The King of Nuts
This week you get a special guest essay written by my husband, Graham Bradley, who makes me laugh every single day. He has been working on this list of the greatest nuts for a while now, adding to it and moving lesser nuts down a notch or two. What’s your favorite nut and how do you like to eat it or cook with it? Let me know if you agree with G’s highly opinionated take.
10. PEPITA — It makes no sense to start off a list about nuts with a seed, but there is another seed lurking on this list, so it seemed okay. I have to confess that pepitas (pumpkin seeds) are one of those things that I think are so good and I always want to cook with them, but I just never learned how. Send your recipes for pepitas-related dishes. Bonus points for mole!
9. CASHEW — Cashews are alright. They can be good. I don't know. I like them sometimes. Do you like them? Do you cook with them? I'm usually indifferent to cashews and then every so often I eat a dish that uses them, and I love it and get excited about them again. Usually it's something savory. They also make a great snacking nut. There is a kind of seasoned cashew that I always see at TJ's and never get, but they look great. I recently tried to make a rice noodle salad with cashews, and it didn't work out, but I want to try it again because it still sounds delicious.
8. PECAN — I do not love pecan pie. I don't enjoy pecans that much. BUT, pralines are sooooo good and I can really get down with sweet things that involve brown sugar and pecans. So, they make the list on the strength of pralines, sticky buns, etc.
7. MACADAMIA — This is a ritzy nut. It reminds me of the beach. I think it's excellent for snacking, but I'm not sure about it in foods. I've never been a huge fan of chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, but I realize that many people might think that's blasphemous.
6. SESAME SEED — Yea it's not a nut, but it's amazing and can be nut-like. Case in point: tahini, which is sort of like peanut butter. Another case in point: sesame oil, which is my second favorite oil to cook with. I'm embarrassed to say that I only discovered sesame oil in the last four years or so. Maria started using it in salad dressings and that absolutely hits. Sesame seeds are also amazing in sweets. Halvah is one of my favorite things, though my family pronounces it "HA-LAY-WEE" and I refuse to say it any other way.
5. PEANUT & WALNUT — This is a tie. Peanuts are just a great nut. Are they the most universally renowned snacking nut of all time? I think probably. Walnuts are fantastic. Maria's dad keeps a bowl of them on the table around Christmas time for cracking. I'm not the biggest fan of baking with them (please no walnuts in the brownies, are you a lunatic?) but they are amazing toasted and in salads like Salad for a Winter’s Night from The Newlywed Table.
4. ALMOND — I do like baking with almonds. Macarons, granola (maybe that's not baking but hey), cakes, etc. But the real reason they are so high on the list is that they make a great snack, and they almost never get old. On any given day, I'd probably be more excited to have a cashew or macadamia than an almond, but if I had to pick one nut to eat for the rest of my life, I think I would pick almonds over everything except the king and queen of nuts.
3. HAZELNUT — The hazelnut is the princess of nuts just on the strength of the Czech Christmas cookies that Maria makes every year. They are unbelievable. Oh, and nocciola gelato. Let's definitely not forget that.
2. PISTACHIO — Like in chess, the queen of nuts actually packs more of a punch than the king of nuts. Pistachios are out of control. They can go from savory to sweet like it's no big deal and they always seem special. I've been wanting to make a chocolate cake with candied pistachios forever. I better get to it. Also very good for snacking with the interactive shell situation.
1. PINE NUT — I admit that this is a little biased by my Mediterranean heritage, but the pine nut is the king of nuts. It just works. All the time. On everything. That's it.
