Salt. I lived for two years on an island called Alonissos, in the Northern Sporades. Eleven years before I went to live there it had been struck by an earthquake. The father of the local doctor lived in a house in the old village in the centre of the island. He rushed to fill a bucket with water, and then made marks on the sides of the bucket as the water moved inside it to demonstrate the force of the earth movement. The reason I mention Alonissos is that it is named for its openness to the salt water.
Salt cellar (US: salt shaker). Also a salt box, a place where salt is kept in the kitchen to keep it dry.
Salt water. Brine. Water in which there is a heavy concentration of salt for preservation of meats, fish or vegetables.
To baste. To sprinkle. To lightly moisten a dish by spooning the melted fat or juices over it periodically during cooking.
Pike-perch or zander. It is a river fish with delicate flavour. They can be differentiated from the perch by the relatively large space between their dorsal fins and their elongate, fusiform body, which is never so steeply arched behind the head as it is in the Perch. The flesh is firm and white with a stronger flavour than cod. It was introduced into the United Kingdom in the 70's and is in danger of wiping out native species of fish.
