SALT!
Recently I was unable to find my favorite brand of salt, and I've been auditioning other brands of salt, and talking non-stop about salt. Someone at the office found me my salt though so i'm going to put my salt speak to sleep with one less rambling here on my blog. One of the number one questions that people ask me when they come for dinner is why i have so many darn kinds of salt, and why I use Kosher salt for cooking instead of "Table salt". Read my ramblings after the jump.
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First let me break down the 4 major or families of salt: Iodized table salt, kosher salt, sea salt, and fleur de del. These 4 kinds of salt come from one of two places, they are mined from inland salt deposits, or.. you guessed it, from the sea.
Table Salt:
To make table salt a jet of water is sent into a salt deposit in a salt mine and the resulting liquid is evaporated until only salt crystals remain. In the early 20th century companies started adding iodine to help prevent goiters. Most of the salt we consume is still iodized., and iodine deficiency has be eliminated in north america as a result.
Use: for my salt shaker on my table, as a "finishing salt" spinkle on fries, pasta, pizza etc.
Kosher Salt:
Kosher salt gets its name because the Jewish people have been using it to extract the blood from meat before consumption (kosher). Many kosher salts are made the same way as table salt except the drying procedure is done in wider pools with large surface area, and only the most crystalline or block-like granules are used as they are better for absorbing liquid or blood from animals. Kosher salt can obsorb twice as much liquid as table salt, and does not have the "salty" taste that table salt has. it is also less dense than table salt so it 1 cup of kosher will weigh less than 1cup of table salt.
Use: Any kind of food preparation that requires pre-salting before cooking, such as sprinkling on meat before barbecuing, and brines.
Sea Salt:
Sea salt is just evaporated seawater. also less dense and less "salty" than table salt.
Use: Both a finishing salt and a food preparation salt. this is the salt i keep both on the table and close to my stove for pasta water.
Fleur de sel:
This stuff is awesome! the really good stuff smells just like the ocean breeze and contains piles of minerals. It is made by skimming the top of salt ponds on really really hot days.
Use: Purely a finishing salt for me, but on occasion i've sprinkled on a kobe steak before cooking.
There are a other variations of sea salt and fleur de sel, notably ones that have been dried with specific wood smoke, or harvested from and area that contain things like large deposits of clay. - Red Hawaiian clay salt and dark chocolate is one my favorites.
For even more info on salt: http://www.saltinstitute.org/4.html
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