Salt and Pepper, Herbs and Spices

How many of you have your very own personal chef? Well, I do... in fact, I have eighteen of them, male, female, young, old, foreign, domestic. The majority are dressed in white, which makes them a bit old-fashioned and behind the times, since chefs' togs now come in a multitude of colors and patterns. 

The only trouble is, I cannot get these chefs to cook anything. 

All they want to do is apply seasoning. 

You see, they are my collection of chef salt and pepper shakers.

For a while long ago, I had a bit of an obsession with collecting chef salt and pepper shakers. I was working in the restaurant/pastry worlds.  I loved going to flea markets. Putting the two together, you can probably begin to see where I'm going with this. Searching for something specific at flea markets make the experience of more of a challenge -- a treasure hunt, if you will. I became attracted to these little chefs, as I was sort of one myself. The S & P's were small, inexpensive, and didn't take up much room at home. After a while, the obsession wound down and, after beginning to gather other non-chef, yet kitchen-related S's & P's, I stopped collecting them altogether.

The group picture reminds me of a graduating cooking class photo. 

Here are some close-ups:

These are my favorites. The couple on the left resemble cooks from the 1920s and she is holding what appears to be a saucepan. The lady on the right introduces herself as Salt and her partner is Pep.

 

These two couples are more daring and stylish, with their colorful outfits.

This seems to be the Dutch contingent, holding knives and trimmed in gilt.

  

The two outer ones are identical twins and are, in fact, both salt shakers--never could find the peppers. Cute couple in the middle, wouldn't you say?

Given to me by a friend, these two are more modern.

In an effort to consume less salt, it helps to find a seasoning mix that enhances the food. In my home, our favorite "salt-substitute" is called Florida Pepper from Penzey's Spices. It is a combination of Tellicherry black pepper, lemon peel, orange peel, citric acid, garlic and onion.They have numerous shops around the country and also offer mail-order. As you can see, our bottle has been well-used; we buy in bulk and refill when the bottles get low.