Appetizers

Pour Some (Salt,) Sugar(, and MSG) on Me

I rarely accept product samples these days—so much packaging, so little pantry space. But when I received an email about “Jugaad It!”, the latest release from chef Meherwan Irani’s Spicewalla, I was intrigued enough to have a canister sent my way. It’s a blend of salt, sugar, and MSG intended as a sort of all-purpose sprinkle for whenever a dish is just missing something. (Jugaad is South Asian slang that means something like doing the most with what you’ve got, or going MacGyver Mode on a problem.) In promoting it, the brand is focused on rehabilitating MSG’s still-uneven image in the eyes of the American public—a message I should hope the enlightened readers of Gourmet don’t need reiterated here. To me, a more potent possibility is that it might convince home cooks to start using more sugar in their savory food—to stop worrying and love the White Death. Food media has hammered home the importance of salt and umami pretty effectively in the past decade or so, but has been much less vocal about the fact that nearly every salad dressing really does need a little dash of Domino. (I have it on good authority that it is referred to as “Secret Ingredient X” on the line at Chez Panisse.) In any case, Jugaad It! tastes great, and I have been shaking some over slices of the FOURTEEN cucumbers I received in my CSA, on an almost daily basis. —Amiel

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The Kids’ Books Are Alright

Last week, a Friend of Gourmet (FRoG) wrote in with her favorite kids’ books about food for the TADPoLEs (The Adorable Dining Protégés of Local Epicures—hat tip to FRoG Molly M.) in her life.

A few more FRoGs added to this library of recommendations. Tejal R., whose daughter is famous in these pages for her bedazzled bib, writes: “Mai and the Missing Melon by Sonoko Sakai is the sweetest, so beautifully written and illustrated. My kid loves it so much, she insists that we read the author’s note in the back each time too.”

Wei T. sent in a trio of mini-reviews:

I desperately want to be kept abreast of any reader-submitted recommendations for children’s food-related books, if possible. Here are a few (maybe lesser-known?) ones that my toddler and I enjoy together:

• Watermelon Pool by Bonsoir Lune (Reading to help acclimate my watermelon-obsessed child to the dreaded pool!!) 
• Chirri & Chirra by Kaya Doi (The whole series is just about two Japanese girls biking through the forest to various cafés to eat incredible snacks. “Peppermint tea with green-apple syrup and a side of frozen raindrop candy”!!!!)
• The Ghost’s Dinner by Jacques Duquennoy (Henry the ghost has a dinner party and the ghost guests turn the color of each course, recommended by my amazing friends Michele and Henri.)

Finally, Elizabeth A. reminded us of all-time classics Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban and In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak. I read the latter most recently with the aforementioned Molly M. and her four- and two-year-old TADPoLEs, and all of us ate it up. —Nozlee