by Tom Stobart
Iodized salt, with iodine salts added, supplies dietary iodine, a health precaution that is essential in areas with a natural iodine deficiency (sea salt will not supply an adequate quantity).There are also salt substitutes for use in low-salt diets – usually depending on potassium salts which may be beneficial in many heart cases but should be used only after medical consultation. Other salt mixtures such as bio-salt are compounded for health purposes. It will almost certainly be found that the mineral intake is of more importance to health than most medical opinion believes at present.
Meanwhile, cooks use salt freely for flavour and preservation. Salt seems to sharpen our awareness of other flavours. A normally salted food will contain about 0.9% salt, about the same content as that of the body. Water for cooking potatoes and greens should obviously be much more highly salted, as we are not usually going to drink it. 355 g salt per It. (35.5% or 7 oz per pt) is a saturated solution at 0°C, and salt is only slightly more soluble in hot water only 396 g per It (just under 8 oz per pt) will be dissolved when the water is boiling. Ordinary impure salt will absorb water from the atmosphere unless it is stored at a relative humidity of under 75 per cent. Damp salt may be dried in a slightly warm oven with the door ajar, but it will cake and will need to be crushed and sifted. Spiced and herbed salts are made by mixing dried salt with ground aromatic seeds, spices or herbs. Garlic or onion can be pounded into bone dry salt, the moisture being absorbed and the substance preserved by the salt, but the mixture should be kept sealed, as the flavour is destroyed by oxygen.
The selection of the right salt is important in cooking. Good sea salt (such as Maldon salt from Essex) is the best – I take my own bag down to the pile at the local salinas in Majorca, where the salt is pink and slightly dirty but has a superlative flavour. By the time it is put into a packet and sold in a ‘gourmet’ shop, it is several thousand per cent more expensive. Also the crystal size of salt matters. Fine salt dissolves quickly, but is not recommended for *dry-salting. Of course, most people will continue to use free running table salt for everything because of its convenience, but perhaps it will eventually become gastronomically or even socially unacceptable, like factory-ground pepper.
[Salt – French: sel German: Salz Italian: sale Spanish: sal]
SALT COD or bacalao. Cod live in huge numbers in the North Atlantic and have always been an important food for the maritime countries of Northern Europe. Fishing boats ranged far into stormy seas -the Shetlands, Lofoten, Bear Island and the White Sea were familiar names to codfishers, who were always finding new grounds. In the middle of the 19th century, Rockall was where the cod were ‘as big as donkeys and as common as blackberries’. Much earlier, the boats had favoured the Newfoundland Grand Banks on the other side of the Atlantic. With enormous numbers offish being caught at certain seasons, it was fortunate that cod did not have oily flesh and so could be salted and dried without difficulty. The fish were gutted, salted and packed in flats at sea, later washed and put out on the rocks to dry, which was why they were called klip-fish or simply rock-fish (not to be confused with dried, unsalted *stockfish).This simple process justified voyages to productive fishing grounds far from the markets. There was a ready sale for dried fish in southern Europe. As long ago as the 15th century, British merchants began shipping bacalhau into the Minho in Portugal and bringing back wine. Soon the whole of Catholic Europe came to depend on salt cod for Friday and Lenten dishes. It was inexpensive and easy to transport. America too, began producing it in quantity. Thoreau (writing in the first half of the 19th century, when cod was still caught on long sea-lines) described it as ‘stacked up like cord-wood’ around the wharves of Provincetown on Cape Cod. Less than 40 years after the discovery of that arm-shaped peninsula by the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602, New Englanders were drying well over a quarter of a million codfish annually. Cod, which has always been associated with Boston, had quickly become a New England staple. Today, with large trawlers and refrigeration, dried salt cod is of less importance. In any case, northern countries never made a virtue of necessity nor did anything very much with salt cod gastronomically. ‘Salt cod,’ says the Revd. J.G. Wood in his famous Natural History (1863) ‘is to many persons a great dainty, but to others, among whom I must be reckoned, it is insufferably offensive, and even with all the additions of sauce and condiment is barely eatable.’
Certainly few people could be sinful on salt cod and parsnips which have been boiled and served with an egg sauce. On the other hand, in the Mediterranean regions, from Spain through Provence, Italy and Greece to Yugoslavia and the Middle East, methods were devised for making this unpromising material as palatable as possible. As a result, Lent could no doubt be endured on a diet of brandade de morue with cream and truffles. Now there are at least two hundred delicious ways of preparing what was originally just a very basic fodder. Because salt cod has become a part of traditional cooking, it can be obtained easily anywhere in southern Europe, though it is no longer very cheap. It is hung or stacked up in grocers or in markets, or on sale ready-soaked every Friday. It is even available in plastic packets.
Buying and Choosing. Bacalao (which may be ling as well as cod) should have white flesh and black skin. Yellowish-looking pieces are supposed to be old. In Mediterranean countries, you can usually judge the quality by the price, unless a dishonest merchant has seen you coming. Experts distinguish the thin sides and belly from the thick back and tail. For many dishes, the sides and belly part, which is not so good looking, is better, being more gelatinous and of finer texture. Some cooks go so far as to say that the two parts should be soaked and cooked separately.
Soaking in running water, or in water changed frequently (every 3 hours) is necessary before cooking. Depending on the quality of the fish, 24-48 hours of soaking at room temperature is needed. A modern method from Spain leaves the salt cod soaking undisturbed in a bowl (on a rack so the water can reach underneath) in the refrigerator for 2 days. The water is not even skimmed. After that, a final soaking for 6 hours, with a couple of changes of water, will make the fish ready to cook.
Scalding. Some people, notably the Basques, scald the salt cod after it has been soaked. They put it in a pot of cold water, skin-side up, and put it on the heat until the water is not quite boiling. After this, the fish is taken out or left to cool in the liquid, according to the requirements of the subsequent preparation. After scalding, the fish can be boned.
Poaching is the more usual preliminary to cooking. Use an earthenware or enamel pan, as metal can cause discoloration. It is also best to use rainwater. Poaching time is 16-18 minutes. As salt cod must never boil (as it will then become stringy), bring it almost to boiling, then throw in a glass of cold water, and finish the poaching on the lowest possible heat. Allow 150- 200 g (5-7 oz) per person.
Bacalao a Ia vizcaina
One of the great classical dishes of northern Spain. The fish is cooked in a spicy, but not too spicy, red pepper sauce made with floras – globular red *sweet peppers which visitors to Spain have certainly seen dried and hanging in chains in the shops.
Soak 1 kg (2¼ lb) bacalao and 12 ñoras (deseeded, skinned if possible and chopped) for 24 hours. Cut the fish into matchbox-sized bits and scald (as described above), leaving it to cool in the broth. Reserve about 250 ml (½ pt) of broth. Bone the fish. Flour it lightly and fry without browning it in a little oil. Arrange in a casserole, skin side down. Add the rest of the 250 ml (½ pt) oil to the frying pan. Fry 50 g (2 oz) cubed bread until it is brown, then add 50 g (2 oz) scraps of raw ham or unsmoked bacon, 2 cloves garlic, 450 g (1 lb) chopped onions, a bay leaf and the ñoras. When the onion is cooked, add 1 heaped teaspoon *pimentón and moisten with some of the reserved stock in which the bacalao was scalded. Cook the flavourings for a further 10 minutes, then put them through a Mouli to make a sauce. Adjust the salt: and sugar. Add more broth if necessary. Cover the bacalao with the sauce and cook in the oven, shaking the casserole from time to time for 15 minutes or until everything is
hot.
SALTPETRE takes its name from the Latin sal petrae (salt of stone); chemically it is potassium *nitrite (KNO2) formed by denitritying bacteria. Although a pure nitrate will not redden meat, it does have a preservative effect, as it is particularly active against the lethal anaerobic Clostridium botulinus (see poisoning). When nitrites are put directly (in tiny amounts) into commercial cures, some saltpetre is also added. As saltpetre hardens meat, it should not be used to excess. Saltpetre is a powerful oxidizing agent (which is why it is used in gunpowder and fuses), so butchers often mix a proportion of it with the sawdust used in smokehouses. It starts the sawdust burning and ensures that it smoulders steadily.
[Saltpetre – French: salpêtre German: Salpeter Italian: salnitro Spanish: salitre]
SAMBAL. South East Asian term covering both dishes of meat or fish fried with chillies and condiments in which chillies are an important constituent. The latter are equivalent to the Middle Eastern *harissa but contain a wider variety of ingredients, such as *trasi. A number of these sambaIs are sold in jars and should be used with great caution as they can be extremely fiery. Recipes for both sorts of sambal are in Rosemary Brissenden’s South East Asian Food (Penguin).
SAMBUCA. See liqueurs and cordials.
SAMPHIRE or Rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum) is an umbelliferous plant with thick fleshy leaves which grows wild on cliffs over much of Europe and locally in Britain. It has a very strong, pungently aromatic smell and taste. Pickled samphire, though nowadays almost unknown commercially in Britain, is still commonly sold in Spanish markets. It may also be eaten as a vegetable (cooked in butter) or put into salads, though it is rather strong for that purpose.
In the US, the plants that are often described just as samphire are not Rock samphire but Marsh samphire, usually known in Britain as glasswort. These peculiar plants, members of the genus Salicornia, belong to the same family as beets and spinach, but have fleshy leaves surrounding the stem, so that the plants look as if they have fleshy stems and no leaves. They are very common in salt marshes.
[Samphire – French: fenouil de mer, bacile German: Meerfenchel Italian: critmo, finocchio marino Spanish: hinojo marino]
SAND-EEL or sand-lance is any North Atlantic fish of the genus Ammodytes, as well as a Mediterranean relative, Gymnammodytes cicerellus. All are very elongated and none exceeds 20 cm (8 in) in length; they escape from predators by burrowing into the sand, which they can do with great speed. According to Alan Davidson, sand-eel is often referred to (and used as) *whitebait in the US.
[Sand-eel – French: lançon, equille, cicerelle German: Sandaal, Sandspierling Italian: cicerello Spanish: barrinaire]
SAN PELLEGRINO. See water (mineral water).
SANWA. See millet.
SAPSAGO. See Schabzieger.
SAPODILLA, sapodilla plum, tree potato, sapota, zapote, naseberry or chiku (and various spellings of the last two). The sapodilla (Achras sapota) grows wild in the forests of southern Mexico and the northern part of Central America. As a cultivated fruit, it has now spread all over the tropics and is commonly seen in the markets of India, South East Asia, the West Indies and tropical America. It is also grown in Florida and in Israel. However, it is at its best when grown in a strictly tropical climate. Since it will keep at least S-6 weeks if picked immature and shipped in cold storage, it could easily be exported to the colder countries, where it has not yet become popular.
The tree is small, slow growing and evergreen, with glossy light green leaves and a wood that is famous for its durability- carvings over 1,000 years old have withstood the tropical climate in Mayan ruins. It therefore seems likely that the fruit was eaten in the days of this ancient civilization.
The sapodilla looks like a regular, rounded or oval potato with a rough brown skin covered in scurf which begins to be lost as the fruit ripens. At the same time, it becomes more orange and less brown. Since the fruit is quite uneatable before it is ripe and is usually picked immature, it is as well to know that an unripe fruit shows green when it is scratched with the thumb nail; in ripe fruit, the scratch shows yellow. Since unripe fruit will ripen if left in a basket in a warm room, it is not necessary to anger the fruiterer by scratching his fruit. Ripening can be held back or the ripe fruit can be stored for some time in the refrigerator.
The fruit is usually eaten as an uncooked dessert fruit. It must be peeled. Inside there is an orange brown or yellow-brown, slightly grainy translucent flesh. There is a core with a few large shiny black seeds which are easily removed. Poor varieties have a hard flesh and a gritty texture; good ones are soft and smooth. The taste may best be described as ‘vegetable brown sugar’. You may find sapodillas delicious, but equally you may think them oversweet and lacking in acidity. They are liked by children and may be an interesting addition to a fruit bowl which is intended to be a decorative feature of the table.
They may be made into a jam, preferably with citrus or other more tasty fruits. They contain 8-12% sugar and, in the West Indies, are boiled down into a fine syrup.
The names of this fruit are exceedingly confused. Sapodilla is the name used in Florida, derived from the Spanish zapotillo, meaning little zapote. The name sapota or sapote really belongs to the unrelated Marmalade plum (Calocarpum sapota) and the Green sapote (C. viride), so is better avoided. All these names come from the native tzicozapotl or tzapotl, as does also chiku, which is a good name to use. The name naseberry is a corruption of the Spanish for *medlar, a fruit from the quite unrelated rose family. The French also use the term nèfle d’Amerique which also means American medlar. The White sapote (Casimiroa edulis) is not a relative and belongs to the same family as rue and citrus fruits. The most important use of the sapodilla is as a source of chicle, which is the white latex from the tree. lt is the correct basis for chewing gum and exported in quantity from Central America.
[Sapodilla – French: sapotille, nèfle d’Amerique German: Sapotiglis Italian: sapota, sapotiglia Spanish: chicozapote]
SAPUCAYA NUT. See brazil nut
SARACEN CORN. See buckwheat
SARDINE (Sardina pilchardus) is a young pilchard, a fact that was not known a hundred years ago when they were thought to be different fish. Since ancient times the sardine has been fished in the Mediterranean with lights on calm, moonless nights, at first with torches, then with acetylene lamps and today with bigger boats and electricity. Sardines swim in shoals and are caught in huge quantities, far exceeding immediate demand. In the past, they were salted and dried. They are used today in this form mainly in Mediterranean countries, in Spain, these sardines are often used to garnish local types of coca or pizza.
Sardines were the first fish to be canned (in 1834). The canning business is now enormous, particularly in Portugal. The method was evolved of canning sardines in olive oil (which in the early days took care of any imperfect sterilization), but since olive oil has gradually become expensive, the cheaper grades are now more usually canned in other edible oils. There are also sardines canned, for example in tomato sauce, in escabeche or with chillies, and quality has suffered as a result in Edwardian times, the best grocers sold only sardines they had matured and turned regularly for several years, but French sardine canners consider that such practices are foolish and that two years is the maximum time that sardines should be kept- and French sardines are reputedly the best. Famous names are Phillippe et Canaud, Saupiquet, Cassegrain and Amieux, but the Rolls Royce of the sardine world is canned in Bordeaux by Rodel whose sardines are grilled and then matured for a year in vats of olive oil before canning. They are expensive and scarce. Connoisseurs claim that fine sardines should be served without seasoning on slices of hot buttered toast (although the French opt simply for bread and butter), but cheap sardines are improved by black pepper and lemon juice.
Fully grown sardines are fished off the coast of Cornwall as pilchards or gipsy herrings. The catch was originally just salted, or salted and smoked for export; smoked pilchards were known as ‘fair maids’, which was said t
o be a corruption from the Spanish. Pilchards today are canned, but those in tomato sauce are often small herrings. As fresh fish, pilchards can be distinguished from small herrings by raised lines that run backwards from the eyes. On the other hand, sprats have a line of spiny scales which form a keel to the belly. Their young, canned in oil like sardines, are sold as brisling.
Fresh sardines are popular near coasts where they are caught. They were not thought to travel well, but are now exported frozen in some quantity. On their native shores, they are cheap, oily, and delicious. Completely fresh sardines are possibly at their best cooked in the simple Spanish style, a Ia plancha – just thrown on top of a hot stove, cooked on both sides and served with parsley and lemon juice. However a Marseilles chef, Monsieur Caillat, collected a hundred and fifty sardine recipes for his book, and there are certainly more.
In the US, all real sardines are imported, as there are no true sardines in America; for local canning, young herrings are used in their place. Similar species of fish are found all over the world. Examples include the Oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) and the Rainbow sardine (Dussumieria acuta), which is fished and canned off the south-west coast of Kerala in India.