Pass the Salt

I graduated college nearly 20 years ago.  Wow.  It seems like only yesterday.  I remember my youthfully arrogant, Bohemian ways; I remember my first tattoos; I remember the girls I dated (Hello, ladies) and the books I read.  Or more correctly, I remember reading a lot of books.  So many books.  I studied the complete works of Shakespeare, John Milton and William Blake.  I devoured Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas.  I read The Bible, The Tao Te Ching and The Rig-Veda.  I studied Updike, Vonnegut and Atwood.  In fact, I read so many books in college that I really don't like reading now.  Honest.  If you were planning on getting me books for the holidays, please don't.

In place of "reading," however, I do enjoy "research" when it strikes my fancy.  Of course, one of my favorite topics for "research" happens to be food.  And what could be more interesting right now than something as timeless and elemental as salt.  It's kind of the little black dress of the food world.

Think about it: most of what we put in our mouths is pretty disgusting.  And everything gets pretty gross once your body works it over for a bit.  So the cleanliness, the purity, virtual sterility of salt cannot go unappreciated.  Salt is the only rock we eat.  Salt is the reason for the salinity of the oceans which in turn contributes to driving the currents of the seas and thereby regulates the temperatures of the earth.  Salt inhibits the growth of bacteria and other beasties and is essential for preserving many foods.  Biomolecularly, the human body requires sodium chloride to maintain osmotic balance of cells, transmit chemical signals in our nervous systems and aids in the elasticity of our blood vessels.

Salt is mentioned in 40 verses in the King James Bible, and has been an important element in most world religions and religious ceremonies throughout history.

Table salt

Oh, and salt also enhances flavors.  (If you doubt it, try baking a loaf of bread without adding salt to the dough. I recently screwed that up.  YUCK!)  For that reason, you'll find salt as one of the top ingredients in many pre-packaged foods.  So much so, that it has been linked to health problems in many first world diets.  (It should be noted that studies on the long term health effects of salt are inconclusive, at best.  While it MAY exacerbate the effects of high blood pressure in some people already suffering from high blood pressure, a salt-heavy diet does not appear to contribute significantly to mortality or morbidity.  In my opinion, foods heavy in salt are usually also heavy in other preservatives, saturated fats and high fructose corn syrup which have all been proven to be significantly worse for you.)

Table salt under 10x magnification

Salt comes to us in many varieties.  We most commonly recognize table salt in our home and restaurant use.  Its small, consistent crystals (which look all too similar to sugar so as to prompt sophomoric pranks of switching the two) shakes out of salt shakers easily, is simple to measure, and dissolves easily.  Table salt is highly refined, removing most flavoring minerals, but adding in iodine, anti-caking compounds and sometimes additional nutrients.  Because of its small grains, I usually use slightly less salt than called for in recipes, but it's the only seasoning I use on popcorn.

Kosher salt

Kosher salt is hands down my favorite for cooking. When seasoning meats, it's broad, flat flakes spread evenly and dissolve quickly. Kosher salt usually contains less additives than table salt but is still rather highly refined. And salt itself is really neither Kosher nor not Kosher. Unless it's soaked in prawns, salt is fine in Kosher seasoning. But Kosher salt is regularly used in Kosher meat preparation. It's flat structure draws out protein-rich liquids, evenly, to the surface which allows for a lovely Maillard reaction. 

Kosher salt under 10x magnification

Sea salt with Greek spices

Fleur de sel, or sea salt, is less refined and contains trace minerals from the salt water from which it came.  The removal of salt (and other minerals) from salt water, or desalinization, is arguably one of the most important advancements in the future of human agriculture.  The salt is flavorful and usually has large crystals.  This is a great salt to grind and add to dishes where the salt is supposed to be a highlight.

Sea salt under 10x magnification

A Himalayan Salt Block

Mineral Salts, or salts that are mined from the land, are usually extracted from land-bound salt deposits, that used to be water deposits.  Through geologic processes, these salts usually contain the highest mineral concentrations.  Like sea salt, they are best expressed where the salt should be tasted.  Because these salts are often formed into large rock formations, they can also be cut into blocks.  This is an AMAZING application and we love to use ours as a serving tray for sliced fruit.  The juices from the fruit dissolves trace amounts of the salt block, which in turn lightly seasons the fruit.  A perfect system.  Shop for salt blocks at The Meadow. 

Seasoned and smoked salts punch up the flavor to a whole other level.  If getting out the grill would be impractical, but you still want that hint of smokiness, try smoked salt.  Or if you want an easy boost of herbs and other seasonings to your potatoes, try seasoned salt. 

I've written before on using salt in a brine.  I've also posted a recipe for cooking a chicken in a salt crust.  However, I love when a chef (or anyone, really) questions what they've been taught.  Chef Oliver Schwaner-Albright had such a crisis of faith and through his experimentation, learned much about when to add salt to meats.   

So when should you use the different kinds of salts?  As usual, my first recommendation is taste and experiment.  What tastes good?  You've got some good hints in foods you already know.  Pretzels wouldn't be the same without salt, so salt baked into a bread's crust should be good.  Many families pass the salt when they split open a melon.  I discovered that I love coffee ice cream with a pinch of sea salt. 

If you can avoid most of the salt used in prepackaged foods, you shouldn't be afraid of salt.  So give it a whirl and try a kick of unexpected flavor. 

For dessert, try:

Ice Cream Scoops Rolled in Graham Cracker and Salt
4 scoops of your favorite Ice Cream (for those keeping track, Mint Chocolate Chip is my favorite)
8 Graham Crackers
1 tablespoon Sugar
2 teaspoons coarsely ground Fleur de Sel

Place a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper in the freezer until very cold, about 15 minutes.  Using an ice cream scoop run under a hot tap, scoop individual scoops of ice cream onto the cookie sheet.  Return to the freezer. 

Using a rolling pin, crush the graham crackers to a coarse powder.  Combine the sugar, graham crackers and salt in a shallow, wide bowl. 

When the ice cream is frozen hard enough to handle, roll the scoops in the graham cracker mix, coating evenly.  Serve and enjoy!


Rosemary and Lemon Cookies with Fleur de Sel
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Zest of 2 Lemons
1 tablespoon fresh Rosemary, minced
Sea Salt (unground)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease (or spray) a cookie sheet. 

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.  Beat in the egg and the vanilla.  In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, lemon zest and rosemary.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet until well mixed.

Put a little salt (1 tablespoon or so) onto a small plate.  Roll the dough into 1 inch balls.  Tap the ball lightly once into the salt.  You want to pick up a few grains of salt on each cookie.  Place the balls on the cookie sheet, salt side, up. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Let rest for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to a cooling rack.  Makes about 4 dozen.


And just because you read all the way through, you get a picture of my Sunday morning.

Apples on a Salt Block.  (And the dog looks on in curious bemusement.)

Examining Duality and Why Diets Fail

I was speaking with a beloved friend who was going through a struggle this past week and was struck by the way we tend to view the world. All people (and certainly me, included) seek particular atributes in life and hold others in distain. 

Humankind embraces and yet struggles with duality.  We view things in contrasts to create distinction and clarity, but we also attach values to these distinctions.  Good/bad, happy/sad, love/hate, right/wrong.  We often have a hard time reconciling these dichotomies, favoring one quality over another but missing the fact that you cannot have one without the other.

Entire philosophies have been created around the nature of duality.  Taoism's Yin/Yang symbol graphically represents this ideal: masculine and feminine, rigidity and yielding, solidness and openness.  All are contained with the symbol and the philosophy.  E.g, the space of a room cannot exist if there are not borders containing it.  And the walls are useless if there is not an emptiness contained within to create usability.  Most religions make a distinction between the body and the soul; the profane and the spiritual; and the rational and the emotional.

All aspects of our lives are contained within this recognition of differences.  Our very bodies are created to find distinction.  For example, the human mouth has been designed to recognize and place certain values on food.  Sweet and sour, salty and bitter.  At the most basic level, our bodies need variety in our diet and the various flavors help us determine what needs are being satisfied. 

(Thank you to Morphonix for this illustration.  Visit them for more cool stuff!)

Sweet flavors contain a lot of sugars that we need for energy.  Salt contains minerals that our bodies use to regulate our chemistry and which is essential for our nervous system.  Sour and bitter may be warning signs.  Many poisons have strong flavors that we find disagreeable, but these flavors may also signal the presence of certain vitamins and minerals.  Humans have evolved to crave certain tastes when we have a lack of them in our diet.  In modern diets, however, processed foods have taken over and have conditioned our bodies to value sweet and salt to an unhealthy degree.  Even artificial sweeteners stimulate the nerve receptacles in our tongue to such a degree that our bodies crave more sweet foods.  And because most diet foods are highly processed they punctuate flavors that the manufacturer thinks you want.  They try to override the body's natural programming, creating a cascade of cravings that eventually crashes in on itself. 

So to try and wrap up all these thoughts running around this page, look at the nature of duality.  We need a balance of flavors in our diet which helps ensure that we're getting all the nutrients we need.  And a combination of flavors keeps it interesting.  Which is a lot like life.  Sadness creates an appreciation of happiness, but too much sadness leads to depression and too much happiness leads to  . . . well, I guess hedonism.  The world is a rich banquet of experience, and I want to try it all.

Tonight for dinner:

Uber Nachos con Pollo
Restaurant-style Tortilla Chips
2 Chicken Breasts (boneless, skinless)
1 16 oz can Black Beans
Red Chili Powder
1/4 lbs of Cheddar and/or Jack Cheese
1 Tomato, chopped
1 Jalapeno Pepper, seeded
1 Onion, chopped
1 cup shredded Lettuce
1 Avocado
the leaves of 4 large sprigs of Cilantro (about 2-3 tablespoons)
1 large dolop of Sour Cream
Salsa, if you want it

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  On an oven-proof platter, lay out one single layer of chips. 

In a sauce pan, add the chicken breasts and enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil. In a seperate sauce pan, heat the can of beans, adding 1-2 tablespoons chili powder.  bring to a slow boil and then set to a low simmer.  We want the liquid from the beans to be reduced by half.  When the chicken breasts are fully cooked (15-20 minutes), remove from the heat and drain, reserving the liquid for something else. 

Chop or shred the chicken.  Add 1/3 of the chicken and 1/3 of the thickened beans and 1/3 of the cheese to the layer of chips.  Lay down another layer of chips and repeat.  Lay down the 3rd layer and repeat. 

Bake the nachos for 15-20 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and add slices of avocado, shredded lettuce, onions, peppers and tomatoes.  Add the sour cream and sprinkle with cilantro leaves.  I promise, you would spend $15 to $20 at any restaurant for these and you did it for less than half.  Awesome.

Margaritas, deconstructed (per person)
3 oz Tequila (I'm using Milagro Añejo)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed Lime Juice
3/4 oz Triple Sec (natural acutally makes a difference)
pinch of Sugar
Lime slice
Kosher Salt

Salt the rim of a martini (cocktail) glass.  In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, triple sec, sugar and lime juice with ice.  Shake vigorously.  Strain into cocktail glass.  Garnish with lime.