Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Cole is on a roll !

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

In after Baud. Damn.

The new temporary speaker of the house is a spiteful little shit.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

It’s a doggy dog world.

You are here: Home / Open Thread: The Next Pink Himalayan Salt?

Reader Interactions

192Comments

  1. 1.

    Mnemosyne

    Pink Himalayan Salt is already passe and I haven’t even opened the bottle I got from World Market yet? Geez.

    (I keep meaning to make these because I think they would look really cool with pink salt on top, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.)

    Also, in my sister-in-law update, they talked her into going to the hospital yesterday, so she probably won’t have time to gin up a new health crisis before my mother-in-law and brother-in-law get on their plane on Sunday to come visit G and I. I’m sure she’ll manage to get a few pathetic, guilt-inducing phone calls in while they’re here, though.

  2. 2.

    Schlemizel

    There is a flat bread known as Lavosh (started out in Persia but migrated up to many other countries) that often has different seeds in it and I love it. Indian Papadum is very similar. They make one that is just crushed black peper but to me it has a very short self life. If you make it with fresh pepper it can be quiet good but if the pepper is old or you let them sit for a few days a lot of the flavor is gone.

  4. 4.

    Jonathan

    I think tellicherry is actually just your typical black peppercorn that you would use to fill your pepper grinder, nothing crazy or new about it. I think the company that makes the chips is just trying to make it sound fancier than it is by actually naming the peppercorn.

  7. 7.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    I don’t get what’s so fancy about salt stained with the blood of the slaves that mined it.

    That is why it’s pink, right?

  8. 8.

    Suffern ACE

    The proper native name for the place is Thalassery. Tellicherry is the name of colonialism. I would not buy this product if you paid me to. Don’t believe me? Give me your money and I’ll show you how I’ll spend it on something else.

  10. 10.

    Goblue72

    Telicherry pepper is more like 2008 calling – Cooks Illustrated had some article on the best telicherry brands back then. All the foodie blogs picked up on it and next thing you know it’s being put on every processed snack item in Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Which means it’ll hit Middle America next year.

    The new pink salt is artisanal lard.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    Does Himalayan Pink Salt taste of anything besides plain old sodium chloride? Does it consistently have this extra flavour? Or does it just look exotically pinkish?

  13. 13.

    jayackroyd

    @Jonathan: Yeah. But it’s funny that it’s on the labels now. On mine anyway. Durkees or McCormick or something.

    Now I do have a lifetime supply of Portuguese sea salt. Family lives there. I don’t actually get the salt thing. I mean NaCl is NaCl.

    OTOH, olive oil. Really good Portugese olive oil.

  14. 14.

    Schlemizel

    @Jonathan:

    You are pretty much right – but putting a fancy name on it allows them to jack the price up 50-75%.

    Like that cat poop coffee. In order for the amount of beans being sold as cat poop beans to be available there would have to be more of those civet cats than people on earth and they would all have to be pooping beans at an alarming rate

  20. 20.

    Schlemizel

    @SatanicPanic:

    I think the fact you recognized it as racist probably means no, you are not.

    But if you act while waking like your dream then yeah, probably.

  23. 23.

    Brendanyc

    you are definitely late to the tellicherry news–was way before pink salt. there are pink peppercorns, too, though, so maybe if you jump on that one you could still be bleeding edge about something.
    our lives must be empty as all hell since the election fever broke. i’m willing to jump into a fight about pepper and salt but i worry that i may not be able to bring the same level of motivation to the struggle.

  25. 25.

    Mike E

    Tellicherry is the point of origin from India where pepper corns are native; Malaysia, Sumatra and, most notably, Vietnam, are chief growers and exporters as well. Too.

  28. 28.

    Beauzeaux

    @raven: Just make it with butter. I’ve made both lard and butter-based tamales and they’re really indistinguishable. Butter may be a bit better.

  30. 30.

    Cassidy

    @shortstop: I was so disappointed when I got to go to a ME place and they had no naan; something about the machine or oven being broken. I never get ME food.

  32. 32.

    J. Michael Neal

    Gophers back on the ice tonight in what I suspect will be the last real challenge of the regular season.

    Hannah Brandt’s sister plays for Gustavus Adolphus. They’re 16-0. Her father was saying that they’ve forgotten what losing is like.

  34. 34.

    Amir Khalid

    @Schlemizel:
    Pooped-by-civets coffee beans, actually (if you believe that), not pooped by cats. I can’t help suspecting this is just an “emperor’s new clothes” kind of scam.

  36. 36.

    Suffern ACE

    @SatanicPanic: I dreamt that I went to work in slippers and I don’t even own slippers. So no, I’m not going to criticize you over something that your brain did while you were sleeping.

  40. 40.

    SatanicPanic

    @Schlemizel: I woke up thinking Oh no, what’s wrong with me? Never happened before. We live in a society that has some casual racism floating around, so this is kind of proof for me that it can creep into your subconscious.

    @Cassidy:
    @General Stuck: Sadly it wasn’t that kind of dream. Sounds like Stuck got lucky.

  41. 41.

    Schlemizel

    @Amir Khalid:

    Around here they tend to be called ‘civet cats’ not sure why but thats is it.

    Aren’t they also the animal that people used to torture to get scents for perfumes?

  42. 42.

    Suffern ACE

    @Amir Khalid: Well, they tell me that it adds a note of chocolate to the coffee as well as other complex flavors. But since it became known, I’m just imagining cages of civets being force fed beans in huge factories. Pate is tasty, too, if you don’t think too much about the goose noodling that goes on to make it.

  43. 43.

    kindness

    Eh, I’m sticking with Kosher salt in addition to the normal iodized stuff.

    Anyone here read Think Progress much? I read them daily and I’m not sure what to think about their recent spate of posts blasting 49er players saying stupid stuff about gays. I mean, I’m not going to defend the players….they are obviously dumb shits but the posts have seemed to act as if the entire team is a bunch of bigots & homophobes. And when I read the comments most all the posts are people calling out the team as bigoted. I don’t get it. Yea, I know TP is almost a FDL place, but I thought progressives didn’t lump everyone in a group together and tag them all with a few individuals stupidity. Isn’t that what Fox excels at? I am disappointed. Oh well, no big.

    Go Niners!

  44. 44.

    jayackroyd

    @shortstop: Yeah. That’s the difference. It’s coarser. Which is generally something I prefer. Intense chunky flavors rather than smooth integrated flavors. But, at the same time, when speaking of sugar or salt I’ve always associated fineness with quality. I suppose it’s more “natural” to be coarse–but that’s a processing decision, not a substance issue.

    (And I was being literal. I don’t cook with much salt, and there’s like five pounds of it here. So that’ll last me a good thirty years.)

  46. 46.

    Schlemizel

    @Cassidy:

    You will find variations of naan/pita all the way from India up into the Balkan States. They are all a bit different but all sort of the same.

  47. 47.

    Amir Khalid

    @Schlemizel:
    The papadum I’m familiar with is a lentil flour cracker flavoured with black pepper, not a bread. Are you thinking of something like naan?

  49. 49.

    Southern Beale

    Stacy Campfield, the TN state senator who is trying to get the legislature to pass his “don’t say gay” bill for a third time, is also a raging asshole to his constituents:

    Political watchers are abuzz over an email spat between Tennessee state Sen. Stacey Campfield and a constituent who says his proposed “Don’t Say Gay” legislation is “an embarrassment to our great state”.

    “You need to search your heart, your values and your Christianity to find a better way to represent as a whole,” says an email from Telisha Arguelles Cobb that is circulating on several political sites.

    Campfield responded “You seem to have some serious, deep anger issues,”

    “Have you ever thought about therapy? I hear they are doing some wonderful things with medication these days.”

    Honestly how the fuck did this idiot get elected?

  51. 51.

    Mike E

    @raven: while I haven’t had the pleasure of partaking in this variety, I can only speculate that it’s similar to the Thai “pepper” stick I “cooked” with years ago, cloudy as that memory is.

  52. 52.

    ruemara

    I dreamt I met a nice guy who was worth moving to NZ or was it Aus for and I was basically doing ok. It was quite literal. Very odd.

  54. 54.

    Cassidy

    @shortstop: That second image is about right. It definitely resembles the pictures and the one at the wiki page for naan. We’d get it with kabob and platters of vegetables and the yogurt sauce. It was amazing. Our terps called it naan.

  56. 56.

    priscianusjr

    Tellicherry black pepper has been popular for centuries. Many consider properly cured, fully mature tellicherry the best black pepper available. So no, it’s not the same thing as pink Himalayan salt, or even pink peppercorns (a real delicacy). Except in the sense that most of the people buying these snacks wouldn’t know Tellicherry from Lampung.

  57. 57.

    Schlemizel

    Just Wiki’ed Civets & learned that ‘Civet Cat’ is incorrect as they are not cats at all. Still I like the way ‘cat poop coffee’ rolls off my tongue.

    Pretty little guys, deff see why people though ‘cat’ when they saw them. And yes, they are the poor creatures people torture to make perfume /sigh/ I suppose its marginally better than murdering whales for perfume but not much of a margin.

  59. 59.

    Schlemizel

    @Amir Khalid:

    No, I meant pappadum – its cracker like (in the American use of ‘cracker’) like these crisps shown at the top of the thread. We are talking about the same thing I think. Lavosh is more cracker like too.

    I have had them at a Pakistani place with flax seeds and the guy there said his mom used to make them with a couple different kinds like anise but he thought of those as after dinner treats.

  60. 60.

    Suffern ACE

    @Cassidy: I associate Naan with being tasty because it packs in the fat. It’s a lot like a croissant in composition-flour to hold together the extra fat. Naan:Pita = Croissant:Kaiser Roll

  61. 61.

    shortstop

    @Schlemizel: There is lavosh bread (soft) and lavosh-made crackers (crunchy). I’m guessing you were originally referring to the crackers and Amir was thinking of the bread itself, thus his comment that lavosh is a bread and pappadum is a cracker.

  62. 62.

    Schlemizel

    @shortstop:

    There is a Kurdish place in St. Paul where I have had that flat bread – very much like lavosh. I have never had Khubz though.

  63. 63.

    shortstop

    @Suffern ACE: So true, and yet je ne regrette rien.

    The other night, our server in an Indian restaurant told us we “needed” three orders of naan (for three people). We knew we didn’t require anywhere that much with our dinner, but we went along with it so we could take some home.

  65. 65.

    shortstop

    @Schlemizel: It’s much thinner than the Indian version of naan. It’s like this. You can use it to wrap tasty stuff. Try it and add it to the amazing list of breads in this thread! I’m this close to blowing off work and making the rounds of every Asian bakery in town.

  66. 66.

    Schlemizel

    @shortstop:

    The best Indian restaurant around us pulled some stuff on us. He offered to bring out things like pickles – since we eat there a lot & he offered I foolishly assumed he was comping us the 2.50 pickles but no, they were on the bill. He also pushed the most expensive stuff on people we brought who were new to Indian food. We sort of became wary of him.

    Then when I was unemployed we didn’t eat out for a few months. The first time we did we went to that place & the owner was rude to us demanding to know why we had been gone so long. He literally slammed our food down on the table when he brought it! We have not been back.

  67. 67.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Schlemizel: There was Turkish restaurant I would frequent, and they made their own lavash breads in a wood fired oven write on their premises. It was wonderful, they also had the best yogurt, I have tasted in the US

    ETA: The lavash bread was like a cross between a thin crust pizza and a naan, but much less fatty than a naan.

  70. 70.

    shortstop

    @Schlemizel: Bummer that the best Indian restaurant around you is also run by a jerk. I don’t think our server was really trying to drive up the bill. We’d all been there a few times and she knew we love naan.

  71. 71.

    Schlemizel

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    My kid has eaten a lot of naan & says the very best by far was in Afghanistan, baked in a clay pot in the ground like a tandoori oven.

    I bet the wood fire has a lot to do with it. We have tried a dozen recipes at home & they all suck for one reason or another. Wish I could make freinds with an old Indian or Pakastani grandma who would teach me!

  73. 73.

    Schlemizel

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    My kid has eaten a lot of naan & says the very best by far was in Afghanistan, baked in a clay pot in the ground like a tandoori oven.

    I bet the wood fire has a lot to do with it. We have tried a dozen recipes at home & they all suck for one reason or another. Wish I could make freinds with an old Indian or Pakastani grandma who would teach me!

  74. 74.

    schrodinger's cat

    Telicherry Black Pepper is your regular black pepper grown in Telicherry, India. The pods are usually smaller and more pungent. Don’t keep it forever in your pantry, though, the pepper will lose its essential oils, so buy it and use it.
    You can get pink rock salt in the Indian grocery stores, I have no idea whether it is from Himalayas, it tastes great on snack foods and in lemonades, I use it with roasted corn on the cob, for example.

  75. 75.

    kindness

    Has anyone else noticed how Sully sounds like he did after Obama’s first Romney debate wrt Hagel’s appearance yesterday?

  76. 76.

    Mike E

    @shortstop: Steve Raichlen of BBQU fame baked naan in his backyard tandoor on one episode, looked doable but a bit extravagant… I’m sure Alton Brown would tsk tsk such a contraption as being a “uni-tasker”.

  77. 77.

    Suffern ACE

    @kindness: We touched on this in a different thread, but yeah. I don’t think it pays to have a string of articles on the rambling answer of a player on a radio show who was just answering a question he probably wasn’t prepared to answer.

  78. 78.

    WereBear (itouch)

    @Amir Khalid: I can taste the difference.

    As a late bloomer of a foodie, regular salt tastes metallic and powdery to me now. There are trace minerals in the fancy stuff online friends adore; they claim it helps with everything from better sleep to lower blokod pressure.

    It is a fact that our soils in the US have been mineral depleted since the Dust Bowl; and chemical fertilizers do not fix this.

    I discovered the joys of “gourmet salt” before McMegan did. She is a poseur.

  79. 79.

    WereBear (itouch)

    @Amir Khalid: I can taste the difference.

    As a late bloomer of a foodie, regular salt tastes metallic and powdery to me now. There are trace minerals in the fancy stuff online friends adore; they claim it helps with everything from better sleep to lower blokod pressure.

    It is a fact that our soils in the US have been mineral depleted since the Dust Bowl; and chemical fertilizers do not fix this.

    I discovered the joys of “gourmet salt” before McMegan did. She is a poseur.

  81. 81.

    MattF

    Last I heard, sriracha is still the hotness champ. However, sriracha has gotten pretty commonplace– I’ve found it in my local supermarket and I heard someone refer to it as ‘hipster ketchup,’ so there’s room for a new contender.

  82. 82.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Schlemizel: I think naan comes from Afghanistan, originally. Yes and naans from tandoors are the best, as is chicken! I am going to India late spring, early summer and I am making list of stuff that I want to eat. It is going to be a food pilgrimage of sorts.

  84. 84.

    shortstop

    @Mike E: I actually try not to have kitchen tools/machines that only do one thing, but when I win the lottery, I’m gettin’ a home tandoor, and also paying off the City of Chicago Department of Building Safety officials who will object.

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    @Schlemizel:

    At least when I’ve seen it, lavosh is more like a rectangular tortilla in thickness and texture. It makes quite a tasty pizza crust if you like your crust thin.

  86. 86.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Mnemosyne: That’s what you get prepackaged in the grocery store, but if you have access to a Turkish restaurant which makes their own Lavash you should definitely try it.

  88. 88.

    MikeJ

    @WereBear (itouch):

    It is a fact that our soils in the US have been mineral depleted since the Dust Bowl

    Any place within 50 miles of Tacoma has plenty of lead and arsenic from the old ASARCO smelter. Doubt it helps the salt though.

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    Hmm. No mention of chapati or paratha yet — the latter is the default bread in the South Indian Muslim places that are the Malaysian equivalent of greasy spoons.

  92. 92.

    MikeJ

    @Mike E:

    I’m sure Alton Brown would tsk tsk such a contraption as being a “uni-tasker”.

    Alton would get a terra cotta pot, knock out the bottom, and put it on top of a grill.

  93. 93.

    J.W. Hamner

    If I were to guess as to the next new hotness in peppercorns, I’d go with Brazilian pink peppercorns… which actually aren’t peppercorns, but that’s what makes them so HOTT. As an added bonus they will match your salt.

  94. 94.

    YellowJournalism

    That’s it. This conversation has me craving Indian food. I’m asking the husband to make butter chicken this weekend.

  95. 95.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Amir Khalid: The Malaysian version of parathas are very greasy indeed. I love chapatis, I would make them all the time when I had a gas stove but with my current electric one, they don’t turn out that good.

  96. 96.

    Origuy

    If you want to get American fancy salt, how about Real Salt from Utah? It has all sorts of minerals that are supposed to be good for you. It’s slightly pinkish and has a subtly different taste.

  98. 98.

    maus

    @Matthew Reid Krell:

    I don’t get what’s so fancy about salt stained with the blood of the slaves that mined it.

    Funfact: What you’re buying as expensive “Himalayan Pink Salt” comes from Utah. So probably not.

  100. 100.

    Schlemizel

    @shortstop:

    Nope, never seen that – all the lavosh I have seen looks more like that Kurdish flat bread. A cracker not a loaf.

    Thanks for teaching me something new in food shortstop & Amir!

    @shortstop:
    Yeah, plus they have a couple of things there that I have not found (or found to be as good as) at other places. Irritates me every time we go for Indian now!

    Minnesota is getting much better than it used to be. WE have a large number of Central Asian immigrants so the food scene for that type of thing is about 1000% better than it was a decade ago. There in an Indonesian place now even (still can’t get Nasi Goreng like mom used to make but its a start). We have the largest East African population in the US so a lot of very good places that have not yet toned down their food to Scandinavian tastes (UFF DA! Dat Catchup is pretty spicy der). We also have the largest population of Hmong but sadly, they seem to have gone to the Chinese restaurant syndrome, its hard to find good pho despite having it at dozens of places. There are a few Caribbean places too, and one not only makes good food the heat level can scare me & not many places around here do that! I mentioned the Kurdish place. We also have a large influx of Central Americans and there are some really good places for that type of meal. There are two decent places to get seafood done up in what I will lump together as ‘Latin American’ style.

  102. 102.

    Jay S

    @shortstop:

    Other than texture, I see little point in differentiating forms of NaCl.

    Sea salt and pink salt are not pure NaCl. They contain trace minerals that change the flavor a bit. From what I’ve read those minerals can adversely affect yeast in bread making. There isn’t any standard for the type or quantity of impurities so using these salts can make bread making a crap shoot.
    ETA That is, you make end up with bricks instead of loaves.

  103. 103.

    DFH no.6

    @Raven:
    If you folks are looking for something in a “reddish” variety today, you couldn’t do better than Red Dragon.

    Or so I hear, anyway.

    As grown by our own, umm… “artisanal” farmers in northern California. I’d stay away from anything Mexican in this regard, whatever the color.

  105. 105.

    Southern Beale

    The White House offered yet another compromise on ACA’s contraception coverage. Religious non-profits don’t have to pay for the coverage, instead:

    “eligible organizations would not have to contract, arrange, pay or refer for any contraceptive coverage to which they object on religious grounds.” Female employees of such organizations would receive contraceptive coverage through separate individual health insurance policies, without having to pay premiums or co-payments.

    The proposed rule is somewhat ambiguous about exactly who would pay the costs.

    They’re still not going to go for this, betcha anything. Because their objection is not rational; they were paying for the coverage already, and only made a stink about it when it appeared politically convenient to do so.

  108. 108.

    Schlemizel

    @Mike E:

    That would be the same Alton Brown who bought a near-commercial grade deep fryer for making corn dogs? I liked the guys show but he sort of turned into an ass about stuff after a while.

  109. 109.

    shortstop

    @Amir Khalid: I’ve tried and loved everything cooked in a tandoor! But I don’t eat meat any more.

    @Jay S: Good to know. Although my bread-loving cred has been established in this thread, I don’t actually bake it myself, although I love to cook just about everything else.

  112. 112.

    Poopyman

    @Schlemizel: I was looking for brick oven info online a while back (and my name’s NOT Bill), and it turns out there’s a lot out there on DIY clay ovens too. Google is your friend. This turns up early in the search.

  113. 113.

    Schlemizel

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    The Tandoori chicken I have eaten here is not good. It is over cooked, dried out & has a very tough crust on it of burnt chicken.

    I mean to try it someplace else but that has been my universal finding in MN. Everything I have heard about the stuff makes me think it is just not being done right here

  114. 114.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Schlemizel: Have you tried Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbooks? She is the next best thing to an Indian grandma, teaching you in your kitchen. I have most of her books. She uses shortcuts and easy to find ingredients and her recipes are detailed.

    Start with this one

  115. 115.

    Schlemizel

    @Poopyman:

    I’m not in the market. I think the wife would kill me as we have a small kitchen that I have some stuff taking up space in already!

  116. 116.

    handsmile

    @quannlace:

    ulee usually appears on the evening or late night threads, though I did not see his “nym” last night. When he next posts, I do hope he’ll let the number of us who have expressed concern and offered specific, constructive suggestions know about how his phone calls went.

  117. 117.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Schlemizel: You can get a tandoori spice package, from the grocery store follow the instructions and throw it over a charcoal grill, much better than the restaurant stuff. I have a feeling that they don’t actually roast it in a tandoor. Indian restaurants in the US are pretty pathetic by and large unless you are in big city.

    ETA: Use thighs and drumsticks, breast tends to dry out.

  118. 118.

    Mike E

    @MikeJ: I’ve fashioned an empty espresso bean hopper into a charcoal chimney/hobo grill that would make Alton proud!

  120. 120.

    DFH no.6

    Lavosh and paratha and chapati and naan and poori (not better than naan, no, but very tasty) and my favorite – papadum.

    And tandoori chicken, too!

    Now I’ve got the munchies, and at least 9-10 hours earlier than expected on this lovely Friday in the desert.

    I was going to make lentil soup when I got home today (a really tasty recipe I’ve honed over the years, using a hot Hungarian sausage from a local Eastern European deli) but now I’ll have to go out for Indian instead.

  121. 121.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    It is a fact that our soils in the US have been mineral depleted since the Dust Bowl; and chemical fertilizers do not fix this.

    @WereBear (itouch): Depends where you live. SoCal was not much affected by the Dust Bowl as pre-irrigation, we had no ability to farm here anyway with the exception of a few dryland crops.

    Friend of mine came over and did an assay of my backyard, which is a thin layer of sod on top of native soil underneath. Result: nothing. No nutrients at all.

    We went and hit some local undeveloped areas and sampled those: same results.

    SoCal’s a desert for other reasons besides that we have no water. There’s no nutrients in the soil at all. Once we run out of water here this place is fucked.

  122. 122.

    cleek

    at Penzey’s, Tellicherry pepper is just slightly more expensive than their standard grade (Malabar): $15.70/lb vs $14.40/lb.

    this is just marketing.

    someone in the marketing department learned that peppercorn varieties have sexy Anglo-Indian names and are now using it to distinguish their wares.

  124. 124.

    joes527

    So, Salt and pepper choices are all elitists and humorous, but commenting on mustard and lettuce choices is divisive.

    OK. Got it.

  128. 128.

    shortstop

    @Amir Khalid: I am all over this. I do not think the neighbors are going to like it since I’ll have to use the courtyard by the recycling bins. However, inviting them to dinner may help.

  129. 129.

    handsmile

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I’ve noticed from a number of previous threads that you are particularly interested and knowledgeable about India. Is it a matter of heritage, past travels, professional affiliation, keen personal interest? Just curious, if you care to reply.

    I myself am fascinated by its visual culture (know something about the history of Indian miniature painting and its architecture from the Mughal era to the present), but have never travelled there and struggle with my ambivalence ever to do so. Life in the Big City has helped me to become acquainted with and appreciate its regional cuisines as well.

  131. 131.

    Jay S

    @Origuy:

    Get the proportions wrong and you have a disaster.

    Oddly enough, people that write bread making books will tell you to use kosher salt without specifying the brand or weight or worse just assume you know this. The amount of salt is so small that normally you can’t weigh it accurately, but coarse salts vary quite a bit by volume. 1 teaspoon of table salt is roughly equivalent to 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal Kosher or 1.3 to 1.5 teaspoons of Morton Kosher.

  133. 133.

    shortstop

    @Yutsano: I have to admit I’m surprised. What else can he do with himself? Tweeting the sushi report only uses up minutes per day.

  135. 135.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Schlemizel: That’s so sad that the great Indian joint is owned by an asshole. The good one by us has a nice owner; when I went with a friend last week he came by the table to greet us, looked at me and said “where is he?” and my friend about spit her mint sauce out laughing. She suspects we go there often.

    I went to the first Indian restaurant in this city in 1980, I think. It was considered quite exotic, and was the only one until 1991 or so. The owner is still a good pal – he remembers those of us who came in the early days. He’s out of the Indian restaurant biz now, and has a SW joint right by his original place. He’s in India until mid-month, and I find I drink at least 1 less Margarita now, as the third one doesn’t magically appear in front of me (and not on the check) the way it does when he’s in town.

    Naan and papadum are both yummy, and Mr. Q loves bhatura. Now I’m hungry.

  136. 136.

    Mike E

    @Hill Dweller: TPM cites some unnamed poll & survey that show Brown “trouncing” and “neck and neck” with Markey. Methinks his internals/war chest show otherwise, plus the article speculates that his interest lies in the executive mansion… mebbe he isn’t as dumb as we think.

  137. 137.

    jibeaux

    If you want more naan than you eat Indian food and you have a Trader Joe’s near you, they have a frozen naan that heats up quite nicely. Not quite like Indian restaurants, but good enough for home. My kids murder it.

  138. 138.

    Froley

    @Amir Khalid:

    Precisely — naan is great, but in my mind it doesn’t approach paratha. As a little boy in Indiana, I thought potatoes wrapped in bread was the best thing ever. Imagine my joy years later when I found out that other parts of the world thought it was awesome too and that there’s a thing called aloo paratha.

  139. 139.

    shortstop

    I was forced to have lunch early because of this thread. Pleased to report the corn and red pepper soup was even better after resting all night.

  140. 140.

    Another Halocene Human

    I bought “black pepper” lentil chips (gluten free, doncha know) at the co-op yesterday and they taste terrible. Should have gone with “cheddar”.

  141. 141.

    YellowJournalism

    Just to update all you non-Canadian animal lovers: the Ikea monkey will not be returned to his owner. There are allegations of animal abuse (as if leaving the poor thing in a car wasn’t abuse enough) and other legal complications related to wild animal ownership, so the monkey is making friends in an animal sanctuary.

  142. 142.

    Gravenstone

    @jayackroyd:

    Now I do have a lifetime supply of Portuguese sea salt. Family lives there. I don’t actually get the salt thing. I mean NaCl is NaCl.

    True, but the boutique salts have admixtures of various trace minerals and such. And sea salt is actually a mixture of sodium and potassium chloride, so that also leads to a different taste.

  143. 143.

    bemused

    @Southern Beale:

    I just finished watching this fathead defend his bill to cut welfare to families of kids who don’t do well in school! Martin Bashir show. My jaw hurts from gritting my teeth. Hilarious moment: Campfield inadvertently said, we don’t expect kids to be rocket surgeons.

    He based his bill on other countries such as Mexico and Brazil which he claims are great successes. The problem is that his bill cuts funding when kids don’t do well in school while in the other countries there is no fund cutting, instead there is money incentives when the children improve!

    I don’t know how he passed out of grade school.

  145. 145.

    Hill Dweller

    @Yutsano: Brown is not very bright. Warren exposed his lack of intelligence, which up to that point had stayed hidden in the beltway’s cocoon. I suspect Brown’s handlers believe a race for governor would get less national coverage, giving friendly papers like the Globe more influence, and making it easier to successfully peddle his bullshit.

    Also, too, Brown seems to want the Governor’s job more.

  146. 146.

    JGabriel

    The geniuses at NRO have decided to attack President Obama for characterizing Nazism and the Holocaust as “senseless violence”.

    Yes, really.

    Eliana Johnson @ National Review Online via DKOS:

    Nazism may have been an ideology to which the United States was — and to which the president is — implacably opposed, but it is hardly “senseless.”

    I’ve always thought Conservatives and Republicans were the kind of people who thought the Nazis made a lot of sense, but I never expected them to confirm it in print.

    .

  148. 148.

    Southern Beale

    @bemused:

    I don’t know how he passed out of grade school.

    I dunno, but he’s a product of the New York school system, not ours. In fact, his photo is on Vestal High School’s “Wall of Fame” in Binghamton, N.Y. There was a protest the last time he tried to pass “don’t say gay” but the school board voted to keep his picture up.

    But yeah, he’s pretty funny, in an “OMG please crawl in a hole and die” kind of way. Did you see this? Nothing says free speech like charging the media $1,000 a word to quote from your blog.

  153. 153.

    MattF

    @JGabriel: One of these days, Obama should just stand up and recite some list of ‘let’s see you argue with this’ items. Sky is blue. Grass is green. Roses are red.

  155. 155.

    Mnemosyne

    @JGabriel:

    G always says that today’s conservatives think Hitler’s only mistake was killing too many Jews. If he’d just kept it to 1 or 2 million, tops, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal.

  156. 156.

    handsmile

    @shortstop: @Yutsano: , @Mike E: , et al

    There have been published reports, blog posts, and rumors for a while now that “Cosmo” Brown is much better positioned to run for Massachusetts governor than to risk ending his political career with another Senate campaign defeat.

    For one thing, there the state’s dubious political tradition (for the past fifty years or so) to elect a Republican governor so as to “balance” the overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature.

    With the special election for Kerry’s open Senate seat scheduled for June, Ed Markey’s name can just about be stenciled onto his new Washington office. He does face a primary challenge from conservative Democratic congressman Stephen Lynch, but I’m aware of speculation that Lynch may be doing that mostly to gain state-wide recognition in advance of his own ambitions to the Governor’s mansion in 2014.

    ETA: Several times on his program, Lawrence O’Donnell has sardonically suggested that running for governor would be Brown’s only viable political option.

  159. 159.

    Ed Drone

    @Joel:
    With all this stuff about civet-poop coffee, I’m surprised no one has remarked on moose-turd pie.

    (“Good, though!”)

    Ed

  161. 161.

    Another Halocene Human

    @raven: Use coconut oil instead of lard. If you miss the savory, saute some garlic cloves in it first.

  162. 162.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Brendanyc: no, no, green peppercorns with pink salt!

    the pink ones were big news in the late 1980s. good for decorating unused new kitchens.

  164. 164.

    DFH no.6

    @Mike E:

    We can haz recipee? Kthx.

    Certainly.

    Pretty long, with lots of ingredients, but really not hard to make at all.

    Lentil & Sausage Soup

    Directions

    Boil about 1 quart water, add lentils and immediately remove from heat, let sit 15-20 minutes, drain.

    In 5-6 quart Dutch oven or stockpot, brown the whole jalapeños (stems removed) in a bit of olive oil over medium heat, turning occasionally (about 5-6 minutes). Remove the jalapeños and set aside to cool (then chop when cool).

    Add in the bulk sausage to brown (about another 5 minutes).

    Crumble the sausage into small pieces, add a bit more olive oil (if needed) then add in the leeks, onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes with the rosemary, thyme, and dill, and sauté mixture another 8-10 minutes.

    Add in the garlic with the Baharat, continue cooking another 2 minutes.

    Then stir in the stock, drained lentils, tomato paste, and chopped jalapeños. Cover and increase heat to boil, then immediately reduce heat and simmer uncovered about 45 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste (if needed).

    If using “tougher” greens (like kale) then add to soup to cook for the last 15 minutes or so (if using spinach, just add in the last couple minutes, after the hard sausage and red wine vinegar).

    Add in the hard sausage pieces, red wine vinegar, and parsley (or cilantro) and continue simmering another 10 minutes or so.

    For a creamier texture, puree about ¼ of the soup mixture (just prior to adding greens and hard sausage).

    Serve with grated parmesan.

    Ingredients

    ½ lb. bulk sausage (hot Italian or similar) or soft link sausage w/casing removed
    1 lb. hot Hungarian sausage or Spanish chorizo; sliced lengthwise and cut into ¼” half moons
    1 lb. lentils (green du Puy preferred; others ok but grainier)
    2-3 jalapeños
    3 leeks (white and light green parts only) chopped
    2 sweet or yellow onions diced
    8 cloves garlic minced or pressed
    5-6 carrots sliced into small rounds
    6-8 celery stalks diced
    ½ lb. potatoes (russet or sweet) diced (1 inch or so cubes)
    2 quarts Chicken stock (or veggie stock)
    6 oz. tomato paste
    ½ lb. spinach (or kale or similar greens like beet or turnip, with stems and ribs removed) chopped
    Olive oil
    Baharat (1 to 1-½ tablespoon) knew this first as “Moroccan red spice”, made from:
    1 TB black pepper
    ¼ TSP cardamom
    ½ TSP cayenne
    ½ TSP cinnamon
    ½ TSP cloves
    ½ TSP coriander
    1-½ TB cumin
    ½ TSP nutmeg
    1 TB paprika

    Rosemary (1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 4-5 dashes dried)
    Thyme (1 tablespoon fresh or 4-5 dashes dried)
    Dill (1-2 teaspoons chopped fresh or couple dashes dried)
    Parsley (or cilantro) handful fresh chopped fine
    Red wine vinegar (½ cup)
    Salt and pepper
    Parmesan cheese

    Hope that doesn’t come out all boogered-up looking in my comment here. Let’s see.

  166. 166.

    Warren

    But…but…Greg concern-trolled us all that Lil Scotty Leathershorts was gonna “stroll languorously” into the Senate seat by virtue of Brown’s awesome awesomeness that made him a shoo-in to win the election! Surely Greg couldn’t have been (gasp!) COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY TOTALLY FUCKING WRONG about that, could he?

  167. 167.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Raven: Thank you. I had a feeling that was your (direct and correct, imho) approach.

    ETA – I mean no disrespect, shortstop. It’s just that I don’t like the term “recovery,” for a variety of reasons. All of which would be uninteresting to most here, I suspect.

  169. 169.

    Another Halocene Human

    @SatanicPanic: Yes, it does creep into your dreams and your waking hours too. Proof I guess that humans are hardwired for some sort of xenophobia and if the culture is providing it, the brain will take that poison up. (Brains are also hard-wired to dig the active ingredient in pot, so not sure what that proves.)

    People who beat the racist drums are evil, period. It’s funny, though, I’ve had these racist outbreaks and then they slowly went away. I think stress makes it happen, kind of like acne.

  170. 170.

    trollhattan

    @Southern Beale:

    Yup, I was skeptical but I can attest that whilst practicing the manly grilling arts, it makes a difference. For dry rubs and the like, fancy schmancy sea salt imparts more flavor than your run of the mill table salt, and non-iodized seems better than iodized.

    But oy, my goiter!

  171. 171.

    Another Halocene Human

    @kindness: I guess your ox got gored?

    There are football players going on TV vocally combating homophobia, so I don’t think players and teams get a blanket pass any more. It expired some time during the “it gets better” campaign when all those baseball players started doing videos, and football hasn’t been far behind.

  174. 174.

    shortstop

    @trollhattan: I guess I’ve been a sodium philistine. Y’all are teaching me things. On the other hand, I rarely use much salt in my cooking, so it probably won’t matter much in the end.

  175. 175.

    Another Halocene Human

    @WereBear (itouch): Why not just buy Lite Salt? I do, because I’m frequently low in K and Mg and overdoing the Na exacerbates this. Lite salt is 50% KCl.

    Aka gatorade powder without the additives.

    It’s also really cheap.

    Mg is really, really hard to absorb in mineral form, and Mg-citrate apparently is a laxative, so I just try to eat a lot of greens. Can’t hurt. You know green things have Mg because it’s in the chlorophyll molecule.

  176. 176.

    Another Halocene Human

    @MattF: It has so much sugar, it might as well be ketchup.

    My new thing is Mexican hot sauce. Not mexican style, made in fucking Mexico. It is awesome. That is all.

    Btw, cottage industry Mexican tortillas–especially the blue corn ones–are awesome. Currupt Mex gov’t trying to put them out of business, which sucks. You must freeze them or they will turn into mold food in your fridge unless you eat stacks of tortillas in a few days in your household.

    I also get those thin little green peppers (I think they sell them as “Thai” peppers but don’t know how true that is) and cut them up raw and put them in everything. Very hot, very tasty.

  178. 178.

    Raven

    @shortstop: Recovery is terminology from the disease model. I prefer the life-process model. As Mr Weir said it so well “I can tell you’re future, just look what’s in your hand. . .”

  179. 179.

    Another Halocene Human

    @Southern Beale: Heh, both of those are high in PUFA and I have digestive problems. Corn chips in particular are tasty but deadly. (Potato chips are innocuous, if devoid of nutrition and too salty, but I can taste the rancidity because since Jay’s got bought out, they’re never fresh.)

    I’ve started buying those tostada chips because they’re baked.

    I’d hate to find out I’m allergic to wheat and corn. A friend with similar problems to me got the bad news last year. :(

  180. 180.

    Another Halocene Human

    You know what’s weird? Best papadams I’ve had in Florida were at Disney in the african buffet restaurant Boma in the African Lodge next to Animal Kingdom. (AK is the only Disney Florida park that is worth the entrance fee. Otherwise, I would recommend Universal.)

    Eating there costs an arm and a fucking leg, but I was interested to find out that they were employing a bunch of South Africans in the kitchen last time I went. Also, too, sometimes the in-laws are paying for it.

    Need to try Indian food in Tampa, in honor of Aasif Mandvi. (I’ve had Jamaican food there, lol. I mean, loltampa in general. Loltampa.)

  181. 181.

    scav

    Here, I’ll cut and paste what I’m attempting this weekend. Should even be pink and salty, plus the hot end of the thread.

    Sriracha Salt
    From The Sriracha Cookbook (accessed from Epicurious)

    Makes 1/2 cup of salt

    Ingredients:

    1/2 cup kosher salt
    5 teaspoons Sriracha

    Directions:

    1. Combine salt and sriracha in a bowl. Mix thoroughly.

    2. There are two ways to dry the salt: the first is just leaving the salt out on a parchment lined cookie sheet for a day or two. The second method is to preheat the oven to 200 and turn off immediately before placing the salt on a parchment lined cookie sheet into the oven to dry out slowly over a few hours.

  183. 183.

    Another Halocene Human

    @shortstop: Deval Patrick does not strike me as a stupid man. With the mask increasingly off the South Boston Dem Machine and their epic failure losing to Mitt Romney years ago when they made a go for the governor’s office I just don’t know that they have what it takes to pull another Harshbarger debacle. Fuck them. I think Patrick will find a successor and it won’t be everything progressives dream but gone are the days when Silber could run as a Dem and Weld the R be the more liberal one (except on unions because working people smell, ewww).

    Shorter: the Catholic Church’s back is broken in Boston, it’s going to be Massholes vs. grifters vs. liberals and I think the liberals can pull this one out.

  186. 186.

    Another Halocene Human

    @schrodinger’s cat: Meh, never cared for them. If you want something from New England I was always partial to the chips made in Salem, forget the brand. Very small and lousy distribution but all the hole in the wall Italian places had them. Little witch on a broomstick on the bag. Loved the salt and vinegar flavor. Batches varied a lot in quality, heh.

  187. 187.

    WereBear

    @Another Halocene Human: Mmmm, loves my greens, even kale… in soup. Otherwise, I keep thinking I should be repairing shoes with it.

    I do supplement with chelated magnesium; it’s cheap and it seems to keep me warmer in winter.

    I got 5 pounds of pink salt from SaltWorks.com, coarse grind, for $19, plus modest shipping. I’m set for quite a while.

  191. 191.

    WereBear

    @Another Halocene Human: I’d hate to find out I’m allergic to wheat and corn. A friend with similar problems to me got the bad news last year. :(

    I hear ya; I only eat the non-GMO corn chips, once in great while, but wheat is literally off the table for me now.

    The plus side is that after two years, my arthritis (once bad enough to wake me in the dead of night for more NSAIDS) is going away. When you earn a living by keyboarding, that is HUGE.

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