now you know pt. 3

let's talk SALT!

Welcome back to NOW YOU KNOW, a 6-week series where, for our mid-week email, we’re going to discuss fundamental cooking knowledge that you might not know, totally understand, or even be aware of! My hope is that these tidbits will make you a more confident cook.

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Let’s do a deep dive into SALT today. There are so many kinds! There’s pink salt! Fine salt! Coarse salt! Sea salt! When and where should you be using which type of salt?!

but first, why does this matter?

If you’ve cooked my recipes for long, you may have noticed that I always specifically call for “kosher salt”. Any recipe written by a legit recipe developer will always call for the exact type of salt that they want you to use — otherwise your dish could wind up way too salty, or not seasoned enough.

For instance: 1/4 cup of Morton Table Salt weighs 80 grams. 1/4 cup of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt weighs 37 grams. This is because kosher salt flakes are MUCH larger, so less of it fits into a measuring utensil. So if I call for 1 teaspoon kosher salt and you use Morton Table Salt, you’re using 2x too much salt!

kosher salt

Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is a cult favorite cooking salt. The coarse, hollow grain is not as large as Morton’s kosher salt, but much larger than the average table salt grain. It’s the preferred salt of basically every single restaurant and recipe developer that I love. Find it. Stockpile it. Do not stray from it. Pour it into a bowl and keep it beside the oven for easy pinch-ability. If you live in a humid place, keep it in a cute salt cellar with a lid to keep moisture out.

Diamond Crystal is what I use at all times. I pour it from the box into a big bowl beside by stove, and refill it often.

fine sea salt

Fine sea salt* is great for baking, since the finely ground grains of salt can dissolve into the baked goods really evenly. It does not have great pinch-ability — it gets stuck to your fingers since the grains are so finely ground, plus it dissolves the second it hits meat so it can be difficult to evenly season it. So it’s not a great casual cooking salt, it’s more for measured baking, at least in my kitchen.

It’s great in a salt shaker, for baking, or try adding a pinch to your water for the most natural electrolyte drink out there!

*I’ve linked my fave brand on Thrive — using that link will get you 30% off your first order and a $60 free gift, so stock up on all of your pantry goods to take advantage of the first time discount! Flours, nuts, spices, salts, canned goods, wine, you name it I buy it on Thrive!

flaky sea salt

I love flaky sea salt as a finishing salt (aka as a final garnish on a dish). Think — big beautiful flakes of sea salt on avocado toast, sprinkled over roasted veggies, or as a finish on cookies.

Maldon (linked above) is my favorite, it’s pricy and worth it. Thrive has the best price I’ve seen.

table salt

Morton’s table salt is the most common kind of salt in American grocery stores. I never use it. Ever! It’s highly processed and stripped of all of it’s natural minerals. Look — it says it right on the label! Iodine is a natural nutrient in salt, but it is stripped out of Morton salt through the processing.

It gives a sharp “oh that’s too salty” taste, rather than the nuanced seasoning of the other salts we’ve discussed.

other salt

There are lots of other salts out there, but these are the most common ones. I love buying a fancy flaky salt when I’m on vacation somewhere or there’s a salt vendor at the farmer’s market. They’re fun to experiment and play around with. You could throw a Pink Himalayan salt (unprocessed and full of minerals) in a salt grinder to keep on the table, but never to cook with! We do not cook using salt grinders! We cook using pinches of salt from our salt cellars!

Got any burning salty questions? Or any questions for a future edition of Now You Know? Let’s hear ‘em!