Salt

Salt (technically sodium chloride) is a chemical that may be harvested from the sea (known as sea, bay or solar salt) or mined from the ground from dried salt lakes (rock or mined salt). Sea salt tends to have irregularly shaped crystals, whilst mined salt is usually a regular shaped cube.

Salt is one of the most important ingredients in cookery, and is used extensively across the world to enhance the flavour of food. However, it can be also used for a range of other tasks, such as:

• As a preservative to enable foods to be stored for longer periods of time without spoiling, such as salt herring, salt beef or pastrami.
• To draw the moisture out of food; for example with vegetables such as aubergines that have bitter juices that need to be removed before cooking.
• To clean foods; for example, a salt bath helps to remove excess dirt and debris when washing salad greens.
• To toughen food. Although this is a disadvantage for foods such as meat and pulses, it is useful to salt foods before pickling them in vinegar to prevent them from becoming soft and soggy in the jar.
• To help the rising process during breadmaking.
• To help retain the nutrients in vegetables during the boiling process.
• To concentrate the flavour in sweet dishes such as batters and cakes.

As salt draws out the moisture and toughens food, it is important not to salt fresh meat before it is fried, grilled or roasted. Not only will this make the flesh less succulent, but the moisture raised on the surface of the meat will also prevent it from searing and browning. Consequently, salt should only be added halfway through the cooking process, once the meat has browned. The same reasoning applies to cooking pulses; salt should only be added to the cooking water until at least 15 minutes after the pulses have reached simmering point, otherwise they will become incredibly tough.

To store salt, keep it in an airtight container in a cool dry place, as it can become damp in a steamy atmosphere. Adding a few grains of rice to a salt cellar will help to keep the salt running freely as the rice will absorb any excess moisture and prevent the salt from clogging together in lumps.

There are a wide variety of salts available, including common (or table) salt, rock salt, kosher salt, block (or pickling) salt, sea salt (including sel gris) and seasoned salts. These salts vary in colour, flavour and texture, and it is important to choose the type of salt that will enhance a particular recipe in the best way. For example, flaked kosher salt is commonly used to enhance the flavour of soups, sauces, stocks and other liquid based foods, whilst coarse grained sea salt is excellent for coating steamed fish and meat. Free flowing, fine-grained common salt is a good choice for filling salt cellars for table use. You can find out about the many different salts available by simply selecting a variety from the menu below.