With a pinch of salt

Salty affair

Chefs have their saline allegiances and will offer lengthy, impassioned arguments about why one variety of salt is superior to another. But what matters most is that you’re familiar with whichever salt you use. Is it coarse or fine? How much does it take to make a roast chicken taste just right?

Though all salt crystals are produced by evaporating water from saltwater brine, the pace of evaporation determines the shape those crystals take. These varying shapes and sizes can make a big difference in your cooking. A tablespoon of fine salt will pack more tightly and can be two or three times “saltier” than a tablespoon of coarser salt.

There are three main kinds of salt you will see at the store.

Common table salt is small and dense, making it very salty. Unless otherwise noted, iodine has been added to it, which makes everything taste slightly metallic. It also often contains anti-caking agents to prevent clumps from forming, or dextrose, a form of sugar, to stabilise the iodine. Though neither of these additives is harmful, there is no reason to put them in your food. If you have only table salt, go get yourself some kosher or sea salt.

Inexpensive and forgiving, kosher salt is fantastic for everyday cooking and tastes pure. Sea salt is what’s left behind when seawater evaporates. Solar sea salts like fleur de sel, sel gris and Maldon are the less-refined results of gradual evaporation, which is why they tend to be more expensive than refined sea salts. You are paying primarily for texture, so use the flakes in ways that allow them to stand out: sprinkled atop lettuces or chocolate chip cookies as they go into the oven, and not dumped into pasta water. The refined granular sea salt you might find in a bulk bin is ideal for everyday cooking.

How to Salt
I didn’t understand the nuances of salting until I began paying attention to the various ways cooks used salt in different situations.

There was the way we salted pots of water for blanching vegetables or pasta, adding palmful after palmful, lightly skimming a finger across the rolling boil to taste, and often adding more.

Then there was the way we seasoned trays of vegetables, duck legs butchered for confit and focaccia ready for the oven. This was done by lightly grasping the salt in an upturned palm, then letting it shower down with a flowing wag of the wrist. This is the best way to distribute salt evenly and efficiently over a large surface.

Layering Salt
From capers to bacon to miso paste to cheese, there are many sources of salt beyond crystals. Working more than one form of salt into a dish is what I call layering salt, and it’s a terrific way to build flavour.

Caesar dressing, for example, has several salty ingredients: anchovies, Parmesan, Worcestershire sauce and salt itself. Garlic, which I like to pound with salt into a smooth paste, is a fifth source.

First, make a stiff, unsalted mayonnaise by whisking oil into egg yolks. Next, work in initial amounts of anchovies, garlic, grated cheese and Worcestershire. Then add vinegar and lemon. Taste; it will need salt. But does it need more anchovy, cheese, garlic or Worcestershire? If so, add salt in the form of any of those ingredients. But do it gradually, stopping to taste and adjust with acid as needed, and adding crystals only after you’re satisfied with the balance of flavours.

Finally, dip a lettuce leaf or two into the finished dressing to taste. Then you can be sure you have found the zing you’re after.


This is an excerpt from “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking” by Samin Nosrat.