A Tale of Two Salts - Difference Between Table Salt & Kosher Salt in Recipes
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Date: 2019-07-25
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Comments and reviews: 9
Michael Frey
Love your videos, but couldn't disagree more about taste differences in salt. It's like so many people all these years have tried to prove I couldn't tell the difference between high quality margarines and basic, real butter. Total BS and I have proven every single one of them wrong in blind taste tests. I'll happily do the same in your kitchen for salt in a blind taste test. The higher mineral content a salt has gives it some very unique and subtle flavor profile differences. And. if you can't taste that, you're definitely missing taste buds. Grey fleur de sel has a unique flavor profile and makes common table salt taste like sand in comparison. The same with pink Himalayan sea salt or red Hawaiian salts formed in lava beds. There's no possible way you cannot taste the differences in these salts. Now, I will concede that in a finished dish, you'll not taste a difference if only because salt is an accent to bring other flavor profiles alive, not the main ingredient.
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Love your videos, but couldn't disagree more about taste differences in salt. It's like so many people all these years have tried to prove I couldn't tell the difference between high quality margarines and basic, real butter. Total BS and I have proven every single one of them wrong in blind taste tests. I'll happily do the same in your kitchen for salt in a blind taste test. The higher mineral content a salt has gives it some very unique and subtle flavor profile differences. And. if you can't taste that, you're definitely missing taste buds. Grey fleur de sel has a unique flavor profile and makes common table salt taste like sand in comparison. The same with pink Himalayan sea salt or red Hawaiian salts formed in lava beds. There's no possible way you cannot taste the differences in these salts. Now, I will concede that in a finished dish, you'll not taste a difference if only because salt is an accent to bring other flavor profiles alive, not the main ingredient.
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Miguel M
I just avoid salt altogether. It was mainly used to preserve meats much like the Americans (natives) used dried hot pepper to preserve their meats. Because of this preservation we got used to salty flavors. Salt is basically in every food, meat or veggie. Today they over salt and over sugar the foods to cover the poor quality of the food they use in their fast or commercial food serving places. In my opinion Chinese and mexican foods are sold as the most salted and sweetened foods out there. Some others are following. Profit is what governs what they feed you outside your home/house. Spicey hot would be better but many can't tolerate the spiciness and since it was made to preserve food it doesn't digest as much and one will feel it all the way out. Use fresh hot peppers instead. Your taste buds have been created by your ancestor's ways of doing things with food.
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I just avoid salt altogether. It was mainly used to preserve meats much like the Americans (natives) used dried hot pepper to preserve their meats. Because of this preservation we got used to salty flavors. Salt is basically in every food, meat or veggie. Today they over salt and over sugar the foods to cover the poor quality of the food they use in their fast or commercial food serving places. In my opinion Chinese and mexican foods are sold as the most salted and sweetened foods out there. Some others are following. Profit is what governs what they feed you outside your home/house. Spicey hot would be better but many can't tolerate the spiciness and since it was made to preserve food it doesn't digest as much and one will feel it all the way out. Use fresh hot peppers instead. Your taste buds have been created by your ancestor's ways of doing things with food.
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Rob J
It took me some time to understand that Kosher salt in American recipes simply amounts to a larger grain/crystal. For a long time I thought it was some particular quality of salt that I was unaware of. In Europe this distinction is unheard of. You buy fine salt, coarse salt, or salt flakes (or any of the other fancier variants. But I am curious to the origin of the label/name. Why the reference to a particular religion's set of food rules, and how did that stick? I. e, is finely ground salt not kosher (in the religious sense? Was there a marketing genius who sold a different size grain/flake and used his religious orientation for leverage, and then it just stuck? I mean, it could've been halal salt if the demographics were different, or?
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It took me some time to understand that Kosher salt in American recipes simply amounts to a larger grain/crystal. For a long time I thought it was some particular quality of salt that I was unaware of. In Europe this distinction is unheard of. You buy fine salt, coarse salt, or salt flakes (or any of the other fancier variants. But I am curious to the origin of the label/name. Why the reference to a particular religion's set of food rules, and how did that stick? I. e, is finely ground salt not kosher (in the religious sense? Was there a marketing genius who sold a different size grain/flake and used his religious orientation for leverage, and then it just stuck? I mean, it could've been halal salt if the demographics were different, or?
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Dahlia Legacy
It wouldn't be the cost of the electron microscope that'd hurt you, it'd be the cost for maintaining it. Every time a fulfillment burned out you'd need call a guy to fix it, unless you became an expert at doing that yourself. So the price of that would just keep snowballing. All a regular person needs is a good light microscope with an oil immersion lens and you're good. That's if you do microscopy on a regular basis. Though I have to admit the time I got to use an electron microscope gave the nerd in me a real hard on of happiness. I still have the pictures I took for them. somewhere. lol I do like electron more than scanning, because it feels like more of an art to me. Fun times. _
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It wouldn't be the cost of the electron microscope that'd hurt you, it'd be the cost for maintaining it. Every time a fulfillment burned out you'd need call a guy to fix it, unless you became an expert at doing that yourself. So the price of that would just keep snowballing. All a regular person needs is a good light microscope with an oil immersion lens and you're good. That's if you do microscopy on a regular basis. Though I have to admit the time I got to use an electron microscope gave the nerd in me a real hard on of happiness. I still have the pictures I took for them. somewhere. lol I do like electron more than scanning, because it feels like more of an art to me. Fun times. _
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Sergio Correa de Siqueira
We don't have kosher salt in Brazil, but we have coarse salt grinders. Is that the same as kosher salt? Also, congrats People who know I like to cook keep giving me expensive salts (fleur du sel, himalayan pink, etc) and I keep thinking: I'll rather have a good bottle of Portuguese Olive Oil any day (or of Portuguese Red Wine, for that matter. BTY: my kids loved the Steak Pauline, especially the fire in the kitchen bit. I know you have Russian ancestry, but can you teach a Brazilian how to make German Labskaus? I used to eat it in the house of a German friend. Oh Mighty and Powerful Chef John, Genius of the Pan and Master of the Skillet, grant me that food wish
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We don't have kosher salt in Brazil, but we have coarse salt grinders. Is that the same as kosher salt? Also, congrats People who know I like to cook keep giving me expensive salts (fleur du sel, himalayan pink, etc) and I keep thinking: I'll rather have a good bottle of Portuguese Olive Oil any day (or of Portuguese Red Wine, for that matter. BTY: my kids loved the Steak Pauline, especially the fire in the kitchen bit. I know you have Russian ancestry, but can you teach a Brazilian how to make German Labskaus? I used to eat it in the house of a German friend. Oh Mighty and Powerful Chef John, Genius of the Pan and Master of the Skillet, grant me that food wish
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Nienke Fleur Luchtmeijer
And this shows why recipes should use weight rather than volume for solid ingredients because a even a slight difference in coarseness can make a difference in how much air is trapped and thus how much a cup (or other volume unit) is, but that air isn't weighed, so the weight doesn't have that problem. even for liquids, weight is much easier because most people have a scale that will tell them how much it weighs, but if you have to read it from a measuring cup, it can sometimes be hard to tell, and when scaling things to make it for more or less people, having to guess where the point between 2 measuring units is becomes very inaccurate.
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And this shows why recipes should use weight rather than volume for solid ingredients because a even a slight difference in coarseness can make a difference in how much air is trapped and thus how much a cup (or other volume unit) is, but that air isn't weighed, so the weight doesn't have that problem. even for liquids, weight is much easier because most people have a scale that will tell them how much it weighs, but if you have to read it from a measuring cup, it can sometimes be hard to tell, and when scaling things to make it for more or less people, having to guess where the point between 2 measuring units is becomes very inaccurate.
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Martin Schou
Which is why recipes should never use volume (cups, spoons etc) for dry ingredients. Using weight instead gives you the exact measure you want instead of some wishy washy random result depending on the quality of the ingredient that the writer had access to and will vary greatly depending on what ingredient whomever is cooking has access to. So - when people substitute kosher salt for something else, and then complains that your recipe is bad, take a couple of minutes to contemplate if perhaps your recipe is at fault by using volume for dry ingredients instead of instantly blaming people for doing something wrong.
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Which is why recipes should never use volume (cups, spoons etc) for dry ingredients. Using weight instead gives you the exact measure you want instead of some wishy washy random result depending on the quality of the ingredient that the writer had access to and will vary greatly depending on what ingredient whomever is cooking has access to. So - when people substitute kosher salt for something else, and then complains that your recipe is bad, take a couple of minutes to contemplate if perhaps your recipe is at fault by using volume for dry ingredients instead of instantly blaming people for doing something wrong.
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Samuel Liebermann
Another option to avoid confusion is to give measurements in grams and not by volume, like in the civilised world. I really like the video and wish you publish more videos about techniques and concepts along side the regular recipes. BTW: What is the best way to avoid salts with anti caking agents? Only recently I discovered that such agent is added to salt and the manufacturers dont have to mark it as an ingredient as the amounts are below the threshold. Personally I dont like additives in my food. I want my salt containing NaCl only. Is it true that kosher salt does not contain such additives?
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Another option to avoid confusion is to give measurements in grams and not by volume, like in the civilised world. I really like the video and wish you publish more videos about techniques and concepts along side the regular recipes. BTW: What is the best way to avoid salts with anti caking agents? Only recently I discovered that such agent is added to salt and the manufacturers dont have to mark it as an ingredient as the amounts are below the threshold. Personally I dont like additives in my food. I want my salt containing NaCl only. Is it true that kosher salt does not contain such additives?
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Quakemz
It's not very often I disagree with you, Chef, but I do believe salts CAN have varying flavors. Lava salts and smoked salts definitely have a different flavor than table salt. I even notice subtle differences between Sea Salt and Table/Kosher salt. As far as cooking goes, you're basically right, though. But, there is a difference between using salt in a recipe, and using a finishing salt on a dish that is meant to be enjoyed for its specific flavor and texture. Anyways, I don't agree with the all salts will taste the same theory, and it bummed me out a little when you said that. :(
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It's not very often I disagree with you, Chef, but I do believe salts CAN have varying flavors. Lava salts and smoked salts definitely have a different flavor than table salt. I even notice subtle differences between Sea Salt and Table/Kosher salt. As far as cooking goes, you're basically right, though. But, there is a difference between using salt in a recipe, and using a finishing salt on a dish that is meant to be enjoyed for its specific flavor and texture. Anyways, I don't agree with the all salts will taste the same theory, and it bummed me out a little when you said that. :(
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