Outer Spice aims to be the gourmet’s version of Mrs. Dash.

Low Salt and No Salt seasoning blends are made from the finest, quality ingredients. The blends are made from whole, freshly ground herbs and spices.

The line debuts with two no-salt blends, original and spicy, and two low-salt blends, ditto. The blends are all-natural, gluten-free, free of MSG and rich in antioxidants.

These well-balanced spice mixes can transform and improve the taste of any dish, without adding any—or much—sodium.

LOW SALT SPICE BLENDS

Both low salt versions use pink Himalayan sea salt. They contain 95mg of sodium per serving, 4% Daily Value of sodium.

 
WAYS TO ENJOY OUTER SPICE

 
A 3.75-ounce jar is $6.99. Gift a bottle to anyone who should be cutting back on salt.
 
Get yours at OuterSpiceIt.com.

We’re quite enamored of the Corkcicle, a reusable, gel-filled plastic icicle. Kept in the freezer until you need it, it becomes a wine cooler and bottle stopper that chills down a bottle of wine or maintains the temperature of an already chilled bottle.

Forget a bulky ice bucket: This the perfect way to keep opened bottles of wine at just the right drinking temperature. It’s available in a standard edition, Corkcicle Classic, and a deluxe edition, Corkcicle One, which has a built-in aerator and pouring spout. Either is a great gift for wine lovers.

Now Corkcicle has a beer brother: the Chillsner, for standard long neck beer bottles. The stainless steel frame contains the same proprietary thermal gel used in the Corkcicle. As with the Corkcicle, you keep the Chillsner in the freezer until you need it; then, simply insert it into the bottle.

You can place the Chillsner in a warm bottle of beer and immediately sip cold beer through the spout (or pour it into a glass). Or, use the Chillsner to keep a pre-chilled bottle cold.

If you’re drinking alfresco, the Chillsner also keeps the bugs out.

Give as a summer gift, or plan for the holidays. Any beer drinker will be delighted.

A tip just heard on the Today Show: A Cook’s Illustrated taste test on cooking frozen versus thawed steaks.

Conventional wisdom is that frozen meat should be thawed before cooking. But when testing frozen versus thawed strip steaks on the grill, the Cook’s Illustrated test showed that, while they took longer to cook, the frozen steaks were better: juicier and more evenly cooked.

The technique also produced less overcooked meat, specifically the so-called “gray band” near the seared edge.

Here’s the step-by-step:

1. PREHEAT oven to 275° (135°C).

2. FILL a skillet with 1/8″ oil and heat.

3. SEAR meat until browned, about 90 seconds per side.

4. TRANSFER meat to an oven safe wire rack, set upon a rimmed baking sheet.

5. COOK in the oven to desired doneness, 18 to 20 minutes for a 1-inch-thick steak.

So try it yourself—not just with steaks but with burgers and other frozen meat and fish. And then, see how it works on the grill, and let us know.