Worth One's Salt: fleur de sel to kosher

[lmarshal1]

Despite my age (58), I'm pretty much of a novice cook. So many recipes call for kosher salt or sea salt. Is there a taste difference or just a difference in coarseness? Wal-Mart had 3-pound boxes of Kosher salt for 40 cents today. I bought a box. Now what do I do with it. :-) lkm

[=Mark]

Despite my age (58), I'm pretty much of a novice cook.  So many recipes call for kosher salt or sea salt.  Is there a taste difference

No

or just a difference in coarseness?

Yes

Wal-Mart had 3-pound boxes of Kosher salt for 40 cents today.  I bought a box.  Now what do I do with it.  :-)  lkm

←

Put it on/in your food

[foolcontrol]

I would have to agree with =Mark. Just put it in your food.

There are several different types of salt. The main thing is that you do not want to use iodized salt.

Salts come in a few different grades and price ranges. If I were going to just eat salt by itself, I would use Fleur De Sel. It rings in at about $14 a cup. Believe it or not, I do know some high end restaurants that do use the Fleur De Sel. Sea salt is also very good. I prefer Kosher salt because I like the larger flake. It makes it easier to grab a pinch without it dropping everywhere. I have also read that regular, kosher and sea salt all have different strengths. I think Alton Brown talks about it in one of his books. Each salt does taste slightly different. One thing that do have in common is that they all taste pretty salty. If you can not taste the difference between a creme anglaise made with a wooden spoon as opposed to a rubber spatula, you will probably not be able to taste the difference between regular, kosher or sea salt in your food. You should be more concerned with the level of salt. Does it need salt? Is it too salty? Is it just right?

Edited September 9, 2004 by foolcontrol (log)

[schneich]

there is not that much difference in the taste of the salt itself

but alot in the way it blends in your mouth.

for example when you serve a carpaccio of marzano tomatoes

just sprinkled with evo, balsamico, malabar and some huge

maldon pyramids, once you put that stuff in your mouth the

salt crunches like fresh baked bread crust and givesthe thing

a whole new texture level :-)

http://www.salttraders.com/Detail.bok?no=5

t.

[lmarshal1]

a whole new texture level  :-)

http://www.salttraders.com/Detail.bok?no=5

t.

←

So....the texture is the only real difference? I have used a purchased coarse salt/herb blend that is delightful sprinkled on plain cooked vegetables. lkm

[paul o' vendange]

I do find a significant difference between fleur de sel (with trace remnants of many minerals) and refined salts composed simply of CaCl (like Kosher salt). I have had many different fleur de sels, and what they share, to me, is a length of taste and a roundness not possessed by kosher salt, which has a bracing, harsh "saltiness" back of throat. The coarseness, combined with a gentle, complex flavor, is ideal for me to do last-minute treatments on meats, poultry, fish, grilled vegetables, etc.

Paul

[Larry 1749]

I do find that there can be quite a bit of diference between various salts. I use mostly sea salt and Fleur De Sel when I realy want to tast the salt.

I recently was cooking at my sister in laws palce and they only had table salt, well you could really taste the diference. I currently have about 7 different salts in the house how many do you have.

[Mottmott]

Generally I use specialty salts only at the end of the cooking process, more or less as a condiment. I especially like the crunch that Maldon gives.

Re Diamond and Morton's kosher salt. One of them is half again as "salty" as the other. It's a function of degree of coarse grind. If you weigh out your ingredients there should be no difference.

[mklynch]

You need to keep in mind that a tablespoon of sea salt weighs in at almost twice what a tablespoon of kosher salt does. It can make a big difference if you're following a recipe. The flakier the salt, the less dense when measured by volume, and not many home recipes give you the weight of the salt.

[chromedome]

During my first year of school I attended a meeting of the CFCC (now CCFCC), the Canadian professional association for cooks. We had a salt tasting hosted by a retired chef, who had organized about 20 different salts for us to evaluate.

Now I have to tell you that 20 salts is a whole lotta salt to taste in one evening; I wound up being a heavy hitter at the beverage table that night. But it was very, very interesting.

Ordinary iodized table salt has a very recognizable chemical taste to it, once your palate has adjusted to the cleaner taste of pure salts like kosher salt. It tends to have a sharper "bite" to it than some of the more exotic salts. Ordinary coarse ("pickling") salt has a cleaner flavour, like kosher salt; the flakier kosher salt is nicer when added at time of service.

Sea salts, as long as they're not too refined, have varying degrees of flavour and subtlety (depending on where and how they're produced). Scandinavian "smoked" salt, and Indian "Black" salt, have very strong and recognizable flavours. Other salts, like the Maldon crystals that Sneicht linked to, are more about the textural differences.

It's a fascinating study. All of them, more or less, season your food the same way; but there are definite differences.

[andiesenji]

Also, many sea salts contain various other minerals and organic matter that is in the "soup" from which the salt crystals form. These all contribute to the flavor and most have been in use for a very long time and have their devotees throughout the culinary world.

I have a large collection of salts, some I bought, some were gifts. People who know me and know how much stuff I have are always on the lookout for something different for a gift.

I received some pink sea salt from Hawaii a few months ago. Very interesting.

I have sea salt from France (2 different regions), Wales, Cornwall, England and Ireland.

Also from Saudi Arabia and from Yemen. From South Africa and India and also New Zealand.

And then there is black salt, which is actually pink or rose-colored, which is so strong that it has to be triple-sealed by itself or it will transmit its distinctive sulphur-like flavor to everything it is near.

Diamond crystal Kosher is the one I use most.

[FoodZealot]

For me, using various salts is part of getting closer to the taste of food as it would be cooked in it's native environment - contributing to a sense of place. My thinking is that the ocean has different mineral content in different places, and certainly mined salts have different mineral content. Of course, not all of them are so distinct from one another, but many are different enough from table or kosher salt to be worth seeking out, IMHO.

[irodguy]

I normally use kosher salt for cooking because of it's ease of use. Most of the other salts are condiments.

I would agree on the Hawaiian Salt, quite interesting not horribly expensive as high end salts go, about $26 for 2LB wholesale.

Try searing a nice piece of fish with a light sauce. Now add some large crystal salt. The texture and the salty crunch makes quite a nice taste experience.

There are quite a few other kinds of salts including:

Smoked Salts of various kinds, quite interesting and somewhat pricey.

The are various French fleur de sel also Portuguese and Spanish versions.

[Ocean_islands]

Fleur de sel is sea salt. It simply is the salt crystals which form on the top of the sea water in the evaporating pans which are then skimmed off, so the benefit is in the purity or size of the crystal.

I've found the most fascinating salts are the seasoned salts of France. You can find some at Williams Sonoma sometimes -- salts from the l'Ile de Re, for example, are awesome for seafood.

[Tim White]

Reading Stefano de Piero's Modern Italian Food - I noted his comment that it is crazy in this salt riddled country for us to be importing salt for table use. Although I agree with the sentiment - I haven't found one I like yet.

We use Maldon salt for finishing & serving dishes & French Grey bakers salt for cooking salt (eg salting pasta water etc) - and prefer the taste of Maldon because of its higher magnesium content

We don't like using iodized salt or salt with anti-caking agents (ie Saxa) for the obvious reasons

We haven't tried many of the local Salts from inland salinity areas such as Pyramid Hill or Murray Pink

What are people's thoughts on other salts around

[Shalmanese]

The baker at my local farmers market sells Sel de Gurende for $3.50/500gm. It's a grey, unrefined atlantic sea-salt which I absolutely LOVE the flavour of. I also have a box of Maldons which I use for searing steaks and the like due to the flakiness of it. I also have some supermarket generic for salting pasta water or potatos.

I tried some of the pink Australian salt and quite like the flavour but I've been spoiled by this Sel de Gurende and it seems way to expensive.

[andiesenji]

All the way up here in California, I buy "Marlborough Flaky Sea Salt from New Zealand, under the PacificSalt brand, certified organic, from the northern shore of South Island."

I buy a lot of different salts and find that this one is terrific in salads, as a final addition to fresh vegetables and sprinkled on breads just prior to baking.

I also knead it into my homemade butter for spreading on bread. Some of it dissolves into the butter but some of the flakes remain and we love the flavor it imparts to the butter.

I should think that it would be readily available in Australia.

I also use Maldon, as well as various French and other European and Mediterranean sea salts, in addition to a couple of domestic ones.

[ozmouse]

once the domestic artisan salt producers were available i have stopped buying imported salt. (but i do love the grey Sel de Gurende, and have not found the local equivalent for that.)

my palate is not that refined to tell alot of difference, so for me the decision is more to buy australian. but i am not unhappy with the product

i currently have in the house horizon salt flakes Horizon Salt Dry flaky like maldon. I notice on the box it says it is organic! doG i hope so. pretty hard to screw up good salt is'nt. what next GM salt?

i have tried pyramid and murray pink. and another one that does not come to mind. all very acceptable imo.

Cheetham salt (makers of saxa) have also put out a premium pure (no additives) salt flake. And tried it and it was good. but from memory it was similar price to these other mobs, so i when for the small company instead of corporate. but if it is the only flakes on the shelf at safeway, that will be the salt of choice.

[PCL]

We had rib-eyes on the bone for two.

One steak was seasoned with home-brand kitchen salt, the other with Maldon.

No discernable difference. Some texture left over from the Maldon, also resulting in some degree of over-salting where it clumped.

The pink stuff is interesting, if only for the looks.

I don't use the good stuff for pasta water, don't see the point. Interestingly, I know of someone who swears by sea water for boiling pasta. Weird. Comes out too salty. Funny that.

I stick with Maldon because its always what we've done, but there's nothing better than fine salt for pommes frites.

[RooStew]

Here's an interesting link I found on another thread....

http://www.saltworks.us/

I prefer Maldon. I have tried the grey salts but have always been turned off by there chuncky texture and have found them to be a little harsh in comparison to Maldon.

I am live in Vancouver now and was blown away when up until recently Maldon started to show up in fine food stores when I had been using it for years back home.

[culinary bear]

RooStew, out of curiosity, how much do you pay for a 250g packet of Maldon?

[RooStew]

RooStew, out of curiosity, how much do you pay for a 250g packet of Maldon?

←

About $8-9CA.

You?

[culinary bear]

RooStew, out of curiosity, how much do you pay for a 250g packet of Maldon?

←

About $8-9CA.

You?

←

1.19, which comes to... *thinks* CN$2.78 or so.

[Shalmanese]

I think our local supermarkets sell maldons for $6 AU/240gm.

RooStew: My baker sells grey salt in both chunky and fine textures with the fine costing about $1 more. Personally, when I need fine, I just whiz it in the food processor.

[Gifted Gourmet]

article from Slate Online

But are pricier salts superior to their inexpensive counterparts? Which salt is best? In an effort to find out, I purchased some basic table salts from the local supermarket, and picked up fancy-schmancy varieties from a gourmet Manhattan grocer....  the texture and shape of the crystals must also be considered, as those qualities fundamentally impact salt's taste and how it interacts with food. Does it provide satisfying crunch, dissolve nicely when it should? How well does it season food? How well does it stand alone?

Extremely interesting reading for anyone interested in this most basic form of seasoning ...

What type of salt do you use?

If you use a pricier type, is it worth the extra expense?

Love to hear your input on this topic!