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 great preservative and helps draw moisture from meat. (Jewish dietary laws forbid consuming blood in meat and this salt is thus an integral part of the koshering process.)

Fleur de sel salt, French for “flower of the salt,” is a finishing salt and considered by many chefs to be the “caviar of salts.” It’s a delicately flavored sea salt harvested by hand-raking the evaporating 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. For other dishes, however, only the most discerning will appreciate its contribution.

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.