Salt
A tribute to my favorite ingredient <3
By Chloe
How many times a day do you think about salt? Or say the word salt? For me it’s every time I cook anything, or eat anything really.. Is the salt right? Could this use more salt? Is there salt on the table? Salt, salt, salt, but what IS salt?! It is used so often but never realllly understood. Take this as an opportunity to learn about an ingredient so prevalent in dishes all over the world that can make such a powerful impact on a dish.
The primary role that salt plays in cooking is to enhance flavor. However, the way you incorporate salt into your food makes a world of a difference on the taste it creates. The AMOUNT, the TIME, and the FORM of salt all play a direct role in the outcome of the dish. This expose on salt lays out the basics for you, and illustrates how this one remarkable element can transform your cooking.
Images by Jacobsen Salt Co
WHAT IS SALT?
The key to good cooking around the world can be described, not so simply, by science. Salt is a crystalline compound, sodium chloride, or NaCl, representing equal proportions of sodium and chlorine. Salt plays a crucial role in human health as it maintains adequate hydration and blood pressure levels, delivers nutrients to and from cells, aids digestion, and facilitates nerve transmission and muscle movement. Fortunately, as salt-intake is essential for us to survive, it also makes everything taste better.
THE SCIENCE
Briefly understanding what occurs when salt interacts with food will give you a better idea of how to use salt when cooking.
The distribution of salt within food can be explained through DIFFUSION and OSMOSIS.
Diffusion: the slower process of salt moving from a saltier environment to a less salty one until it is evenly distributed throughout.
Osmosis: the movement of water across a cell wall from the less salty side to the saltier side to equalize both sides of the membrane.
You’ll notice that when you salt something like a tomato or a raw chicken breast, after 20 minutes the distinct grains will not be visible and may be replaced by water droplets. This is because the salt grains have moved inwards towards the protein in order to create an equal balance, letting out water. Salt will always distribute itself evenly to season food from within but it affects the textures of different foods in different ways. More on this below.
HOW IS SALT MADE?
Salt can be obtained through salt brines, via the evaporation of water (seawater and mineral rich spring water), or extracted through salt mines. Most common table salts are produced by creating salt brines, specialty salts are still produced through the evaporation of seawater, and salts used for industrial purposes are primarily obtained through mining. The source, the method, and the pace of extraction/evaporation will ultimately determine the shape of and quality of the salt crystals. Although most salts are produced unnaturally to create a higher yield, some salt is still produced using ancient methods. More on the creation of salt can be found using le Google but our focus here is primarily on salt with FOOD.
TYPES OF SALT
Every chef has their particular needs and wants with salt, and likewise it is important for you to develop your own. Having one go-to type and brand of salt will allow you to better understand how to use it. There are many different types of salt for you to choose from, but the rules are pretty simple. I recommend having 2 types of salt on hand: one for cooking and one for finishing dishes. I personally use Diamond Crystal kosher salt for cooking and Maldon Flaky Sea Salt for garnishing. Simply put, the most common forms of edible salt are table salt, kosher salt, and sea salt.
Table Salt (EEHHHHH)
Forget about it!!! This is the granular salt that you see in salt shakers at all diners across the US. It is heavily processed, too salty, and often has added iodine added, giving it a metallic taste. In all, I don’t recommend, ever. Unless maybe your Western Omelet at the diner is under seasoned, you forgot your tin of sea salt, and you just MUST get that flavor right.
Kosher Salt (Cooking Salt!)
Kosher Salts by Taste of Home
Kosher Salt is the MVP of all-purpose cooking. It is pure salt, contains no additives, and is the least salty salt. Fun fact - the term ‘kosher salt’ derives from the use of this salt for koshering, the process of removing blood from meat. Kosher Salt is generally inexpensive and a great salt to always have around. Kosher Salt should be used for every step of cooking whether seasoning pasta water, salting up a dry-aged ribeye, or baking a cake.
The two major brands of kosher salt are Diamond Crystal and Morton’s. Diamond Crystal is my go-to as it dissolves quickly, sticks to food well, and is just that right amount of salty. Morton’s Kosher Salt on the other hand is denser and almost twice as salty, so you’ll need to change the quantity of salt used heavily (important to note especially when you are following a recipe!) Once you get to know one of them, you’ll be stuck with them forever.
Sea Salt (Cooking Salt or Finishing Salt)
Whole Foods Sea Salt
Sea Salt is created when seawater evaporates (hence the name) and can be categorized into two categories; bulk and refined or more rare and natural. Bulk, refined granular sea salt is produced by rapidly boiling down ocean water in a closed vacuum, and costs a lot less than natural sea salts. Think Whole Foods’ fine crystal sea salt. These granular sea salts can be used for cooking.
On the other hand, natural sea salts are harvested using low-yield, labor intensive methods, and can take up to 5 years to process. So, these tend to be on the pricy side – well worth it though! These finishing sea salts are widely popular for their role in adding clean and briny bursts of salinity to a dish at the end of the cooking process. Even used in small quantities, these salts will add a delicate crunch to your final product. Think garnishing chocolate chip cookies, raw tomatoes, fried eggs, or a seared chunka meat. The most popular types of Natural Sea Salts are listed below -
Fleur de Sel: The “flower of salt”, this celebrated finishing salt comes in both fine and coarse crystals. Some varieties are mechanically harvested, however the real deal, true, fleur de sel is hand harvested from the surface of salt marshes in Western France using traditional wooden rakes. The classic version is Fleur De Sel De Guérande Sea Salt.
Sel Gris: An unrefined grey sea salt which comes from the same solar evaporation salt pans as fleur de sel but is harvested differently. While fleur de sel is harvested from the top of the salt marshes, sel gris comes into contact with the bottom of the salt pan before being raked. Although still a very respected finishing salt, sel gris’ grey color reflects a level of “impurities” or minerals, with similar moisture but a coarser texture than fleur de sel.
Flaky Sea Salt: Flaky salt is known for its perfect crunch. It is composed of thin and irregularly shaped flakes with a bright, salty taste and very low mineral content. The most popular is Maldon Sea Salt, an English sea-salt that comes from Maldon, a little town on the south coast of England with a very interesting history. People have been harvesting salt in Maldon for thousands of years, well before it became one of the most popular salts in the US. Bon Appetit lays it out pretty well here.
Because I love them, let’s use Jacobsen Sea Salt to show these different salts through visuals -
HOW TO USE SALT
For thousands of years salt has been used to improve taste, preserve food, and is also used for color controlling, binding, texture and fermentation control. Here we’ll focus on the improving taste aspect. While every type of salt does have its own flavor, it also enhances the flavors of the whole dish. Salt can be used to minimize bitterness, balance out sweetness and unlock many aromatic compounds in food. Salt has an amazing ability to “season food from within” (one of my favorite lessons I learned from Samin Nosrat’s SALT FAT ACID HEAT).
When using salt, remember to always keep the “whole picture” in mind. By this I mean the whole dish or meal. If you are using other salty ingredients (miso, soy sauce, cheese, capers, etc), maybe tone down the amount of salt you are using. Recognize that there is one salty place you want to get to, but how will you get there? Feel free to use other ingredients to increase flavor.
Some general tips for using salt are listed below -
Meat: Season meat in advance to give it plenty of time to diffuse evenly throughout the meat (1 day in advance for larger, denser meats like a ribeye, or a whole chicken).
Seafood: The protein in seafood is more delicate and therefore should only be seasoned ~15 minutes before cooking, unless you want to cure the seafood. Salt curing is the removal of water and addition of salt & acid to change its protein structure.
Fat: Salt does not dissolve in pure fat. Keep this in mind when salting meats (lean meats will retain salt quicker) and salad dressings - combine salt with acid before adding in oil! (tip - acid + fat balance out salt)
Vegetables & Fruits: Pectin is an undigestible carbohydrate that exists in most fruits and vegetables. Salt helps to weaken this pectin, making these fruits and veggies more tender and flavorful. In general, salt vegetables before you cook them and generously salt the water that you cook them in (holds color and nutrients in, and cooks quicker).
Baking: Salt increases gluten development, making dough tougher. So the addition of salt when baking should be determined based on what you are making. Salt should be added to bread dough earlier and should be added to more delicate cakes, pancakes and pastries later.
Water: Generously salt water before you blanch, boil, steam. And I mean, GENEROUS. The saltier the water is, the more flavorful the pasta, vegetables, legumes, grains etc. will be. This is a perfect example of “seasoning from within”.
3 key components when salting -
Time: Salt diffuses very slowly, so when cooking something dense or with a lot of protein content, salt early enough to give the salt time to travel to the center (i.e. meat).
Temperature: Heat stimulates salt diffusion so things stored at room temperature will retain salt faster than being kept in the fridge.
Water: Water promotes salt diffusion. Using water to salt from within is the perfect way to penetrate dense, dry and tough ingredients.
There is so much to learn about this universal ingredient. Salt is used all over the world, in different ways and with different types, all with the same purpose of making food better. Now that you know a little more about salt, try em, cook wit em, and choose your variety! And stick with it!
BEFORE YOU GO! SOME SALTS I RECOMMEND -
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt - for cooking
Maldon Sea Salt - for finishing
Jacobsen Sea Salt - for all the fun finishing salts and for the best branding inspo
