How many of you use flavored or specialty salts? When do you use them and how? I was in my new 'favorite market' Central Market in Austin, which is very similar to Whole Foods and they had a 'salt bar' open to the public to sample. I tried several that were very good. So, I'm looking for a few ground rules. Are they generally used as a finishing salt? I don't want to mask the salt flavor with other stronger flavors. Perhaps certain salts are a very good match with specific foods?
Flavored salts - use them & when?
- Thread starter Paul K
- Start date
Flavored and specialty salts are generally used as finishing salts or served on the side. This is partly due to cost. Mainly also because using it to finish a dish allows it to have the most impact in terms of texture, flavor and presentation.
Daniel Boulud in his Letters to a Young Chef says that salt should be applied to meat 3 times (prior to cooking, during resting and just before serving). When I do grilled meats, roasts and fish, I season with kosher salt before applying heat then sprinkle a bit of the fancier stuff (sel de Guerande & Maldon among others)before serving for the smaller cuts or after carving/slicing the bigger steaks or roasts. You get that nice crunch that tastes of the sea every few bites. Great on salads too. I put a bit of Maldon on my chocolate chip cookies as well before baking.
Daniel Boulud in his Letters to a Young Chef says that salt should be applied to meat 3 times (prior to cooking, during resting and just before serving). When I do grilled meats, roasts and fish, I season with kosher salt before applying heat then sprinkle a bit of the fancier stuff (sel de Guerande & Maldon among others)before serving for the smaller cuts or after carving/slicing the bigger steaks or roasts. You get that nice crunch that tastes of the sea every few bites. Great on salads too. I put a bit of Maldon on my chocolate chip cookies as well before baking.
K Kruger
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I use them like J suggests. Yes, they are finishers. Many do match very well with specific foods or food treatments. Alder- or applewood-smoked salt is a nice finish for, say, grilled shrimp or scallops, or other similarly quick-grilled items that cook too fast to pick up smoke flavors (or when you rill with a gasser); smoke-, herb-, or chile-flavored salts are nice on or in egg dishes; herb- or citrus-flavored are good on fresh or cooked vegs, or on salads; chile-flavored is good on fresh or griiled pineapple or mango, or fresh melon. Wine-, vinegar-, or mushroom-flavored salt is excellent on grilled chicken or grilled steaks, especially those served sliced and fanned, where the salt can be seen against the pink of the meat. Many are excellent on fish too, and you can use more than one, if appropriate, like a mushroom and a wine with beef, e.g. Many are also good to rim cocktail glasses with, as one does for margaritas.