Andy Broder

​ "Never divorce the salt and pepper." I finally have a use for one of my grandmother's aphorisms. Last week I weighed in on salt, and good manners dictate that salt and pepper are passed together. Pepper is the yin to salt's yang; people use too much salt, and not enough pepper. And, unlike demon salt, pepper's great flavor doesn't come with health warnings.

Even a Minnesotan who asks "is it spicy" in that distinctive Upper-Midwest twangy-drawl, can tolerate the pep that pepper adds. Who doesn't like a little pep on his plate?

Andy Broder

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Andy Broder

Black Salt straight up with Hawaiian Red Salt on the rim

​Modern salt, like modern art, began early in the twentieth century. Mr. Morton figured out that adding an anti-caking agent would make salt more user friendly. Easy to pour salt, like sliced bread, became the standard.

Although I use plain kosher salt (preferably Diamond Flake brand) most of the time, salts from many seas, rock salt, pink and black and gray salt, Jurassic salt and tea-smoked salt each has a place in my pantry.

I don't use "table salt" because those anti-caking chemicals (yellow prussiate of soda, magnesium carbonate, et. al.) can give it a slightly metallic taste. I have more than 40 kinds of salt at AndyFood and at least another 20 at home (in no small part thanks to friends adding to my de facto collection).

I'm not a salt sommelier (such experts exist) but when people talk salt, my ears burn.

Before I get into the merits of some favorite salts I want to acknowledge that an awful lot of people consume way more salt than they should. I'm all for a lower sodium diet. I use salt to bring out the flavor in food, not to make food taste salty. The secret is to know how and when to use salt. What follows is a short version of my upcoming class on salt.

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Photo: Jennifer Woods

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Caneles were one of our picks as a food trends in 2012. Naturally, we've been wanting to try one. Taking one for the team (ha ha), we followed Tracy Dempsey on Monday afternoon into the commissary kitchen of Arcadia Farms in Old Town Scottsdale, where she makes her many Tracy Dempsey Originals confections -- including caneles. They have a chewy exterior and a sweet pudding-like interior with a flavor profile similar to crème brûlée.

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http://www.icbe.org/category/celebrities/page/2/

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First, I'd like to say "thank you" to the guy in the stall in the airport bathroom.
Thank you for your half of the conversation everyone else could hear.
Thank you for giving me the best possible example I can use when I tell people in a cooking class why cell phones do not belong in the kitchen (at least my kitchen). There is no such thing as a sanitized cell phone. The germs you touched via doorknobs, elevator buttons, bathrooms, or when you picked up that dime you found on the sidewalk are probably on your cell phone. That's why cell phones are among my top four ways to spread germs in the kitchen.

I assume that no one wants to infect his family or her guests. I assume that germs are ubiquitous. When it comes to germs in the kitchen those are the only assumptions I'm willing to make. Ignorance spreads germs. A little information and insight about our own behavior might not cure the common cold, but it can keep it at bay.

Dirty Sponge...Bob...

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Jennifer Woods

Glenn Wagner, Vice President of Sales - Retail Division for Sogno Toscano

​While doing some evening mall errands at Scottsdale Fashion Square earlier this month, we noticed an olive oil kiosk named "Olive Oil Boutique."

At first we weren't too excited; this appeared to be just another mobile retail space for specialty products. An energetic salesman named Glenn Wagner offered tastes and some information about olive oil's health benefits -- all good. Who doesn't love a fruity olive oil sample?

Then we heard Chris Bianco's name. What? Turns out, this olive oil is the same used by the legendary Bianco -- once only sold, in fact, to chefs. But the Italian family who creates the olive oil likes the cowboy life so much they relocated to the Valley, and went retail.   

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KidsFitFoundation.org

Jackie Evans

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Good parents who love their kids dearly don't intentionally make choices that they know will end up making life challenging for their children. But it happened to Jackie Evans. She scheduled lots of sports for her kids but then would drive them all over town and swing by the fast joints on the way home for post-practice/game nourishment. More >>

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/homes/

Who do you think lives and cooks in this sleek California home?

​Who doesn't love peering into the lives of our favorite (and even our not so favorite) celebrities?More >>

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The Arrogant Butcher created a bloody buzz when it opened early last year in downtown Phoenix, featuring the kind of high-concept restauranteur Sam Fox is now known for in these parts. Design never takes a backseat to the food in a Fox restaurant, so it's no surprise that Arrogant Butcher's menu has drawn national attention.

Recently Art Of The Menu, a blog that features the world's most beautifully designed restaurant menus offered up Arrogant Butcher's menu as a fine example. Credit goes to TunnelBravo, a design and branding firm in Mesa. 

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zazzle.com

​What's wrong with balsamic vinegar?

For that matter, what's wrong with sundried tomatoes, truffle oil, pomegranates, and chipotles? Nothing. All of these items are in my pantry (at home and at AndyFood); they're staples. They're also as ubiquitous as white men on a golf course.

But when I go to a restaurant I look forward to eating something that I can't make by simply raiding my refrigerator or stopping at Trader Joe's on the way home. These ingredients get top billing on menus because they have name recognition; but as loveable as they are, they read like the credits from an episode of The Love Boat. I hope to see less of such ingredients on restaurant menus in 2012.

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Image courtesy of Shutterstock

​What's more American than apple pie? Hostess Cupcakes and Coca-Cola for breakfast, that's what.

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