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For these cookies, I prefer Bali Rama Pyramid sea salt, which has really cool hollow pyramidal crystals and a great, snappy impact. The advantage of using a flake salt here is that it remains delicate even after baking. The Bali Rama Pyramid salt does a spectacular job of bringing just enough drama to the cookies to make them sparkle while keeping everything mellow enough to assure they remain a comfort food. Other good choices are Cyprus flake or Halen Môn, or, in a pinch, any good fleur de sel.

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 two-finger pinch Bali Rama Pyramid salt, coarsely ground with your fingers

2½ cups regular or quick oats (not instant)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups dark chocolate morsels

2 three-finger pinches flake salt, such as Bali Rama Pyramid

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with foil.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, the two-finger pinch of Bali Rama Pyramid salt, and oats in a bowl; set aside.

Beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl by hand until well combined. Don’t overmix. Add the eggs and beat by hand until well combined. Stir in the flour mixture and beat well by hand for about a minute. This will develop some gluten in the batter, which will help the cookies hold their shape and stay chewy. Stir in the chocolate morsels.

Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls of batter and place them about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle the cookies with the flake salt and bake just until the edges are browned and the centers are still soft, about 8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 3 minutes. Using a small spatula, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before devouring. These cookies stay fresh for nigh upon a week if stored in a cookie jar shaped like Winnie the Pooh.

SALT CRUST

There is nothing new except what has been forgotten —Marie Antoinette

Many countries have a tradition of cooking in a salt crust, but the French are crazy about it. Fish (daurade en croûte au gros sel), crustaceans (queues de langoustes en croûte de sel), fowl (magret de canard en croûte de sel), beef (côte de boeuf en croûte de sel), lamb (gigot d’agneau en croûte de sel), vegetables (artichauts en croûte de sel) and even cheese (reblochon en croûte de sel)—all are given their time in hot salt. Cooking in a salt crust does an amazing job of dehydrating the surface of food enough to concentrate its flavors while sealing in enough of the moisture normally lost through cooking to make everything incredibly moist, tender, and aromatic.

The salt crust tradition is alive and well in contemporary cuisine, but with a tragic twist: sel gris has been replaced by kosher salt. Replacing the supermoist, balanced crystals of sel gris with the ragged, dried, refined crystals of koshering salt is tantamount to abandoning the wood-fired oven in favor of a microwave. Where the sel gris harbors 13 percent moisture within its crystals, kosher salt has none. The moment the koshering crystals of kosher salt touch the exterior of the food they set about sucking out all moisture possible, only to release everything into the oven as it heats. Salt crust made with koshering salt is formed from moisture extracted from the food. Salt crust made with sel gris is formed from the moisture of the salt. This is the way salt crusts were originally made, and it’s how they should still be made today.

SALT CRUST-ROASTED PARTRIDGE WITH FIGS AND CHOCOLATE-BALSAMIC SYRUP

SERVES 4

Don your chain mail and broadsword. Ancient food, harbinger of tragedy and regret, roast partridges spur thoughts of delicious violence, provoking a savage appetite spurred by rich flavors and primal aromas. Daedalus, who built the labyrinth that held the Minotaur, flung his brilliant disciple Perdrix off a roof, only to have him transformed