Salt (merged topics)

[lullyloo]

Interested in your thoughts on how you like to cook with salt and how you like to eat it.  I'm sure Fat-guy and those of you more schooled in the culinary arts could tell me the basic philosophies of cooking with it.  Sea salt?  Sel de mer?  regular old iodized?  While you're cooking, or after it's on your plate?  Do you add it to everything or believe it destroys the true flavor of food?  For instance, I have a thing with salt on steak.  I have to have it, and find I keep adding it as I eat it.  It never tastes over-salted to me, and never as delicious without it.  However, I never salt steamed vegetables.  With tomato sauce, I find that the flavors never seem to come alive without a good dose of it.  Also, do you have gripes about restaurant cooks over-salting, under-salting?  And how do you find that very fine powdery salt used on salted almonds and other savories?  

Soy sauce, fish sauce?  

[Blue Heron]

There was a fascinating article about Sea Salt by Robert L. Wolke I came across awhile back.   Here is a link..

ps'>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv....

ps

.. I love salt!  I'd much rather have a salty snack than a sweet.  I'd love to hear if our fellow egullitarians use sea salt, fleur de sel, etc. and if they like it better.  I still haven't sprung for fleur de sel, but I'm tempted.

[Fat Guy]

All salt pretty much tastes the same once it's dissolved into food. The differences in texture (mostly) and flavor (a little bit, maybe) are apparent only when it's sprinkled onto a finished plate. So I think you're basically wasting your time if you're cooking with anything other than plain old iodized salt (or coarse kosher salt because it's easier to work with, rub onto the surfaces of stuff, measure by feel, etc.).

Oversalting and undersalting are simplifications, because the quantity of salt is only one factor. More important is how the salt is added and integrated into a dish. The basic rule that would benefit most amateur cooks is to salt a little bit at every stage of cooking: Sprinkle it on the raw ingredients, add more salt each time you add an ingredient to the pot, adjust seasoning throughout, and add salt at the end. Pretty much everything tastes better when properly salted, even desserts.

Somebody who is a better scientist than I (that would be anybody) can explain the various states of dissolution of salt and how that affects flavor.

[tommy]

fantastic article!!!! wow.  i dare not send that to my father, as he says i'm out of my head to say that sea salt is so much better than the shaker crap.

however, i stand by my impression that shaker salt, at least on the the tongue, has more of a metallic taste than kosher or sea.  whether that's due to size, shape, or my pompous culinary beliefs, that's just the way it is.

i use kosher salt for just about every application.

[researchgal]

I love salt (in moderation), too.  I typically use kosher or plain old iodized, but b/c of my love of salt I get caught up in all the hype about grey salt and fleur de sel, etc.  For the prices they charge, there must be something to it...or maybe not?  Has anyone tried them in home cooking?

PS, lullyloo, I'm the same way w/steak--I don't get why it never tastes like there's enough!

[B Edulis]

When I first started hearing about differences in salt I was skeptical, so I did a blind taste test of iodized and sea salt. I found that the iodized did taste metallic in comparison. I use kosher or sea salt for daily use now. And I use sel gris and fleur de sel for special purposes -- like a perfectly ripe August tomato -- and I think it tastes great. But it probably would with plain salt, too.

[smithi]

I have regular salt, fleur de sel, and kosher salt.  I use regular salt and kosher almost interchangeably.  I think once I use up my regular salt, I'll stick to kosher...I like the larger granules.  I use fleur de sel when I want to "taste" the salt on top of the food, i.e., tomatoes, salad, etc.  Ok...I've really offered no great insight.

The reason I'm really posting here is because you all reminded me of a problem I have regarding salt shakers.  I keep my kosher salt in a little bowl in the cupboard b/c I can't seem to find a shaker w/ holes large enough to accomodate the salt.  Although, I must say that I do like keeping the salt in the bowl as it is easier to grab and sprinkle into my dishes.  Maybe I just need to find a small bowl with a cover instead of a shaker.

Any recommendations?  

[Jinmyo]

I use kosher salt for cooking because I can feel how much salt I am using. When cooking something very delicate like scrambled eggs, I might use a "fancy" salt. Amongst fancy salts I use fleur de sel and a grey Brittany sea salt. Crunch. The Brittany salt actually has a somewhat "sulfurous" quality.

[Shiva]

I'm with <B>B</B> here.  Try the taste test and you'll never use Iodized salt again.

Diamond Crystal Kosher is my salt of choice.  It has a flakier texture than other Kosher salts.  Their table salt is used by many fast food joints because it's fine texture allows it to stick to french fries better than regular table salt.

[Shiva]

<B>smithi</B> check out Alton Brown's <A HREF="http://www.altonbrown.com/pages/shop.html">Sodium Chloride Containment Unit</A>.

It's a grated cheese holder he has made up without the spoon notch.  Too bad about the backorder though.

[Fat Guy]

B, did you perform this test under controlled circumstances? Most who have have concluded that, if the salt is dissolved, there is no actual taste difference, or a difference detectable by only a small percentage of the population. This indicates that the differences detectable in raw salts have more to do with texture, surface area, and other physical characteristics than anything else, and that whatever compounds may provide a slight sulphurous taste or whatever tend to dissipate once the salt is actually combined into something. That's why I was saying above that, in cooking, it makes no difference (other than the ease of use considerations that Jinmyo and I pointed to), but it makes some difference when you're sprinkling.

[mamster]

There was a big salt taste-test article by Steingarten in Vogue a couple of months ago.  It's not online, though, and I don't remember which issue it was.  Probably December.  I believe he ended up concluding, as Shaw mentioned, that the differences were subtle at best, and probably statistically insignificant, except that his favorite (Japanese blue salt or something) finished a clear last.  He ended up sticking with Diamond Crystal.

As do I.  It feels good between my fingers.

[Kristian]

In Finland, salt is very much one of the basic ingredients in cooking and is used in practically everything. In fact, I've read somewhere that we Finns use about twice as much salt in dishes compared to other Europeans. I don't know the history of it, but the health officials have been campaigning for less salt use for several years now. That is because we Finns also suffer from all kinds of health problems, like high blood pressure etc., (because of our genetic profile) that are made more dangerous (or likely to appear) with too much salt use.

I'm one of those people who has a tendency for high blood pressure and so I have learned to use as little salt as I can.

[Brija]

Here's one Finn who probably uses too much salt… yes, salt raises your blood pressure, and it can cause cardiovascular diseases, or at least be one reason for them. It may also contribute to osteoporosis. This is because there is sodium in salt. To reduce the harmful effects of salt, I use so called mineral salt, in which about half of sodium has been replaced by potassium and magnesium. It is often recommended that you should use herbs and spices instead of salt (part of this health campaign that Kristian mentioned), but, in my opinion, some foods simply taste much better with "enough" salt in them (like fish soup!). But I use as little as I possibly can, and, also, some low-salt products are actually quite good. As for when I add the salt, I try to use very little while I cook, because my fiancé has high blood pressure and does not want or even like as salty food as I do, while I can always add salt when the food is on my plate.

[Rachel Perlow]

Quote: from smithi on 6:41 pm on Jan. 30, 2002

The reason I'm really posting here is because you all reminded me of a problem I have regarding salt shakers.  I keep my kosher salt in a little bowl in the cupboard b/c I can't seem to find a shaker w/ holes large enough to accomodate the salt.  Although, I must say that I do like keeping the salt in the bowl as it is easier to grab and sprinkle into my dishes.  Maybe I just need to find a small bowl with a cover instead of a shaker.  Any recommendations?

By the stove I keep kosher salt in a small plastic container that holds about 1/2 cup. This is used for cooking & baking and is (now) labelled "SALT."  Poor Jason, one time he thought it was sugar. Anyway...

Someone posted a link to the kind of salt keeper Alton Brown uses for this application above. Another option I've seen recently is a Salt Pig, as one online product page describes it: "A natural property of terracotta is its porosity. For this reason, this salt pig is not glazed. Any moisture is absorbed by the salt pig which keeps the salt dry." I may get one of these, I saw them at Chef Central in Paramus, in addition to many online sources, click here for the search results from google.com.

 Large and Small Salt Pigs from Fante's Kitchen Wares Shop

For the table I use a salt grinder. It originally came filled with rock sea salt. When I refill it I use kosher salt. A salt grinder or mill is different than a pepper grinder because the mechanism is made of non-corrosive nylon (looks like white plastic) instead of metal. They can usually be had as a matched set with pepper mills, but occasionally by themselves. Here is a link to some examples at Williams-Sonoma.

A more formal suggestion is using small salt cellars at each place setting or larger ones for the table. Here's a very pretty example from Brenco Judaica's online shop. I suppose you fill one side with kosher salt and the other with freshly ground pepper.

 Salt Cellar

[=Mark]

Edited Article from washington Post:

There is so much nonsense out there about sea salt that it's hard to know where to begin. It's easy to dismiss the assertions of some health-food faddists, who often require no evidence whatsoever before adopting a fervent conviction. Among the statements I've seen are that sea salt is "unrefined," "organic," "more natural," "more healthful" and "a living food," whatever that means. (Does it bite back?)

Poppycock, all. 'Nuff said.

Robert L. Wolke is professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh.

© 2000 The Washington Post Company

(Edited by markstevens at 10:54 am on Feb. 2, 2002)

[Jinmyo]

What is it that Mario Batali says? He uses sea salt and sometimes kosher salt. "All that other stuff is just a scam."

[yvonne johnson]

Mark Kurlansky has written a new book, "Salt: A world history" which I've just started. He writes well. I attended a book reading at which Kurlansky told stories about the history of salt, how we use salt in language (e.g., salt has long been associated with fertility, hence the word 'salacious'). He's an entertaining fellow.

The book is around ฤ, and, like his book on cod, is beautifully illustrated.

[Jim Dixon]

One part of the Post article stuck out at me:

"Teaspoon for teaspoon, therefore, sea salt is actually less salty than shaker salt. Weight for weight, of course, they're identical, because any gram of sodium chloride is precisely as salty as any other. You can't cut down on salt by eating a different kind of salt."

I had just heard or read somewhere else that 'shaker' salt was 50 times saltier than 'sea' salt, which is obviously not true but probably alludes to the 'teaspoon for teaspoon' comparison. The Post article also talks about how sea salt seems to be saltier because of its crystalline structure and the way it dissolves on your tongue. So I think what we (and others weighing on in saltiness) are really comparing is our perception of saltiness.

We use a salt mill filled mostly with sea salt from Trapani on the west coast of Sicily (can't remember the brand name). It only costs about ū for what's probably about a pound and lasts several months. I also have some kind of gray French sea salt that's a little on the moist side. I traded some olive oil for several pounds at the Portland Farmers Market bread festival last summer. The French stuff doesn't seem to like the mill, so I often mix the two salts together. I also use Diamond kosher salt for cooking.

I love salt, or rather love its flavor-enhancing qualities, and use it liberally. Our salt mill delivers a nice shower of relatively coarse flakes, and I'm pretty sure I experience what Wolke talks about here:

"When sprinkled on relatively dry food such as asparagus or a slice of tomato just before serving, they deliver bright little explosions of saltiness as they hit the tongue and dissolve, or when they are crushed between the tongue and the hard palate or crunched between the teeth."

Taste is pretty subjective, but I know I prefer the flavor of foods with coarse salt from the mill to the industrial stuff from the shaker.

Jim

[Fat Guy]

I'm surprised Batali says that, because at his restaurant Esca they make a big deal out of using a variety of special salts on the "crudo" fish dishes.

Jim, just so we're clear: You're talking about your preference with regard to "raw" salt only, as opposed to salt dissolved or absorbed into food, right?

[Jinmyo]

Quote: from Fat Guy on 4:25 pm on Feb. 1, 2002

I'm surprised Batali says that, because at his restaurant Esca they make a big deal out of using a variety of special salts on the "crudo" fish dishes.

Not to me, personally, but on Food Network. And quite often too. But then he's never claimed to be above a scam. I remember him saying about a soup, "It's amazing anyone would charge for this. But we do!" ;)

Are the salts used during the cooking or on the table?

(Edited by Jinmyo at 6:02 pm on Feb. 1, 2002)

[Jim Dixon]

Steven,

Yeah, raw...I don't think it makes much diffence after it's dissolved, but again that teaspoon comparison pops up. I never measure, just toss some in, so I probably add less salt during cooking when I'm using kosher or grinding from the mill. I think you have to salt some dishes while cooking, but don't want to make them as salty as they might be when I eat them.

[Fat Guy]

Jinmyo: The crudo dishes at Esca are essentially an Italian version of sashimi. They take thin slices of raw fish and drizzle them with extra-virgin olive oil. They're garnished with tiny vegetables of one kind or another, sometimes, and sprinkled with coarse salt. I know they use that red salt from Africa, among others. Then again, Batali isn't really the day-to-day chef there, but I assume he has some conceptual involvement.

[Peter B Wolf]

Well, Mr. Sceptic here again. The controversy about the differences / compliances between posters made me do it: look, look and you will find. Will it convince me? Not sure, but more postings will definately be created. With all the following nutrition information/claims made on this site:

http://www.celtic-seasalt.com/celseasalan.html

I am sure someone will comment?, Please.

[Fat Guy]

This is the one I use most often for raw sprinkling, though not because I care about the mineral content. I like the grain size, I like the fact that it's from America, I have some nostalgia regarding the trip to Utah during which I learned about the product, and I sometimes think I can taste a difference:

http://www.realsalt.com/