Ask a chef: what kind of salt should I use?

We’re starting off the Tongue & Cheek blog with what will be a regular feature called “Ask a chef.” It’s pretty self-explanatory: we (or you) have a cooking-related question you’ve always wanted answered and a real professional chef answers it. Matt Kantor is one such chef. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He has worked in the kitchens including Picholine (New York), Gayle and Tangerine (Philadelphia), and Fenouil (Portland). He now works in Toronto and runs Little Kitchen, a catering company that will cook fantastic food in your own home.

Question: When do you use various kinds of salt? For example, is there a proper time to use sea salt, fleur de sel, etc?

Answer: Many people do not realize the variety, range and function that various salts can have in cooking. There are five basic kinds of salts used for cooking: iodized, kosher, sea salt, fleur de sel and finishing salt. Three things to consider when deciding on salt are: feel, function and flavor.

FEEL: If you look at the salts side-by-side, the first thing you’ll notice is the size and shape are all different. Even amongst various brands of kosher salt, Diamond Crystal has a different shape and weight from Morton. Each type of salt is made up of grains that have different shape and size from the others. This makes measuring very tricky. A teaspoon of Maldon Salt will have about half as much salt in it as a teaspoon of fine sea salt due to the grain size and shape. I am guilty of using terms like “salt” in my recipes without specifying what kind of salt to use. As a general rule, find a salt that works well for you and stick with it. Finishing salts are a different issue — don’t use them for cooking unless you have more money than you know what to do with.

When a recipe calls for “a pinch of salt,” there is no exact measurement, it depends on the recipe. Taking the time to learn the feeling of how many grains of salt in your fingertips is a teaspoon is an important skill to learn.

FUNCTION: My general rule is to choose either kosher salt, fine sea salt or iodized salt. Iodized is my least preferred simply because North American diets are generally not iodine-deficient. My advice is to choose one these salts and stick to it for all preparatory uses so you become familiar with its intensity. Use finishing salts such as fleur de sel, kala namak (black Indian salt) or smoked salt for when you are plating cooked food and want to bring out an accent on a particular component.

For curing, I prefer kosher salt. It’s inexpensive and doesn’t contain iodine, which would wind up inside the food.

For seasoning soups, stews, and things of a soupy nature, I use kosher or sea salt.

For salad dressings, I prefer sea salt because if it doesn’t dissolve, it doesn’t clog up pouring spouts. The smaller the grain, the better it is in salads. Think about what happens when you put nuts in a green salad: they wind up at the bottom because they are too big and heavy to adhere to a leaf. The same thing can happen when you use large grain salt in your salad. I also recommend not seasoning your salad; season your dressing.

For pastry production, I use either kosher salt or fine sea salt in recipes for batters and sauces. For bread,  I prefer fine sea salt but use coarse sea salt on the outside, if I were to sprinkle some across the top.

FLAVOR: Finishing salts bring a nice “pop” to your final product, whether it’s butter for bread, a slice of duck breast, or a chocolate cake with caramel sauce on it. They can bring a little textural variation as well. I use Maldon salt and sel gris interchangeably. The best thing to do is try different salts to see what flavors you like. For pastry finishing, try out a sprinkle of sel gris on a chocolate cake or puddle of caramel to really make that flavor stand out. Some finishing salts, such as black salt from India contain minerals that enhance complexity of your foods.

Some other tips on using salt in cooking:

• Salt impairs yeast function in baking. Some recipes account for this already.
• Salting meat or fish too early before cooking will draw out liquid in the meat, making the surface wet and therefor preventing a good sear. However, this technique can be useful in injecting flavor into foods before cooking, if done properly. For example, when using a salt brine for turkey or when making a quick cure of salt, sugar, lemon zest and fennel seed to pull those flavors into the flesh.
• The palate is more sensitive to salt on warmer items than it is on colder ones. So if you’re seasoning something cold to taste, but serving it warm, you may over-season your dish and vice versa.

If you have a culinary question, email us at contact@tonguecheek.com. We’ll have a new “Ask a chef” question and answer every Wednesday.

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