Toasted Szechuan Peppercorn Salt

This recipe for Toasted Szechuan Peppercorn Salt is a great seasoned salt to have on hand, lending an Asian flair to many dishes.

Toasted Szechuan Peppercorn Salt is a recipe that uses toasted ground Szechuan peppercorns mixed with fine sea salt for a a seasoned salt with Asian flair.
Photo: Cynthia Dalton

Sometimes the difference between a really great lunch and just a ho-hum affair is experimenting with new and different flavors. This is why a few homemade seasoned salt recipes are great to have in one’s pantry — it just keeps life interesting!

Seasoned salts can add a note of something special to all kinds of simple mainstays, such as an otherwise innocuous scoop of cottage cheese or the ubiquitous boiled egg.

So, here’s my take on Toasted Szechuan Peppercorn Salt. Some recipes call for toasting the peppercorns in some oil before grinding but I don’t find the oil necessary. I just toast the peppercorns in a dry skillet on medium high heat for about 3 minutes or until the peppercorns fill the kitchen with their fragrance. Once cooled, I grind them in a spice grinder, run them through a sieve, and mix them with fine sea salt.

I do find that salt blends don’t really taste their best until they’ve had a chance to sit in a cool, dark, dry place for 2 or 3 days, so plan ahead on this one.

For some additional information on Szechuan pepper and to visit a really fun site with some interesting recipes, check out Omnivor’s Cookbook.

You’ll find lots of different spellings for these peppercorns — Schezwan, Sichuan, or Szechuan to name a few but anyway you spell it, the flavor is unique. It’s somewhat citrusy, somewhat floral, has a bit of a gingery sting (but it’s not too hot), and is slightly astringent, as in balsam or pine. Toasting does seem to cut way down on the slight numbing quality on the lips and tongue that these peppercorns possess.

Szechuan peppercorns* aren’t really peppercorns at all, but are actually a dried berry. Here’s more information on Szechuan peppercorns from The Epicentre.

I hope you enjoy this recipe for Toasted Szechuan Peppercorn Salt. Please use the Comments section below to share your thoughts.

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Toasted Szechuan Peppercorn Salt
You'll know when you've got the Szechuan peppercorns toasted to perfection — your kitchen will be filled with a hard to define pine-meets-vanilla-meets-citrus scent. © The Working Lunch Project
Toasted Szechuan Peppercorn Salt is a recipe that uses toasted ground Szechuan peppercorns mixed with fine sea salt for a a seasoned salt with Asian flair.
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
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Rate this recipe!
Course Lunch, Snack
Cuisine Asian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 2-3 days
Servings
servings (¼ teaspoon each)
Ingredients
Course Lunch, Snack
Cuisine Asian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 2-3 days
Servings
servings (¼ teaspoon each)
Ingredients
Toasted Szechuan Peppercorn Salt is a recipe that uses toasted ground Szechuan peppercorns mixed with fine sea salt for a a seasoned salt with Asian flair.
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. In a dry skillet, on medium-high heat, shaking frequently, toast the Szechuan peppercorns until their aroma starts to fill-up your kitchen.
  2. Remove from the heat and transfer to a paper towel to cool.
  3. When Szechuan peppercorns are cooled, transfer to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
  4. Force the powder through a small seive and combine with the fine sea salt.
  5. Store in a glass jar in a cool, dark, dry place for 2 to 3 days to allow the flavor to permeate the salt and develop.
Recipe Notes

Nutritional facts per serving:

0 calories

0g fat

590mg sodium

0g carbs

0g fiber

0g protein

 

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Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers

A pantry staple, the humble graham cracker, is transformed into Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers, with a salty-sweet coating of honey, soy sauce, and toasted sesame seeds, and a satisfying, crunchy-chewy texture.

Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers combine soy sauce, honey, toasted sesame seeds, and graham crackers for a satisfying light breakfast treat or snack.
Photo: Cynthia Dalton

These addictive morsels came to me early one morning while I was lying in bed half asleep thinking ( or was it dreaming?) about different tastes and textures that I love.

What could I do, I asked myself, to create something totally different out of something I always have on hand — graham crackers?

I got to remembering something my parents used to love with their evening coctail. It was an Asian party nibble that was like an airy pretzel with a shiny, sweet, soy sauce coating.

That got me to thinking about the fried sesame sticks my parents also noshed on at cocktail time. These were sort of like straight, short, crispy little versions of the fried noodles in a can people enjoy with chow mein, only these seemed covered in toasted sesame seed dust.

You can see where all this thinking was going, and later that day, I experimented with all those flavors and textures. The result is something that exceded my expectations. These are somewhat unique in that they never acheive total crispiness, nor to they become totally chewy.

For me, these Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers satisfy a hankering for several different things all-in-one. The sweet chew of a granola bar, the familiar honey and vanilla comfort of a graham cracker, and even the salty, toasted nut, and nougatiness of my favorite peanut, milk chocolate, and nougat candy bar, minus the chocolate of course (and I don’t miss it with these).

Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers are glazed with a mixture of honey and soy sauce and generously sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.
Photo: Cynthia Dalton

You’ll want to line up all your ingredients in advance.

Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers receive a coating of soy sauce and honey before they get a liberal sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds.
Photo: Cynthia Dalton

You break each cracker sheet in two, dip the tops in a honey and soy sauce mixture, and while the top is still slick with the honey mixture, “cement” toasted sesame seeds* to the top of each cracker.

Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers dipped in a honey and soy mixture, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds ready for the oven.
Photo: Cynthia Dalton

It’s important to do one batch of 9 crackers at a time (the recipe makes 18 cracker halves — which is 1 wrapped sleeve of graham crackers). Doing more at once, could result in a cracker more chewy than crunchy and you want each cracker to sport both textures. By the way, ideally, the crackers should be baked farther apart than the picture above might suggest. Give ’em about 1 1/2 inches of space between one another.

I hope you find this recipe for Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers a nice change of pace — fun and  a little different. Please use the Comments section below to share your thoughts.

 

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Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers
This recipe makes a nice, light, on-the-go snack, a coffee-break nibble, or a different dessert offering. FYI, I haven't tested this recipe with any other brand of graham crackers — just the brand mentioned in the ingredients list below.© The Working Lunch Project
Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers combine soy sauce, honey, toasted sesame seeds, and graham crackers for a satisfying light breakfast treat or snack.
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
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Rate this recipe!
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine Fusion
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 24 minutes
Servings
servings (3 halves per serving)
Ingredients
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine Fusion
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 24 minutes
Servings
servings (3 halves per serving)
Ingredients
Honey Soy Sesame Graham Crackers combine soy sauce, honey, toasted sesame seeds, and graham crackers for a satisfying light breakfast treat or snack.
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325° F.
  2. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with a silicone baking mat each.
  3. Break each cracker sheet in half (to create two 2 1/4" X 2 1/4" squares). You will wind-up with 18 of these. It's easier to break the cracker sheet in half top-side down (holes down) — I don't know why, but it is — you'll get fewer ragged edges. Set aside on a plate.
  4. In a large, shallow bowl, thoroughly combine the honey and soy sauce.
  5. In a small bowl, combine the sesame seeds.
  6. Working quickly, dip half the cracker halves (9) top-side down in the honey-soy mixture (you're coating the tops only), place top-side up 1 1/2 inches apart on one baking mat, and sprinkle with half the sesame seeds. The point here is to get the seeds on top of the cracker halves while the honey mixture is still wet on top of each cracker half. The honey will then act as 'glue' to 'set' the seeds during baking.
  7. Bake the 9 crackers for 10 minutes. Remove rimmed baking sheet from oven and let the crackers rest 2-3 minutes on the hot pan before gently removing them, with a cake-turner, to a wire rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Be careful with them while they're hot as they will be soft and almost cake-like until they cool and harden.
  8. Once you remove the first pan from the oven, and have the first 9 crackers cooling on a wire rack, Repeat the same process with the other 9 halves.
  9. Don't be tempted to coat and bake all the crackers at once because the end result will be more chewy than crunchy. The idea here is crunchy around the edges and chewy toward the middle of each cracker.
  10. Store at room temperature in an airtight container. These will probably keep a week or two, although they've never lasted that long in my house.
Recipe Notes

Nutritional facts per serving:

148 calories

4g fat

286mg sodium

28g carbs

1g fiber

2g protein

 

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Seafood Cocktail Sauce

This recipe for Seafood Cocktail Sauce is a classic. Combining the pantry/refrigerator staples, ketchup, cream-style horseradish sauce, and Worcestershire sauce with freshly squeezed lemon juice and other seasonings, this sauce is the perfect partner for plump, meaty, cooked shrimp and other seafoods.

Seafood Cocktail Sauce is spicy from horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice.
Photo: Cynthia Dalton

I love a good cocktail sauce but too often, they are sappy and overly sweet.

Seafood Cocktail Sauce is cocktail sauce as it was first introduced to me as a child.

My family and I were visiting my grandparents in New Orleans. We were moving form California to Ohio and the journey by car, into the unknown, took my four-year-old world by surprise. So much so, that I found myself too nervous to eat (never a normal state for my chowhound self).

That is, until I met my Gramma for the first time. She was a strong-willed, cheerful, calm presence with whom I instantly felt at ease. The more time I spent with her, the more the gitters melted away.

Gramma and my parents took me to Fitzgerald’s (which has long since been closed) for lunch on Lake Pontchartrain. A folksy, local dive, the casual atmosphere relaxed me even further.

However, when the shrimp and cocktail sauce arrived my poor Mom was just sure I’d get queasy again — it arrived legs and tails intact — surely I’d get grossed-out. But no, I didn’t. My Gramma happily showed me how to rip into those little suckers and I was soon a pro at it!

Shrimp and cocktail sauce ‘put me right’ way back then, and it’s still my go-to when I’m feeling even slightly under the weather.

Paired with hot house cucumber sliced into long spears, and a cracker or two, and you’ve got a really satisfying lunch that won’t weigh you down or make you feel groggy.

I hope you like Seafood Cocktail Sauce as much as I do. Please let me know in the Comments section below.

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Seafood Cocktail Sauce
Cool, tangy, spicy, and sweet — this is the perfect accompaniment to seafood. I especially love this Seafood Cocktail Sauce with its classic partner, cooked shrimp. By the way, some cocktail sauce recipes call for part chili sauce, part ketchup but I find the chili sauce an unnecessary, extra expense. © The Working Lunch Project
Seafood Cocktail Sauce is spicy from horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice.
Votes: 1
Rating: 1
You:
Rate this recipe!
Course Lunch, Snack
Cuisine American
Prep Time 5 minutes
Passive Time 1 hour
Servings
servings (2 tablespoons each)
Ingredients
Course Lunch, Snack
Cuisine American
Prep Time 5 minutes
Passive Time 1 hour
Servings
servings (2 tablespoons each)
Ingredients
Seafood Cocktail Sauce is spicy from horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice.
Votes: 1
Rating: 1
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. In a small, non-reactive bowl, combine all ingredients.
  2. Cover and allow flavors to meld for at least an hour at room temperature. Use or refrigerate.
  3. This mixture will last several days. If it congeals under refrigeration, whisk in a tiny bit of hot water to loosen it back up.
Recipe Notes

Nutritional facts per serving:

38 calories

0g fat

297mg sodium

8g carbs

0g fiber

0g protein

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