5.21.2011

In Case of Emergency, Slice the Salami

What would be the last thing you eat before you die? People who love food ask this question to one another an ourselves a lot, a morbid amount actually. If I'm ever injured and need CPR, please administer it, but then also shove one of these items from my short list* in my mouth just in case I don't make it (in no particular order): 

Uni- (sea urchin, not to be confused with street urchin which I do not want in my mouth). You know the moment you walk onto the beach and that first breeze coming in off the ocean fills your entire body with clean, salt-water air and suddenly anything you were worrying about washes out of your mind with the receding waves? You can eat that, it's uni and its the most transformational food I've ever encountered. 

Mole salami from Salumi in Seattle- Mole is possibly one of the most complex and beautiful sauces that exists in the world. It tastes like all types of love. It usually has close to 30 ingredients, an abuela can spend days working on this black gold. Anyone who knows me probably knows my passion for cured meats. Even if we've only spoken briefly, I'm sure I mentioned something about sopressata or more likely salami. Marilyn and Armandino Batali  (Mario's parents) were brilliant enough to add components of mole to their incredible salami. I am inappropriate when I eat slices of this salami. I get goosebumps, I tear up, I make noises that I was actually embarrassed that my parents heard. The first time I tasted it I put my head down on the counter, asked for silence, and just started hitting the counter top with each chew. I'm not kidding. Luckily I was with my family and they have to still love me. 

Duck rillettes, tartines, cornichons, grainy Dijon- This will be the hardest to carry in a first-aid kit but it's critical that you have every component, ditch the band-aids to make room if you have to. Do you know why the French have a reputation for being culinary masters? Because they are. This dish of four components is simple, it's smart, it all works together...it's the exact opposite of the French government. 

Dill pickles- I prefer fermented versus vinegar, please note that somewhere. If there is an emergency and you have vinegar brined pickles, I will happily eat them. If there is an emergency and all you have is bread and butter pickles, I would sooner pass out and wait for a real rescue. These are near and dear to my heart, my grandmother made pickles and they are probably the first food I was truly obsessed with as a kid. My sisters and I once ate an entire jar of her pickles, drank the juice, barfed, and then tried to hid the evidence. We have an addiction, we are doing nothing to stop it. 

*List is subject to change and will be updated near the organ donation portion on my driver's license.  

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