The best remedy for a bad day is a good cookbook.
That’s not a Chinese proverb. It’s from today’s personal experience.
If you haven’t reached it yet, there will be a point in your life when you wonder, not if you are losing it, but if the gradual changes in your life are accelerating. I have a personal system to keep track of all that, and I was going to quote some numbers but I can’t find my daily log of Sudoku puzzle completion times. The log was just here. Somewhere. Jeez.
Instead, I found a book I received last week: the new paperback edition of Salt Sugar Smoke by famed British author Diana Henry. I got the hard copy in 2012 and I remember blogging about it. I just went back to see what I said then and …
Oh, my, I never did post a review. How could that be? Let’s see: is ignoring a Diana Henry book a ghastly oversight, something merely stupid, a truly deep sin, or all three.
Let me make amends. Diana Henry is a British culinary institution. I don’t know if they compare her with Julia Child, but I will. Her nine books are essential to your culinary library. The choice of recipes, the skill in writing them for you, and the perfect outcomes that occur if you just follow along — well, these are more than just great cookbooks. These are all templates for what cookbook should be. If you haven’t got one yet, make room on your shelf.
And, this book, Salt Sugar Smoke, would be a grand first addition. The subtitle is “How to Preserve Fruits, Vegetables, Meats, and Fish.” Now, we have seen a rash over the past few years of books on preservation. Books on canning, jam making, fermentation, and using salt in boundless quantity. There are lovely books out there but this one by Diana covers the full spectrum with recipes that elevate classical ideas. There’s raspberry jam in many books, but Diana suggests Raspberry and Violet Jam using violet syrup or, better, violet liqueur.
Here are the eight chapters in the book with examples of the exceptional recipes. Here’s a tour with ideas for you to contemplate. Or salivate.
Jam takes you on new fruit paths:
Purple fig and pomegranate
Apple and blackberry
Pear and chestnut
Blackberry and pinot noir
Some of the jams here are “almost” jams, less sweet, less cloying, and made in just a few moments for those times when you exhibit jam spontaneity.
Jellies, Curds and Fruit Pastes proves that Diana is British based. In America, few of these items can be found on store shelves and I don’t know anyone who has ever made a fruit paste. So all of these ideas should be new to you but remind you that great ingredients come from those famed British gardens:
Gooseberry curd
Rose Hip Jelly [used, not on toast, but with game]
Rose petal jelly
In Sauces, Pastes, Mustards, and Vinegars Diana reaches back into centuries of British culinary history:
Georgian plum sauce [with vinegar, garlic, paprika, mint, and cilantro]
Turkish pepper paste
Anchovy mustard
Elderflower vinegar
In Under Oil, Diana explores the preservative power of olive oil combined with herbs and spices:
Moroccan flavored olives
Wild mushrooms in olive oil [with peppercorns, thyme, and lemon zest]
Grilled eggplants in olive oil [with thyme and vinegar]
Smoking is an ageless technique for preserving food and in Smoked you’ll find ideas that, yes, you can do at home:
Hot-smoke mackerel with Spanish flavors [paprika, thyme, bay leaves]
Maple and mustard smoked salmon
Wok-smoked trout with dill
Smoked maple and bourbon chicken
Diana is up front about the chapter Syrups, Alcohols, Fruits, and Spoon Sweets: “This chapter is a veritable treasure trove of sinful pleasures. There is nothing here this remotely necessary.” Well, with that attitude, what else can you do but indulge:
Peaches in brandy [with sugar and cinnamon]
Melon and fig spoon sweet with rose water
Apricots in muscat
Russian plum liqueur
Rhubarb schnapps
Salted, Cured, and Potted is a chapter devoted to classic preservation ideas:
Cured duck breasts [with pepper, coriander and thyme]
Maple-cured bacon
Pork rillettes
Sweet-tea cured chicken
Beet-cured gravlax
The suggestions in Chutneys, Relishes and Pickles can fill your pantry, at least once:
Hot date and preserved lemon relish
Crunchy Russian dill pickles
Soy and ginger pickled green mango
Pickled grapes [something that will be eye-opening]
Very hot mango chutney [red and green chilies, mustard seeds, apples, ginger, allspice, clove]
Roast plum and licorice chutney [see the glorious picture at the end of this post!]
This array of recipes includes some that are very British and some, like the Russian dill pickles, that show how globalized our food lives are becoming. Diana has demonstrated care and elegance in offering ideas that present you with new, exceptional dining delights. In Salt Sugar Smoke you will understand why Diana Henry is so beloved. And you will enjoy some really darn good food.
