Salted_ A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes - Mark Bitterman [139]
3 grinds coarsely ground black pepper
3 ounces unsalted tomato juice
1 long, fine celery stalk, leaves still attached, for garnish
Put a three-finger pinch of alaea salt on a flat plate. Wet the edge of a tall highball glass with the squeezed-out lemon rind. Place the glass upside down on the plate to rim it with salt.
Combine the lemon juice, vodka, bitters, clam juice, Worcestershire, horseradish, Tabasco, pepper, tomato juice, and 1 two-finger pinch alaea salt in a shaker over ice. Stir thoroughly for 5 seconds, pour the liquid and ice into the glass, and garnish with the celery.
KONA SALT AND COCOA-RIMMED PLANTATION RUM
SERVES 1
Rum is distilled from various sweet products of sugarcane. Playing off rum’s sweet origins, a touch of citrusy-sweet chocolate adds intrigue to the strident heat of the alcohol, and a touch of salt unifies everything in a rush of flavor that would make Willy Wonka jealous. Cocoa powder can be substituted for the cacao beans or nibs, though it lacks their nutty fullness. No liquor cabinet should be without a small bottle of honey-smooth, smoky, tangerine-flavored Rangpur lime syrup. Made from the lime’s peel and juice, it is great not only to wet the rim of a cocktail glass, but also as a mixer in mojitos and margaritas. Kona deep sea salt is big, with a firm backbone of mineral and a glint of fresh fruit sweetness that bring harmony through leadership rather than brute force.
1 three-finger pinch Kona sea salt or Papohaku white salt
½ teaspoon cacao beans or nibs, pounded into powder with a mortar and pestle
¼ teaspoon Rangpur lime syrup or agave syrup
1½ ounces good dark rum, such as Westerhall Plantation Rum
Combine the salt and powdered cacao on a flat plate. Wet the rim of a highball glass with the lime syrup. Place the glass upside down on the plate to rim it with salt and chocolate. In this case, less is more, so go easy on the salt-chocolate mixture. Drop a handful of ice cubes into the glass and pour the rum over. Inhale, touch the rim with your tongue, sip, and enjoy.
JAL JEERA
SERVES 4
The true taste of a place is found in its little oddities, and northern India is no exception. Nowhere are the distinctive attitudes and sensibilities of a people better captured than in the lemonade of northern India. Jal jeera is Hindi for “cumin water,” but it’s the wild and unruly yet ultimately constructive influence of India’s famous, sulfuric kala namak salt that lends this drink its edge. It’s traditionally drunk before a meal, but any hot day provides a great excuse to duck into the shade, mix up a tall iced glass of jal jeera, and tilt your face up to the sun to offer a prayer to the sun god Surya.
2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
4 teaspoons fresh cilantro leaves
2 teaspoons sugar
¾ cup fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon kala namak salt
4 cups cold water
½ lemon, cut into 4 wedges, for garnish
4 mint sprigs, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
Pound the cumin in a mortar and pestle until cracked, then spread on the prepared baking sheet. Roast for 3 to 5 minutes, until fragrant and lightly toasted, being careful not to burn.
Add the cilantro, sugar, and mint to the mortar and crush with the pestle into a paste. Combine the paste with the toasted cumin, lemon juice, and kala namak in a large jar (at least 1 ½ quarts) and mix thoroughly. Add the water and some ice; seal the jar and shake vigorously. Pour ice and all into 4 tall glasses, garnish with lemon wedges and mint sprigs, and serve.
SALTY DOG WITH A PEACHY BOLIVIAN ROSE RIM
SERVES 1
The venerable Greyhound is made with vodka or gin and grapefruit juice, and if you salt that hound, you get a Salty Dog. So goes the logic. But logic is dull—or lonely. Vodka craves company. Its pure grain simplicity is receptive to a host of improvements that would wither under gin’s herbaceous glare. And who doesn’t love a peach, with all that it conjures—from climbing fruit trees to sipping Bellinis? And with the right salt—like