From practically the beginning of time, salt has played an essential role in everyday life, preserving meat and vegetables for consumption during those lean months after harvest. We take salt's ubiquity and low cost for granted, but it was not always so. Duguid (Taste of Persia, 2016) answers just about all questions on the history of salt and how it transformed the world of food preservation and distribution. Through a unique collection of recipes, she illustrates salt's varying appearances in foods from many global cultures. France has its pissaladière, an onion and anchovy tart, and Japan offers spaghetti mentaiko featuring salted fish roe. Duguid's recipes give instructions on fermenting sauerkraut, kimchi, and miso at home. Even desserts can feature a salt component, as in her Breton salted butter cake or her miso and candied ginger ice cream. Adventurous cooks will find challenges of all sorts. Duguid's comprehensive book is loaded with practical information and an exceptionally helpful glossary lists translations of "salt" in dozens of languages including Nepali (nuna) and Quechua (kachi).

"We have an intimate relationship with salt, grain by grain, in our fingers as a pinch, between our teeth as we bite into a crystal, on our tongue as it melts," writes Duguid (Taste of Persia) in this mesmerizing mix of recipes and food history. She begins with salt's effects on flavor and texture, which include tenderizing, muting bitterness, heightening sweetness, and strengthening the gluten in some doughs. Salt also acts as an antimicrobial and preservation agent by drawing out moisture, and intesifies a vegetable's scent by "freeing aroma molecules." There's also a thorough guide to terms and salt types, which are becoming more accessible for American home cooks, such as "pinkish 'rosada' salt" from Peru, Indian "true" black salt, or red-tinged Alaea salt from Hawaii. Global recipes follow, from seasoning mixes to flavorful egg, rice, and meat dishes. Vanilla salt (fine sea salt plus vanilla pod seeds) and shoyu koji (homemade soy sauce, koji rice, water) are umami boosters, while salt cured seafoods and meats (gravlax, anchovies, shrimp, pork) can expand pantry options exponentially. A kimchi omelet calls for the homemade fermented cabbage with an extra sea salt dash, whereas lamb shoulder in the slow cooker employs salt-preserved lemons. Duguid makes a convincing case that instead of modern dispositions to simply "watch" overall salt intake, cooks can better learn to judiciously wield its flavorful powers. (Oct.)