Salted_ A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes - Mark Bitterman [93]
One merit of iodized salt is its tactical use in the prevention of iodine deficiency, which may pose a risk to as many as two billion people in the world, mostly in poorer countries. However, those wishing to supplement their diet without resorting to iodized salt can take a natural kelp-based supplement such as Liqui-Kelp or Liqui-Duls, for about a penny a day. Not a bad price to pay for independence from the industrial maw.
SALTING STRATEGICALLY
Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise —Bertrand Russell
Salt is the most potent, versatile, and able-bodied ingredient in your kitchen, utterly unique in its collaborative powers. Salt binds moisture to protein in meat. Salt controls fermentation in baking, cheeses, and pickles. Salt is a preservative, warding off harmful organisms. Salt develops and protects the colors of everything from cured bacon to blanched string beans to baked bread crust. Salt develops textures, strengthening gluten in bread, firming cheeses, tenderizing meats, and hydrating a variety of foods. And, of course, salt improves flavor. The miracle is how the right amount of the right salt can heighten the flavor of food without changing its character, making ingredients communicate more truthfully and passionately. Whatever you are preparing, how you salt, when you salt, and what kind of salt you use all make a difference.
Salt is also a strategic ingredient; the way you use it sets the tone, or even the entire course, of your cooking. What do you want from your food? That’s the question you should ask every time you salt. Use your memory, your imagination, your anticipation of what you are about to prepare to help you visualize what you’re after. Where are you? Is the landscape exotic or familiar? Are you standing in your backyard garden, pitchfork in hand, taking in the fragrance of ripening vegetation; or are you crouched in the tall grass, clutching bow and arrow, nostrils flaring as you track the path of fugitive meat scampering through the underbrush?
Consider your ingredients and the techniques you will use to prepare them. All food is not created equal. The animal flavors of a long-braised brisket are not the same as those of a rare steak. Why salt them the same? Pasta ragued with the bold, musty flavors of foraged morels is nothing like blond curls of fettuccine tangled with chunks of raw ripe tomato and glistening with a sheen of fruity olive oil. Why not honor those differences with the considered application of distinctive salts?
Salting is an opportunity. What do you want salt to do for your dish? Set high expectations, then consider how salt can help you achieve those goals. Do you want the salt to spark and vanish or persist and penetrate? Do you want to build a crescendo or diminuendo of flavor? What textures do you want: a quick snap, a subtle crackle, a just-perceptible crunch? How prominent a role do you want to allot to salt: do you wish to hear only the voices of the other ingredients, or can salt chime in as a chorus, or even grab the microphone for a verse? Salting strategically deepens your connection to your ingredients, allowing you to cook them more considerately and creatively.
HOW MANY SALTS DO I NEED?
There are thousands of salts in the world, and there is no reason not to explore as many as inspire you. On the other hand, salting effectively can be achieved with the simplest of resources. Here are four common approaches to selecting salts for your kitchen:
THE SINGLE ESSENTIAL: One variety of sel gris or coarse traditional salt is all you need to cook well. Use it in most cooking applications, and for finishing hearty or very moist foods. Grind some up lightly in a mortar and pestle for finishing more delicate or drier foods and for baking.
THE THREE FOUNDATIONS: A fleur de sel for finishing fine foods, a flake salt for snappy contrast on fresh vegetables and other dishes, and a