Neccessary Kitchen Items

[gumpzilla]

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Might have been mentioned, but sea salt is absolutely essential

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This is perhaps the least essential thing mentioned in this thread that I can think of. Salt, obviously, but regular kosher salt or plain old Morton's is going to be more than enough. I don't think salt snobbery is the first frontier to be explored in learning to cook, and so this isn't where I'd wage my battles for ingredient substitution.