Smoked Salt

[oscubic]

I recall a few years ago when I was working in a famous raw vegan place coming to work and being quite certain smelling that somebody had snuck a side of bacon into the kitchen. However it turned out to be smoked salt. What dish it was used for I can't recall although I suspect the chefs may have been experimenting with flavoring the spicy tortilla soup with it.

Now the uses of a baconifying seasoning for times when using bacon fat or bits aren't practical could be numerous. Has anyone used any of the different kinds available on the web? What are your opinions and favorites?

[Toliver]

Here were some previous salty discussions:

Salt varieties..., How many do you have?

Salt, How do you use it? Preferences, nitpicks, etc.

Salt, varieties, uses, etc.

Fleur De Sel, A great discovery

[fyfas]

I finally found the Spanish Hickory-Smoked Sea Salt discussed in an earlier thread. I used it night before last on some oven-roasted halibut plated in a red-pepper coulis. I did the coulis in case the halibut needed an accent flavor but wanted the fish to be nearly plain so I could taste the salt's impact independent of the coulis or any sauce.

Most notable thing is the very strong hickory smell off the salt (bacon-y) and, yes, the salt IS strong so use it cautiously. I would consider using it, for example, on seared sea scallops to put on a dinner salad where often the scallops are bacon-wrapped and grilled.

All in all the salt is terrific as a simple add-on seasoning; when the essential flavor of the item, fish-meat-whatever, is desired. Until I know more, I'd use it in simpler dishes much the same way I use Herbs-de-Provence.

[Verjuice]

Has anyone tried Grains of Paradise?

[bleachboy]

To play the devil's advocate, it should be noticed that sodium chloride is sodium chloride.

In the book Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (a fun book by the way, link here), the author notes that the bare-breasted virgins who harvest Fleur De Sel with their quaint wooden rakes won't eat the stuff themselves, because the "exquisite flavor" of the salt comes from mud and seagull shit, and other impurities introduced into the salt mixture during long-term exposure to the elements.

The main reason to choose your favorite salt, in my opinion, is to get the texture you want. I think we'll all agree that Morton's, sea, and kosher all have different "usage properties". Any other differences are moot, as far as I'm concerned.

Jinmyo will undoubtedly call me an ignorant plebian, but so be it.

[fifi]

Thanks, bleachboy. Just what I need, another book.

I have been meaning to get that one.

My sister keeps hounding me to smoke some salt the next time I fire up the smoker. I keep forgetting, most likelly because I don't know how to do it. I am probably making it all too complicated but I keep wondering what to put the salt in. Can I just put it in a pan off to the side of my pork butt? Do you need some sort of mesh like container so that the smoke will diffuse through it? And why am I worrying about this instead of just putting a few pennies worth of kosher salt in a pan and seeing what happens.

[Toliver]

fifi,

I am bumping this thread back up to see if anyone has smoked salt or knows how to do it.

My brother smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving and I asked him to try smoking some Kosher Salt, too. He ended up making a small tray out of foil and put some salt in that and placed it next to the turkey while it smoked.

The results were disappointing. The salt smells faintly of smoke but there isn't a smokey flavor to it.

How can the home cook/smoker make their own smoked salt? Would you lightly spray the salt with a liquid of some sort to help the salt absorb the smoke as the moisture evaporates?

Or, as fifi said, should a mesh be used to hold the salt? Parchment paper maybe?

Perhaps col klink, Jim Mcgrath or other eGullet BBQ-er's/smokers can provide some suggestions.

[JAZ]

To play the devil's advocate, it should be noticed that sodium chloride is sodium chloride.

The main reason to choose your favorite salt, in my opinion, is to get the texture you want. I think we'll all agree that Morton's, sea, and kosher all have different "usage properties". Any other differences are moot, as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, sodium chloride is sodium chloride, but smoked salt is smoked sodium chloride -- it tastes smoky. I'm with you on the other salts -- but this really does taste different.

[Comfort Me]

My grandmother, z"l, always sprinkled smoked salt on buttered baked potatoes. It is one of my top-ten comfort foods -- not only do I enjoy the taste, but I enjoy the association. I actually can't think of anything else I might have used it with -- just potatoes.

[fifi]

Thanks for that report, Toliver. I was afraid that would be the case. If the smoking set doesn't chime in soon, I may PM one or another.