Pâtissiers, Paris. Irving Penn. 1950.
general INformation about ingredients
SALT FOR GENERAL SEASONING
For many years in restaurant kitchens and at home. I’ve used Diamond Crystal Kosher Saltfor for most purposes, from seasoning, to cooking at the stove, to salting pasta water. Diamond Crystal has small flakes with an even, diamond shape, hence the name. It allows for precise control, behaves in a reliable way. Recently, Diamond Crystal began packaging for the home consumer market and has introduced a few new products including several sea salts and a fine Kosher salt for baking. It is free of additives such as anti-flaking agents, and is approved Kosher/Pareve. It’s used in many professional kitchens and can be bought in 3 lb/1.3 kg boxes. A tablespoon of Diamond Crystal weighs about 11 grams.SEA SALT
Nowadays, I usually grind my salt from French sel gris, or grey salt. It’s a coarse salt that can be bought by the kilo and ground to the desired coarseness in a mortar and pestle. By the kilo, it’s far cheaper than other salts and has great flavor.
Many fine sea salts are available in specialty shops. You can easily find one that works for you, in the way you might find a butter you like. And like butters, each has its own subtle flavor.
FINISHING SALT
Specialized salts, perhaps the most widely know of which is Maldon Sea Salt, near Essex, on the East Coast of England, abound. Excellent types come from Turkey, Hawai’i, Ireland, Cypress, Italy, France, the Himalayas, and other places of origin. Each has its own flavor–a notion that can seem rarified and over-thought–but I encourage you to try them yourself to find the ones you like.PEPPERCORNS
I strongly recommend you search out Tellicherry peppercorns, the flavorful, perfumed berries of Malabar peppercorns, which I specify by name in the recipes. Contrary to popular belief, Tellicherry is a grade of Malabar peppercorn not a type of peppercorn. And if you really want to be on top of your peppercorn game, you’ll choose Tellicherry Special Extra Bold Peppercorns, the largest and most flavorful grade available. If you need sourcing, see the “Spices” section below. Of course, there are many different peppercorns of different tastes, but for general blakc pepper use, I choose Tellicherry.TOMATOES
In California, I buy dry-farmed Early Girls almost to the exclusion of other varieties. To my taste, Heirloom varieties can have a watery texture, and in most cases have shorter shelf life than Early Girls, and Heirlooms rarely have the deep flavor of a perfectly ripe. Early Girls are a hybrid tomato developed in the 1970’s from a French short-season tomato. Outside of tomato season, good canned tomatoes will be far superior to fresh tomatoes you find in the stores, regardless of its provenance. Canned tomatoes have become a hot item in Covid-times, sometimes unavailable due to demand. Look for whole peeled organic tomatoes – sometimes called plum tomatoes, sometimes San Marzano. The best tasting brand, if not the cheapest, is Bianco DiNapoli, created by Chris Bianco, the masterful and ubiquitous pizzaiolo out of Phoenix, AZ. For years at Eccolo, we cooked with Strianese San Marzano DOP tomatoes, an excellent Italian canned tomato. Cento is also a high quality canned tomato, and is the only United States brand that has its production facility in the Sarnese Nocerino area of Italy where San Marzano tomatoes are grown in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvio.RISOTTO
There are several types of rice for risotto, all generally called arborio rice, or riso arborio. Each has a a different starch content and grain size that determine its use. My first choice is almost always the elegant and dignified carnaroli, and for risotti, I use exclusively that. For soups and brothy dishes, vialone nano, which appears often in Venetian dishes, and has a softer grain than carnaroli and ample starch. Principato di Lucedio is an outstanding grower in Piemonte, Italy that is available in the U.S.SPICES
I buy my spices fresh as possible, and for home cooking I suggest to not keep large quantities on hand and buy frequently. Toss out that spice rack set you received as a gift years ago and buy fresh spices in small quantities. Keep them in a cool cupboard away from sunlight, not above, or next to the stove. A good local source is Oaktown Spice Shop. Other excellent shops offering their products online are Kalustyan’s and Sahadi’s, both in NY. Two special, high-end shops are La Bôite, purchasing from seems like a drug deal, and perhaps the sexiest of them all, the enchanting, Medina-like SOS Chefs in the East Village. A wonderful, politically-righteous and expressive business is Penzey’s, with national locations. Read their bold political declaration!