Spiced Salt

One preparation that French country cooks use to great advantage is spiced and seasoned salt. While salt and pepper shakers do appear on French dinner tables, they are rarely used. Gallic cooks can be deeply offended by guests who season their food at the table. They believe in seasoning it correctly in the kitchen, during the cooking. From the book "The French Farmhouse Kitchen" by Eileen Reece. The following age - old recipe comes from a farm in Vendée.

• Ready In: 15 mins
• Serves: 200
• Yields: 1 jar

Ingredients

• 15  small  dried bay leaves
• 8  ounces coarse sea salt
• 1  nutmeg
• 1⁄4 clove
• 1⁄2 ounce  white peppercorns
• 30  whole allspice
• 1⁄4 ounce dried marjoram
• 1⁄4 ounce dried thyme

Directions

1. Break up the bay leaves into pieces and grind them in an electric grinder. Pour them on a sheet of white kitchen paper with the sea salt crystals and mix well.
2. Cut the nutmeg into chips with a sharp knife, mix with the cloves, peppercorns and allspice an grind to the same consistency as the salt and the bay leaves.
3. Now mix in the marjoram and thyme and grind all ingredients together to the consistency of fine sand.
4. Store in dark glass bottles and seal tightly. The salt will keep indefinitely in this way.
5. Use one teaspoon of spiced salt for 1 pound dry ingredients or 1 quart of liquid.