Sydney's Sunday Reads: #2
Happy Sunday, friends! What have you got planned this Labor Day Weekend? We’re probably going to fire up the grill around these parts and toast to the beautiful weather! The leaves are slowly changing, and the days are getting shorter, but there’s still enough summer-like weather to celebrate a little longer.
Sydney's Sunday Reads is a new weekly blog series that highlights some of my favorite stories, articles, think-pieces, and more from around the Internet. Ready? Let’s get into it!
Why so salty? - Seasoning meats, elevating baked goods, or finishing a dish, kosher salt is a workhorse pantry staple in the American kitchen. But did you know that no two kosher salts, specifically Diamond Crystal and Morton, are exactly alike? All salt is the same (NaCl or sodium chloride), but as it turns out, the way in which the crystals are formed to create the final product can differ greatly! Ever tried a recipe with Diamond Crystal kosher salt then later with Morton and noticed things had become way saltier? Your mind wasn’t playing tricks on you - a cup of Morton is nearly TWICE as salty compared to that of Diamond Crystal! While I’ve used both brands in my kitchen with excellent results, I’ve got a brand preference. What team are you on: Team Diamond Crystal or Team Morton? (Taste Cooking)
Uncle Ben? Try Uncle (Master) P! - If you’re a millennial like me, you may recall rapper and actor Master P. He was pretty prominent in the early 2000s, but somewhat disappeared from the mainstream spotlight by the 2010s. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, Boy, I sure wonder what happened to Master P, here's the answer: he’s been slowly breaking into the food scene! It started out with a line of individually-wrapped ramen noodle packages, appropriately named Rap Noodles, last year. Now, he’s ready to expand his offering with a newly-launched brand, Uncle P’s Louisiana Seasoned Foods. We’re talking beans, grits, rice, pancake mix, syrup, and even oatmeal. The cool thing is, Master P has vowed that a portion of sales will go to directly assist Black communities nationwide, from education programs in inner cities, to real estate development in Black neighborhoods. Read more HERE. (Food and Wine)
The power of community cookbooks. - Hunger strikes, secret meetings, and public protests; all famous tactics used by the brave suffragettes to win women the right to vote. But there was another tactic used to raise both money and awareness for the cause: cookbooks! It’s all outlined in a new book by Laura Kumin, All Stirred Up: Suffrage Cookbooks, Food, and the Battle for Women’s Right to Vote. (Jezebel)
Homeward Bound: Pip’s Incredible Journey. - This is a story about a loving family, strict pet import laws in Australia, and a tiny dachshund named Pip who traveled 10,000 miles to reunite with her family after COVID-19 forced them apart. I’m calling it now: someone’s going to make a movie about this! (CNN)
More Masks, More Market Saturation. - Can you believe there was a time when wearing a mask wasn’t even on our radar? Sure in the past many of us have seen sick people wear masks, but we probably didn't think much of it. Now, masks have become one of the hottest (and most necessary!) accessories of the year. There was a time in early March when stores were selling out of medical masks, so your only option was to purchase masks from a few shops on Etsy. Now, everyone’s trying to get in the game. Here’s what Lisa Corsillo, a writer for The Strategist, learned from writing about masks for six months. (The Strategist)
#Cottagecore - If you’re a fan of gentle and relaxing cooking content, you will LOVE this series from Taste Life. In the video below, a woman in an Azerbaijani village cooks up dishes using vegetables grown in her garden. ALSO, those knives are the real deal and I want them for my kitchen.