guarantee that if you don’t already have one, putting a
saltcellar on your counter will make you a better cook. Any
wide-mouthed covered container with an easy-open lid will
do, but a dedicated saltcellar does it with style. Mine is a
wooden job with a flip-top lid to prevent dust, water, or oil
from getting in.
And pepper? If you’ve been using preground pepper, do
yourself a favor and buy an inexpensive jar of pepper with a
built-in mill. Then taste the fresh-ground stuff side by side
with the preground. Which would you rather be putting on
your food? If that doesn’t convince you to go out and buy
yourself a pepper mill, I can only assume that you are dead
from the tongue up.
You’ll want to invest in a mill that has a solid metal
grinding mechanism. Cheap ones are usually made of
plastic and will stop grinding after a year or less of regular
use. Although $35 to $60 might seem like a big chunk of
change, a real pepper mill will improve practically every
savory food item you cook. Peugeot is the Rolls-Royce of
pepper mills. Perfectly crafted, luxuriously styled, and
awesomely efficient, these mills look good and grind like a
dream. They also run upward of $55. More affordable and
equally good if totally utilitarian is the Unicorn Magnum
Pepper Mill ($36.90). It has a tough nickel-plated grinding
mechanism, an easy-to-load design, and a quick grind-size
adjustment screw.
- Prep Bowls of All Sizes
Here’s a mantra for aspiring chefs: An orderly kitchen is a
good kitchen.