My best friend, writer and chef Deb Stenard, LOVES to find new, different, interesting things for me to try out. Recently, she and her husband Paul were wandering around an L.A. farmer's market when they happened upon a new spice shop: DRAGÜNARA!
Like the proverbial kid in a candy store (she loses her mind in those as well!!), she found all sorts of fascinating goodies and, a few days later, a box of them arrived at my door. Knowing my love for all things smoked... the first jar I opened was their BONFIRE SMOKED SEA SALT.
Now, I have smelled, tasted, and cooked with smoked salts before... but NOTHING prepared me for the aroma that knocked me over when I opened that jar. It was like sitting around a campfire when I was a child... not acrid in any way... just powerfully smoky, dark, deep (and all those other foodie words I make fun of)... and I immediately wanted to try it on everything but ice cream (and maybe... ?).
The first two experiments were (1) using a tiny bit to finish a salad. Changed the character completely... delicious...
And then (2) on some shrimp with homemade pasta... just wild... it was as if I'd grilled the shrimp over a hardwood fire!
But the pièce de résistance (so far) was when Deb had to be in New York for about 15 hours, and I made dinner for us. One of the courses was a beautiful ribeye a friend had given to me... I peppered it heavily and then threw it in a cast iron pan with a little EVOO... seared it on all sides but left it completely rare in the center (and I mean blue and moo-ing!!), sliced it thin, and finished the slices with a few grains of this magical salt...
Nirvana.
And I'm not even a big meat eater. So be prepared. I'll probably go overboard for awhile...
I've never tasted anything that makes me want to use it... everywhere... like this salt does...
And I haven't even started on the other goodies she sent!
