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Halen Môn is one of the few great culinary salts produced by the same vacuum boiler evaporation technique practiced by industrial giants. Pure seawater from the Menai Straits of the Welsh coast passes through two natural filters—a mussel bed and a sandbank—before being charcoal-filtered. The thrice-filtered seawater is heated in a vacuum, which encourages it to simmer at a low temperature, then the cool concentrated seawater passes into shallow crystallization tanks where, overnight, delicate crystals form on the surface and sink to the bottom. In the morning, the precipitated salt is harvested by raking up the sheets of flakes, which are rinsed with brine and dried.

Showier varieties of fleur de sel can’t compete for modesty, more delicate sel gris can’t compare for penetration, and high-contrast parchment-thin flake salts long for Halen Môn’s deeper mineral clarity. The salt has a confident oddball identity that resists enlisting with any established camp, preferring to deliver its own style to meats and vegetables of every sort. This makes Halen Môn that rare bankable star with unshakable instincts about the roles it plays—the Johnny Depp of sea salt, but paler … Nicole Kidman.

Hana Flake

ALTERNATE NAME(S): Hana no shio MAKER(S): n/a TYPE: flake CRYSTAL: sharp, flat pyramids COLOR: sheet ice on a sail FLAVOR: condensation on clean glass; Arctic Ocean air MOISTURE: moderate ORIGIN: Japan SUBSTITUTE(S): Halen Môn; Bali Rama Pyramid BEST WITH: snow peas; foie gras; poached halibut

The best dishes in the world are true works of art, inscrutable, impossible to improve upon. Until they meet the right salt. At the restaurant Le Bernardin, I once had a dish of mi-cuit, goose foie gras on a tender trampoline of crisp-crusted halibut, capped with white grape and Sauternes coulis. I almost started attacking people in the restaurant, grabbing their lapels and shaking them. The torrent of pleasure and passion and adrenaline coursing through me didn’t abate until hours later, after we had run down the sidewalks in the snow like unleashed poodles, yapping at the streetlights, youthful, imbecilic laughter trailing behind us. If Chef Ripert had just added a pinch of Hana flake, we might never have stopped.

Each crystal of Hana flake is defiantly clear and improbably sliced, like a diamond necklace run through a food processor, reassembled, and frozen in liquid nitrogen before being hit by a hammer. The taste isn’t so different—a sharp blade of ice-water clarity. Hana flake is all about the tug of texture on flavor—all about the tensile strength of something designed to explode. Perfection is a place in time. Topping a dish with Hana flake offers something eternal.

Maldon

ALTERNATE NAME(S): none MAKER(S): Maldon Crystal Salt Company Limited TYPE: flake CRYSTAL: clutter of fine shards and small pyramids COLOR: sheet ice FLAVOR: sea breeze with glitter in it MOISTURE: low ORIGIN: England SUBSTITUTE(S): Cyprus flake; Hana flake; Bali Rama Pyramid BEST WITH: butter leaf lettuce salad

We all have good days. Days when the rhythms of life inexplicably synchronize—our socks match, all the traffic lights go our way, everything we say is witty, and the eyes of those around us glitter with a mix of friendly adoration and carnal lust. You can just feel it. You’ve got the groove. You are the groove. The next day, inevitably, you inexplicably get a bloody nose while brushing your teeth, you drop your keys through a sewer grate, you get caught in a lie, and the plumber figures out you’re an idiot. But what if every day could be a good day, an eternally brisk and refreshing excursion, structured with the right balance of what we need to feel amazed at ourselves and our lives?

That isn’t going to happen.

But Maldon doesn’t have off days. The crystals are proportioned just so, an effortless balance of scintillating flakes and snappy pyramids. The flavor is silvery, fresh, and good-natured, igniting fresh contrast in the color, texture, and flavor of roasted meats and vegetables. Complementary as the salt may be to cooked foods,