steam sauteing vegetables, large enough to make a big pot of soup, or boil a pound of pasta. Oatmeal slides right off the non-stick surface. If dinner has a side dish, it cooks it in this pot.
*It is supposedly a steamer, but I lost the steamer basket years ago, in a brutal kitchen purge. I didn't notice it was missing until a few years after that.

My pot broke after ten years of almost daily use.

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Slow Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili)

It's Super Bowl week! The Super Bowl is the fifth most important American food holiday. Time for recipes for your party!
*Thanksgiving, Christmas, Forth of July, Memorial Day, Super Bowl. Actually, I think the Super Bowl has passed the Forth of July and Memorial Day, and moved up to #3, right behind Christmas...

I had this post all planned out. My Super Bowl chili would be Chili Verde, green chili, to tie in with the Green Bay Packers. Then the Packers lost in their first playoff game. Oh well, the chili is still worth talking about.
*I live and die with the Cleveland Browns. Die, mostly. But my Dad grew up in Wisconsin and is a huge Packers fan, so I like seeing the Packers do well.

Chili Verde breaks the mold. Pork? Green sauce? Is this really chili? It is the only chili, other than Texas Red, that the International Chili Society recognizes. But, green chili? It sounds like it should be in a Doctor Seuss story.
*I would not eat it in a boat, I would not eat it with a goat. I will not eat it here or there, I will not eat it anywhere! I will not eat green chili, Sam I am...darn, lost the rhyme at the end.

Chili Verde is more involved than most slow cooker recipes. Broiling peppers and tomatillos, then blending them into a green sauce is a little extra work.* If you time it right, though, the peppers are under the broiler while you brown the pork, and everything comes together at the same time. It's worth the extra work. The results are full of green chili flavor and big hunks of pork. Chili Verde is different from red chili, but every bit as delicious.
*And if you want to cheat, and dump things out of jars and cans, check out the variations at the end of the recipe...

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chili Verde (Green Pork Chili)

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