You probably don’t spend a lot of time considering salt, despite the important role it plays in your everyday life. We use salt for sore muscles, to keep ice off our sidewalks, to keep things from spoiling — and yes, to season our food. However, salt goes beyond the shaker in your kitchen. There are many different types of salt and cooking techniques you should care about if you want to cook delicious food.
The form of salt we are most familiar with is a mineral formed by a compound of sodium and chloride. In ancient times, salt was used primarily to preserve food rather than flavor it. As the salt trade grew and expanded, though, so did the way humans used salt. We still use it for preservation, but also for flavor, texture and dozens of non-culinary purposes.
There are a few different ways salt is harvested, including evaporated seawater, mining salt from earth or obtaining salt from salt brines. Non-culinary salts, like industrial salts or road salts, are pulled from the earth. Salt directly from the ocean or from salt mines is responsible for most of the culinary salt we use today.
There are many, many different types of culinary salt. Some of the most popular varieties include:
Anyone who has spent time in the kitchen knows that salt is a staple in cooking. Nearly every recipe — including both sweet and savory dishes — call for salt or salt substitutes. Have you ever wondered what it is about salt that makes it a kitchen necessity?
If used correctly, salt is one of your most powerful tools as a cook. There are a few reasons why salt has such transformative power over your dish:
One of the other big uses for salt is to add color and texture. Coarse, flaked or colored salts can add a pop of color or visually pleasing texture to your final dish. The crunchy texture of salt is also a way to add another layer of interest to your food. This is especially true in dishes that are cured with sodium nitrite or encrusted with salt.
Many processed and prepackaged foods rely on naturally occurring compounds in salt for their preservation process. Still, there are also a few ways you can use salt as a preservative in your home kitchen with pre-made food curing kits using sodium nitrate:
It does so through the process of osmosis, which draws moisture out of foods and kills bacterial cells in the process. Think of pickles, for instance. On their own, cucumbers do not have a long shelf life. When pickled in a salty brine, however, they can last in your refrigerator for a long time without any signs of age or decay. In this case, the process of salt and acid-based preservation is known as brine curing, and it changes the taste of the cucumber entirely.
Curing is a process of food preservation that has been used for centuries. These days, we do it less out of necessity and more so because we enjoy the taste of salt-cured foods, like jerky and ham. When chefs and home cooks cure food with salt, they can also use other components, like sugar and smoke, to amplify the flavor and create interesting tastes.
Unsure how to salt cure meat? You have a few options. You can salt brine, create a salt box, smoke cure or dry cure meat. Experiment with techniques to find your favorite method.
Most of us need a certain amount of sodium in our diets to help regulate the amount of fluid in our body, relax our muscles and transmit nerve impulses to our brains. However, very few of us actually need as much salt as we consume daily. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends consuming no more than 2,300 milligrams of salt per day — a far cry from the 3,400 milligrams of salt Americans consume on average. Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which leads to heart disease, stroke and other serious health problems.
Does this mean you should throw out all salt and start eating flavorless food? Of course not. You should, however, be aware of how much salt you are cooking with, as well as the sodium levels in prepackaged and prepared foods.
Salt interacts with the proteins in food, which often makes it an emulsifier in your dish. Adding salt to certain recipes can bind the rest of the ingredients together. By controlling the salting in recipes, you can also control the level of moisture and fat. For example, salt as a binding agent is commonly seen in sausage making, where salt proteins help combine the fat and meat into a firmer, gel-like structure.
Beyond sprinkling salt on your food to add flavor while it cooks, there are many ways you can use it in the kitchen.
Brining is a process where you submerge a food — typically poultry, but fish and beef can benefit from brining as well — in a solution of saltwater, herbs and other seasonings. As the meat sits in this solution, it naturally absorbs that saltwater, as well as all the different flavors mixed with it. The result is tender meat with a juicy flavor that is difficult to replicate.
Are you excited about trying this technique but aren’t sure how to make brine? There are hundreds of brining recipes online with process instructions, but most have the same basic elements: kosher salt, water and flavor additives. Common flavor additives include sugar or other natural sweeteners, peppercorns, beer, garlic or any combination of spices you prefer.
The amount of salt you add depends on how much water you are using and what you are brining. For example, the chicken brining ratio for an average-sized bird is one-fourth of a cup of kosher salt per gallon of water. Turkeys are no different from chickens, except they are usually larger. To brine a turkey, how much salt you use depends on the weight of the bird. Use enough water to cover the bird entirely and measure your salt and other ingredients accordingly.
In recent years, people have experimented with using salt in less conventional ways around the kitchen. One such method is by using large slabs or blocks of pink Himalayan salt to prepare and cook food on. Salt blocks can withstand high levels of heat, making them great for baking, roasting and grilling. They can give your food a more vibrant flavor and texture, and it may even infuse your dish with more nutrients. You can also use these salt blocks as an eye-catching way to serve your food to guests.
Salt crusting is a process where you mix salt and water to form a coarse, grainy paste that you use to thickly coat a piece of fish or other food before cooking. This salt crust traps moisture inside, resulting in a juicy, tender dish. If you mix other seasonings and herbs in with your salt crust, you create an encasement of flavor. Because salt takes a long time to heat, you can also encrust meats and fish that you want to cook all day, like pot roasts. Don’t worry about salt crust making your food too salty — you crack it open and remove the inner meat before serving, so you get all the flavor without so much added sodium.
When you cook with salt, it is important to be mindful of how much you are adding. Too much salt can kill a dish and make it impossible to eat. Too little salt, on the other hand, can result in bland, disappointing flavors. To harness the power of salt in your cooking, follow these tips:
At Grilla Grills, we set out to create a pellet smoker that is reliable, affordable and simple to use — and that also helps you create delicious, flavorful food. Whether you are experimenting with new types of salt or want to try your hand at some smoke curing techniques, you can count on Grilla Grills. Are you ready to experience more flavorful food? Shop our line of pellet grills and smokers today.
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