The Perfect Pantry

Red pepper flakes (Recipe: pasta puttanesca)

Peter Piper picked a peck of pizza pepper.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pizza pepper.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pizza pepper.

Wait a minute....pizza pepper?

Yes, pizza pepper -- that's what we call the crushed red pepper flakes that sit on the table in every pizzeria in the northeast United States. Call us crazy, but no matter what topping we choose, we like the option of bringing in some heat. When a server asks if you'd like pepper, he or she will produce not a terrifyingly large pepper mill, but a shaker jar of red pepper flakes.

By the way, red pepper flakes are a popular table condiment in Hungary, Turkey, Korea, Japan, and the Mideast, too.

Walnuts (Recipe: white chocolate brownies)

Two things I did not learn by watching Jennifer Lopez pretend to be a wedding planner:

In ancient Rome, a groom would throw walnuts to the wedding guests, much as we toss rice today, as a sign of his transition to manhood, and to bring good health and increased fertility.

In Romania, on the other hand, a bride would place one roasted walnut in her bodice for every year she wished to remain childless.

Walnuts -- Viagra or birth control?

Maple syrup (Recipe: maple glazed salmon salad)

In the 31 years that Ted and I have shared a life and a home, I have put up with a lot.

Fanatic devotion to the Montreal Canadiens, who've won the Stanley Cup six times and gone to the playoffs in all but five of the remaining years. Celebration of Thanksgiving in October. The occasional "Canada" or maple-leaf-emblazoned t-shirt wandering around the house. The appending of "eh?" to ends of sentences at the most unlikely times, eh?

But the worst, the absolute worst, thing about living with a Canadian is this:

Maple syrup on matzoh brei.

Talk about a clash of cultures. More than three decades, and I still shudder every time he pours syrup on my salt-sprinkled egg-and-matzoh masterpiece.

Another great Bookworm

Cooking is easy and oh-so-democratic, as in anyone can do it, according to Shannon of Simply Cooking, this week's Bookworm in the Pantry. Shannon writes her fun-loving, recipe-oriented blog in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. She's an enthusiastic home cook by night, and an information systems development manager for a nonprofit organization by day. And, like all Bookworms, she's an avid reader!

UPDATE. Shannon recommended:

• Blue Jelly: Love Lost and the Lessons of Canning
• The Soul of a Chef
• Pot on the Fire
• The Botany of Desire
• The Tummy Trilogy

Browse through the eclectic library of previous Bookworm recommendations here.

We'll have a new Bookworm every Saturday, at least through mid-June. If you've already been a Bookworm but would like to share another reading list of five books, please do!

Want to be a Bookworm in the Pantry? Start here.

Kosher salt (Recipe: Moroccan eggplant salad)

Is kosher salt, the darling of chefs and cookbook authors, just another flaky food fashion?

Is it saltier than table salt, better for health or baking or taste?

Is all kosher salt the same?

Is it even kosher?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Brown sugar (Recipe: Irish soda bread)

We have an elementary school science teacher in the family, so there is no excuse for the ignorance I am about to confess to you.

A few months ago, Ted and I found a jar of hard-as-a-rock brown sugar on the shelves of The Perfect Pantry. (This is not the embarrassing part. Well, okay, it is embarrassing, but not from a science point of view.)

How could we get that solid sugar out of the jar? Chip away at it with a knife? Dangerous. Melt it in the microwave? Hot sugar — very dangerous.

And then I remembered that there was something which, when placed in a jar of hardened sugar, would restore the sugar's moisture and fluffiness.

Shao hsing wine (Recipe: stir-fried garlic lettuce)

Today, the second of two posts about pantry items with hard-to-pronounce names.

SHAO, pronounced shou (as in ouch).

HSING, pronounced shing.

Shou shing wine. Shao hsing wine.

Voila!

As a rule, you shouldn't cook with any wine you wouldn't drink, and you should never ever buy cooking wine in the supermarket. And yet, here I am, telling you do that, to buy Chinese shao hsing (or shao xing) wine, because without it you will never be able to recreate authentic Chinese dishes.

A Big Apple Bookworm

Born in my home town of New York City, Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook is this week's Bookworm in the Pantry . On her wonderful, relatively young blog, you're as likely to find recipes for Ethiopian doro wat as for Mexican salsa verde. Susan and her husband, Scott, who also cooks from time to time, can be found at their dinner table in the metro New York area, discussing everything from politics to Pop Tarts!

UPDATE. Susan recommended:

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
• Feeding a Yen: Savoring Local Specialties, from Kansas City to Cuzco
• Girl with a Pearl Earring
• The Van
• The Dead
  

Browse through the eclectic library of previous Bookworm recommendations here.

We'll have a new Bookworm every Saturday, at least through mid-June.

Want to be a Bookworm in the Pantry? Start here.

Quinoa (Recipe: quinoa pudding)

Today, the first of two posts about pantry items with hard-to-pronounce names.

KEEN WAH.

That's how you say it — keen wah. Whew. First hurdle conquered!

When a reader recently invited me to teach a class on gluten-free cooking, I remembered that I hadn't yet written about the quinoa (keen wah) that's become a staple in The Perfect Pantry. One of the ancient grains (along with spelt, amaranth, millet and teff), gluten-free quinoa is enjoying its fifteen minutes of fame, and there are many good reasons why we should hope its fame lasts longer.

Bookworms for children

Jeanne writes Mommy Cooks, a smart and cheery blog about cooking with, for, and sometimes in spite of kids. She's the first Bookworm to give us recommendations for children's books . PS: The recipes on Jeanne's blog are fun for those of us without small children at home, too!

UPDATE. Jeanne recommended:

• Green Eggs and Ham
• How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
• Thunder Cake
• I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato
• The Seven Silly Eaters
  

Browse through the eclectic library of previous Bookworm recommendations here.

We'll have a new Bookworm every Saturday, at least through early June.

Want to be a Bookworm in the Pantry? Start here.