Tip - Harnessing Salts Power

Harnessing Salt's Power

No other ingredient has such a dramatic effect on food.

By THOMAS KELLER and MICHAEL RUHLMAN, Special To The Times


It doesn't matter whether you're a professional chef, a cook-hobbyist or a
working parent just trying to get dinner on the table: The most important
skill by far is knowing how to season food properly.

In most cases, "seasoning" means primarily one thing--learning to use salt.
No other ingredient has such a dramatic salutary effect on so many
different foods and in so many different ways. Salt is used in virtually
every type of cooking to heighten flavor, even in sweets like ice cream,
chocolate and fruit.

Furthermore, salt is a formidable tool. Add salt to the water you boil
green beans in and they will come out vividly colored and perfectly
seasoned (about 1/2 cup of kosher salt per 8 cups of water, and then be
sure to shock the vegetables in ice water afterward to set the color and
rinse them; soft vegetables like broccoli will absorb more salt, so use less).

Salt cures and preserves meats and fish by drawing out moisture. Salt is
what makes a brine work, and it is the means for koshering chicken. It's an
effective marinade for tomatoes, drawing out water to intensify their flavor.

Excellent sea salts, such as fleur de sel and sel gris, which come from the
coastal regions of northern France, are effective as textural garnish in
and of themselves. Try just a few grains of fleur de sel on some meltingly
soft roasted bone marrow or sprinkled on salad or pâté (it's especially
powerful on foie gras). It sets off a tiny explosion of flavor and texture.

Any discussion in praise of salt, of course, must note its potential
dangers: Too much can be bad for you. Of course, most salt in the American
diet comes from processed foods, which are packed with various forms of
sodium. If you eat natural foods and season them properly--and don't have a
salt-related health condition such as water retention or
hypertension--using salt properly in your kitchen should not be a problem.

Once you begin paying attention to the effects of salt, the difference in
your cooking will be extraordinary. Here are the main tenets of salting:

Use only salts such as kosher or sea salt that have not been iodized, which
adds a slight aftertaste.

The texture of coarse and flaked salts makes them easier to control when
you're sprinkling them by hand.

Season all pieces of meat and fish with salt a minimum of several minutes
before cooking, to allow the salt to melt on the surface (though delicate
flesh such as a scallop may actually be cooked by the salt if it is applied
too far in advance).

When salting a large item, such as a roast, season the meat a day before
cooking, to give the salt time to penetrate the meat.

When salting a single portion of meat or fish, salt all sides and be
careful that the salt covers the meat evenly (the higher you hold your hand
above the item being salted, the more evenly the salt will be distributed).

When salting liquids (such as a soup or a sauce), always taste it first,
then add salt as needed and allow time for the salt to dissolve and
distribute itself before tasting it again. Remember, too, that salt takes
more time to mix into a fat-based sauce, such as a mayonnaise or hollandaise.

Take into account the salt contained in various ingredients (when
anchovies, fish sauce or bacon are an ingredient in what you're cooking,
you'll need to add less salt).

And finally, don't forget that salt is also an effective abrasive cleaner.
Nothing cleans a copper pan better than salt mixed with egg white, flour
and lemon juice.

Salt is unfairly denigrated because of its overuse in processed foods (and
because of our over consumption of those foods), but when used thoughtfully
on fresh foods, it's the most important ingredient in your kitchen.