Salt

I have a number of different salts.

When using some of them, I make adjustments in measuring because of their crystal size and packing ratio. E.g., for Morton Kosher salt I use 1.5 tsp per 1 tsp table salt; for Diamond Crystal, I use 2:1. Of course, to taste is the ultimate.

How about you? And do you make adjustments if you use salted instead of unsalted butter in a recipe?

I use two kinds of salt: kosher salt and (for those few recipes that need it) Indian black salt. I use unsalted butter exclusively. For buttered popcorn, I grind a pinch of kosher salt to a powder and add that to the butter while it's melting. The salt dissolves into the moisture in the butter.

For me the main place I have to consider salt-related adjustments is when a Chinese recipe calls for shaoxing rice wine. Shaoxing in US grocery markets almost always has 5% salt added so that it's not subject to the hodgepodge of state liquor laws. I've only once found unsalted shaoxing in a market. It might be more readily available in Chinatown liquor stores--don't know. When I see a recipe calling for both shaoxing and salt, I examine it carefully to see whether that 5% salt in the shaoxing will cover the salt as a separate ingredient.

-Paul W.

I always use unsalted butter. I buy low-sodium stock. We cook very low salt generally so I don't worry about a bit of salt in my other ingredients. (My upstairs neighbor always asks for the shaker when she eats with us.)

I use table salt for most purposes. I have some nice fleur de sel guarande for a last-moment sprinkle.

I'll use more salt in my food than Pumpkin does in his.

For a finishing salt I use the Aussie equivalent of Maldonsalt flakes, Murray river salt flakes, they have a good crystalline flake, and are delicately pink and have good flavour.
On the table a grinder of dry rock salt because that is what works in the grinder.
Pure fine sea salt for cooking, preserving etc.
I only buy unsalted butter so I control the salt in my cooking.

[Jenise]

Another fan of unsalted butter here for best control and better fat content. Unsalted butter has a longer shelf life than salted.

That aside, I do like salt--a lot. I try to use as little as possible but I'm not a fan of salt-free. I use Diamond Crystal for cooking and Maldon for finishing, and in recipes I pay absolutely zero attention to how much salt is asked for. I consider it a suggestion, not a requirement, and I salt to taste period.

Speaking of which I've been watching a few live cooking sessions with Chicago's Chef Rick Bayless of Mexican food fame. I'm actually surprised how much salt he uses. Just watching him add it to a recipe he reaches for three fat pinches where I'm sure I'd stop at two.

We cook very low salt generally so I don't worry about a bit of salt in my other ingredients.

So do I. I don't worry about salt for health reasons. I want to make sure that the seasoning balance is correct when salt comes from a second source such as shaoxing.

-Paul W.

[Robin Garr]

Another fan of unsalted butter here for best control and better fat content. Unsalted butter has a longer shelf life than salted.

I think you typoed there, Jenise. Salted lasts longer because salt is a preservative.
https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/health ... ed-butter/

I don't care, though. I'm on Team Unsalted too, for all the other reasons stated.

As for salt, we have Morton's iodized and Diamond Crystal kosher. I used to have some West Oz pink, Barb, but when it ran out, the shop where I used to buy it had closed. <sob> I suppose I could get some online, but I'm really fine with the two options we have.

[Jenise]

Oh fiddle faddle. Doesn't salted have a marginally lower fat content? I'm probably remembering wrong again.

I think Jenise is right about the fat content being slightly lower in salted butter. But it is the case that salted butter has a longer shelf life, and that's why producers and retailers like it.

On page 290 of Chef on Fire, Chef Carey observes that butter is labeled either "unsalted" or "lightly salted", and asks: "If butter producers were proud of the salt in their butter, why would they select the adverb 'lightly'?"

-Paul W.

I had a friend I was living with for several weeks back in the 90s. One day he came back from the grocery store complaining that all he could find was lightly salted butter. He always lived dangerously with smoking and drinking et al., so I informed him with, "What do you want? Heavily salted butter? There's no such thing!" He eventually drank himself to death after years of telling me that I was going to die before he did. That was 20 years ago.

I buy only unsalted butter.

[Robin Garr]

Bear in mind that fat content, irrespective of salt, varies quite a bit, depending on source (most Euro butter is higher fat than US) and manufacturer. So I don't think there's much of a linear relationship between salt and fat.

Remember, Plugra means "More Fat."

[Jenise]

No, I don't think so either, though I can understand why from my post you'd think I was making a correlation. It's just that I was pretty sure there was another difference between salted and un-.

Salted butter seems completely unnecessary and reduces flexibility. Who doesn't have salt in the house to add to whatever preparation you are making!

Here's a game of mental lint for you: Salted butter is cheaper than unsalted butter due to the preservative effect of the salt, as we have said. But that means it is a food that has an added ingredient yet costs less.

I only know one other. Name it.

Interesting.

One that comes to mind is peanut butter. The kind with sugar costs less.

And in my experience plain yogurt (somewhat difficult to find) always seems more expensive than those with added fruit or other flavorings.

And in my experience plain yogurt (somewhat difficult to find) always seems more expensive than those with added fruit or other flavorings.

Probably because it has less yogurt (more expensive) and more cheap sweeteners (less expensive).

Probably because it has less yogurt (more expensive) and more cheap sweeteners (less expensive).

That's a very true rule of thumb. Cereals with the most sugar are almost free.

[David M. Bueker]

Salted butter seems completely unnecessary and reduces flexibility. Who doesn't have salt in the house to add to whatever preparation you are making!

Only time I use salted butter is on toast.

Here's a game of mental lint for you: Salted butter is cheaper than unsalted butter due to the preservative effect of the salt, as we have said. But that means it is a food that has an added ingredient yet costs less.

I only know one other. Name it.

Red pistachios. It turns out that the public likes their pistachio shells to be clear white while shells that have occasional black spots are passed over. But, if you give them a red tint to hide the spots, then they sell just fine. These nuts are sold at a discount off the clear white but at least they sell.

It's been so long since I've seen red pistachios that I'd forgotten all about them. IIRC they were one of the victims of the red dye scare that was started when the FDA banned amaranth dye (red dye #2) as a suspected carcinogen. Sales of food items that were dyed red plummeted, even if the color was coming from a different red dye.

-Paul W.

Sales of food items that were dyed red plummeted, even if the color wasn't coming from a different red dye.

I think you mean, "even if the color was coming from a different dye." FWIW, I haven't seen red pistachios for years.

Almost fifty years ago, my neighbor threw out his red food coloring that he used in sugar water to attract hummingbirds. They're only hummingbirds, I said.

I'm not even sure red dye #2 was used back then for consumer use in those little bottles, but the consumer red food coloring nowadays is red dye #40 or perhaps a vegetable source. BTW and FWIW, the word amaranth in the red dye #2 description refers to the color of amaranth, not where the dye came from.

As an aside, I've told people that my hummingbirds were getting so fat, I switched to water and artificial sweeteners. The look on their faces....

As an aside, I've told people that my hummingbirds were getting so fat, I switched to water and artificial sweeteners. The look on their faces....

Well played.

it gets worse. In the '90s, I made thousands of pickled eggs* for the Albuquerque Press Club to sell as bar food. I packed them in glass gallon jars** and printed my own labels, which were different for every gallon. One week my eggs featured a Pickled Spotted Owl Eggs label.

Some out-of-towner showed up one night for a drink, almost blew a cork when he saw the jar, and raged at the bartender about "How dare you sell spotted owl eggs, yada, yada, yada." Great fun....


* I hard boiled the eggs in a pressure cooker. Only a 5-minute special technique, and the shells just slip off--old or new eggs. I told one member about my technique. She informed me, "You can't cook eggs in a pressure cooker!" Golly, I didn't know that...

**Guess how many fit, and I'll drink a martini.

Some out-of-towner showed up one night for a drink, almost blew a cork when he saw the jar, and raged at the bartender about "How dare you sell spotted owl eggs, yada, yada, yada." Great fun....

Wonderful. I am reminded of a similar incident on one of my wine boards: A fellow known for his sly humor reported on a wine dinner where manatee steaks were served, providing fake notes on tenderness, etc. Despite his reputation, another old hand on that board fell for it and wrote furiously....