The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 88

because its large grains efficiently draw blood out from flesh during the koshering process (which, by the way, makes it an extremely efficient salt for drybrining—more on that later) Why use kosher salt over regular table salt? One word: sprinkling Table salt is fine if you use it out of a saltshaker, but you get a much better idea of how much salt you’re actually putting into or on your food if you add the salt with your fingers, and kosher salt is simply easier to pick up and apply that way To apply an even layer of salt to your food, pick up a pinch of kosher salt, then hold your hand high above the food before sprinkling it Because of turbulence in the air, your salt will rain down upon your food in a pattern that shows a normal (bell curve) distribution from where you drop it The higher you drop it from, the more even the distribution All of the recipes in this book were tested with Diamond Crystal kosher salt If you must use table salt, you should use only two-thirds as much as is called for, as table salt packs more tightly into a measuring spoon (most of the time it’s called for in amounts too small to effectively measure with a scale) In most savory recipes, you’ll be able to taste the salt level as you cook, adjusting it to suit your own palate Whenever appropriate (for baking projects, brines, etc.), I’ve given salt measurements in weight And what about all the fancy “designer” salts? The pink or black ones? The grayish sea salt from Guérande in France that comes in big, moist clusters or the white pyramid-shaped Maldon sea salt from England? I have a bad habit of collecting them, partly because they’re pretty and I like the way they look on my food, but mostly just to compete with my wife’s shoe collection (One new salt per pair of shoes seems to keep her shopping habit at bay.) But what are they good for? These are all finishing salts, salts that are meant to be applied just before serving or even at the table Despite claims to the contrary, you’ll find that flavorwise, there is almost no difference between these salts and regular or kosher salt Dissolve the same weights of the stuff into glasses of water, and they all become essentially identical It’s their shape that makes them interesting —the crunch and intense burst of, well, saltiness that they provide Think you won’t notice the difference? Go out and get yourself a box of Maldon sea salt (the finishing salt that I use most often), a box of kosher salt, and a box of regular table salt, then place three identical slices of ripe tomato on a plate (or if you prefer, three identical slices of steak) Sprinkle a bit of table salt on the first and eat it Next, sprinkle some kosher salt on the second and eat it Notice the difference? See how much more easily you can sprinkle the salt evenly across the surface of the food? Finally, sprinkle a few shards of Maldon salt on the last and eat it Notice the crackle of salt crystals under your teeth and the ... on the first and eat it Next, sprinkle some kosher salt on the second and eat it Notice the difference? See how much more easily you can sprinkle the salt evenly across the surface of the food? Finally, sprinkle a few shards of... flavorwise, there is almost no difference between these salts and regular or kosher salt Dissolve the same weights of the stuff into glasses of water, and they all become essentially identical It’s their shape that makes them interesting... It’s their shape that makes them interesting ? ?the crunch and intense burst of, well, saltiness that they provide Think you won’t notice the difference? Go out and get yourself a box of Maldon sea salt (the finishing