Curious things about the house #83

Mr. Bezo (the dear!) sent me a box of salt. That’s good as I asked him to. It is not just any salt but Diamond Kosher salt, which makes all the difference – or so I am told. Several chefs and writers in my cooking videos and cookbooks extol the virtues of cooking with proper salt (no rubbish types). Growing up in the Midwest salt was salt and it came in a navy blue and canister with a careless girl spilling some in a rainstorm.* I learned later there are all sorts of salt, coming in various colors and flavors. The great cuisines experts go for salt in a certain size and shape rather. This make a difference they say. My latest cookbook by Mr. Pashman says he uses only Diamond Crystal kosher salt in his recipes and do not dare to question this. It was the salty straw the broke the camel’s back. So I got me some. The king-size-titanic-unsinkable-Molly-Brown box arrived the other day.

It looks like I have enough salt to last a lifetime, but the same chefs are in agreement not to be stingy when it comes to salting things. I am in conflict here. The Good Doctor says I should lay off salt because of my blood pressure but Julia Child says I have to. Salting salmon and meaty matters prior to cooking isn’t just a casual application; one is supposed to sprinkle on the salt from a distance. I remember seeing videos on this and thinking what a mess that makes and Mother would be quite cross to see me spilling salt all over her stovetop.

As Zingerman’s Deli is fond of saying: the proof is in the taste. I’ve yet to open the box but apparently Kosher salt tastes better than Mr. Morton’s fine gains. How naif am I to think salt tastes, well, like salt. Perhaps I can get Someone to put a few grains of one and then the other onto my tongue for a blind tasting test. I am going to feel foolish if I can’t taste the difference or worse prefer the taste of store brand salt, which is a fraction of the price and fits in the salt shaker unlike the monstrous kosher cubes.

I am curious to hear from the Spo-fans if they use Kosher salt and when and why and can they taste the difference etc. Do you have any fancy flavored salt in fab colors as well and when do you use them?

*Someday I ought to learn the story behind this. If a Spo-fan knows please tell me.