SALT SENSE: Try an experiment. Pour out a small amount of table salt. Pour out a small amount of table salt that is NOT iodized. Pour out a small amount of sea salt. Taste.
Big difference? Surprisingly, yes.
We first became intrigued with salt after hearing that regular iodized salt — what most of us probably have in our salt shaker — has a somewhat metallic taste from the iodine. We had never tasted anything but that particular variety and were fascinated enough to buy some without iodine. Shock!
Iodine was added to salt many years ago as a simple and cheap way to keep people from getting goiters. In 1924, Morton Salt began making iodized salt which led to great strides in public health. Today, however, the normal diet provides enough iodine that extra is not needed.
We gained all this salty language from a book, “Salt Fat Acid Heat,” a very different kind of cookbook by Samin Nosrat, who spells out these four ingredients to good cooking.
All salt comes from the sea, directly or indirectly. Salt left behind when sea water evaporates is sea salt, whereas rock salt is mined from ancient lakes and seas some of which now lie far underground.
Not only do these — and other kinds of salt — have different kinds of shapes but they vary widely not just in flavor but things like penetration into food layers and rate of dissolution.
Salt has a greater impact on flavor than any other ingredient, says the author. It enhances flavors of other ingredients, minimizes bitterness, balances out sweetness, enhances aromas and heightens our experience of eating.
Being a cynic, we withheld judgment until cooking a pot of beef stew which lacked a certain richness in flavor. Not salty enough? We finally tried adding sea salt to the brew and, remarkably, it became instantly tastier.
We don’t pretend to be a connoisseur of salt by reading a few chapters in a book but we’re convinced enough to try a few recipes. We’ll give you a full report.
TODAY’S QUOTE: “The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing suspicions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable and, so, if he is romantic he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are,” said by H.L. Mencken.
