Working with Salt

Salty Character
Shake things up with your salt selection.

A salt is just a salt. Or is it?
The taste of salt depends on the region it's from, the minerals imparted,
and the coarseness and size of the flake. There are two salts every serious cook
should have handy: Kosher salt and Fleur de sel salt.

Kosher salt is a good basic salt that works well with most everything.
It is harvested from seawater or mined from underground deposits.
Kosher salt, which is usually coarser in consistency but with a mellower
flavor, is a pure salt that is not iodized and contains no additives. It is a a great preservative and helps draw moisture from the meat. (Jewish dietary law forbid consuming blood in meat and this salt is thus an integeral part of the koshering process.)

Fleur de sel salt, French for "flower of the salt"
This is a finishing salt and is considered by many chefs to be the "caviar of salts."
It's a delicately flavored sea salt harvested by hand-raking the evaporated
seawater from select salt ponds and marshes in Brittany, France.
It's less salty than most other salts and has a wonderfully delicate flavor.
In fact, fleur de sel is often used more like a condiment than a seasoning, adding
both flavor and a dash of texture. To best appreciate its flavor, sprinkle the small flaky crystals on foods just before serving.
Can you cook with it? Yes. It readily dissolves into meat and is
wonderful on beef, chicken and pork.

Table salt is worth mentioning, too.
It comes from underground salt mines and has very fine, uniform crystals.
Not only is it the least expensive, table salt's potassium iodide and
calcium silicate retard lumping and its fine consistency enable it to
dissolve quickly, making it a preference for pastry chefs and most bakers.