It takes a special kind of sourpuss to complain about cookies, and I have just the constitution for it. My problem with cookies - and with most desserts, in fact - is that they lack salt. A mere half a teaspoon of salt can make or break a chocolate-chip cookie, a brownie, a piece of shortbread and the most buoyant of birthday cakes. It's as easy to objectively recognise this fact as it is to see that I have a problem with salt. Mark Bittman's brown sugar semolina cookies with sea salt are beautiful, sandy-textured little tastes of darkly caramelised sugar, browned butter and nutty toasted grains, all blinged out with jagged, glittery flakes of salt.
"Are you eating enough salt?" asks my doctor. He's taking my blood pressure. As usual, the tightening cuff is enough to make me see stars. I nod my head, and reach into my pocket to show off Pocket Salt, a pillbox that helps me expedite any necessary tableside seasoning. I always keep it on me; I've thought about getting it microchipped. Hypotension has led to unimaginable excitement over the years, like special fainting chairs and disorientation spells of fairy tale-level drama. Frankly, I'd prefer to install a salt lick by my bed. I feel lucky to have a body that seems happy to continue supporting at least one of my bad habits. Some time ago, I cynically predicted that health wars over salt would escalate into more controversy than cholesterol had ever seen. Now I think there's plenty more to be worried about in our food.
Use good salt and use it well. Nothing fancy is needed here: a box of Morton's kosher salt, a hefty cylinder of La Baleine fine sea salt if you want something less coarse, and crisp-tasting, collapsible pyramids of Maldon salt if you like big flakes on a finished dish.
I've received some very pretty salts as gifts: smoked salt, French grey sea salt, roasted Korean bamboo salt, Himalayan pink sea salt, Hawaiian black lava salt - but, like other things that fall squarely into the realm of ornament, it doesn't occur to me to use them. Is there any ingredient more egalitarian than salt? I like to keep celery salt on hand for hot dogs and grilled-cheese sandwiches, and I've developed a strange obsession with Halen Môn vanilla salt, which I bought at Spinneys on impulse after realising it wasn't pricier than making my own vanilla salt at home, plus it's much prettier. Salts that have no place in my kitchen include the revolting condiment known as truffle salt and Kala namak, a pungent, sulphuric purple rock from West Bengal.
The thought of a salt boutique makes me cringe, and I can't stand seeing "salt", no matter how impressive its provenance, listed in a menu description. And restaurants that don't provide salt on tables, or worse, give you attitude when you ask for it, miss a crucial point: a dish can be perfectly respectable as it is, and it might be perfectly seasoned. But just like I like a little extra hot sauce on my tacos and I like my Thai food extra spicy, I enjoy a little more salt than others. Call me corrupt. Maybe I am. But snobbery doesn't suit anything, and least of all, salt.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
MATCH INFO
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, May 3
Live: On BeIN Sports HD
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Jordan cabinet changes
In
- Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
- Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
- Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
- Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
- Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
- Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
- Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
- Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
- Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
- Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
- Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
- Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
- Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
- Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
- Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
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