Get Cooking: Catching up on culinary queries

Readers offer their suggestions, questions, corrections
Bill St. John

• Yes, it is often difficult to know the personality of the extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) inside the bottle and behind the label. Until all EVOO producers add tastings notes to their labels, you’ll need to educate yourself. Sometimes a welcoming retailer will provide help, but that skill is rare. I’d encourage more cooks to utilize the vast resources of the internet; it’s all out there, a few keystrokes away.

• We aren’t lucky, as are so many Portuguese or Spanish, to live and eat where freshly caught anchovies or sardines are sold or preserved. Our tinned versions, of anchovies especially, vary considerably in style, taste, and cost. Oil- and vinegar-based differ greatly, as do those packed in salt. It is likewise with capers. Good reading and self-education at tienda.com.

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