How To Salt Your Food Like a Pro & What's For Friday?

   My first ah-ha moment on the importance of salt in cooking was in cooking school.

Chef Anne Burrell ( Secrets of a Restaurant Chef/ Iron Chef), our instructor for that module, was supervising the way I made mushroom soup.

I put what seemed to me like a good amount of salt, and tasted it. It seemed OK to me. She tasted the soup, and said: “Add more salt, it's not enough”. Hesitantly I added a few more grains. To me, it was salty enough, and I didn't want to ruin the soup and become an object of scrutiny for the rest of the day. “No, put MUCH MORE!” Said chef Anne, a hint of impatience creeping into her voice. (She had zero tolerance for cowards).

As she saw the dumb look on my face, she understood that I am clueless. She took the salt, added what seemed to me like a huge amount, mixed well and said: “NOW, taste it”.

 I took a spoonful. To my surprise, the soup was not salty at all! But it did suddenly have the distinct taste of mushrooms that was missing a few minutes ago!

   That was the first time I understood what every chef kept telling us: Salt is a conductor of flavor and not only a flavor by itself.

Salting one-on-one:

   Here is something that a lot of home cooks don't know about using all purpose salt: The grains of salt are functioning as small sponges that absorb the juices of the food and transfer them to our taste buds.

That's why the salt needs to be evenly distributed over every ingredient that goes into the pan: You don't want the meat to be salted but to miss on the flavors of the onion and vegetables that are cooking with it.

 In order for that rule to exist, chefs use mostly kosher salt. Kosher salt is less salty than other kinds of salt, That way, a large amount of salt grains can be distributed safely over the food without creating the “pretzel effect”. One could also use a great all purpose sea salt such as Fleur De Sel.

   I highly recommend that you try and salt every ingredient instead of adding salt at the end. You might add too much salt in the beginning, but after you will master this change in your cooking, the food you've been cooking for years will taste much better.

   The way to salt an even amount over the food is to sprinkle it from above, a bit higher than you would normally do. Meat, poultry and fish should be seasoned from both sides prior to their entry into the pan.

So What's for Friday?

The recipes for this Friday dinner are all about salt with it's different functions.

Since we are talking so much about salt, I can't ignore the classic recipe of roasting in a salt crust. Here, salt is used as a shell, to be thrown away

Usually this recipe is intended for fish but I would like to give you a recipe for beef tenderloin. You can use kosher salt or rock salt. The result is very succulent because all the juices of the beef remain in the salt shell, and actually cook it. The result, surprisingly, is not salty at all.

Herb crusted beef tenderloin:

The outside of the beef will be seasoned enough-don't add salt.

11/2 Lbs beef tenderloin roast

11/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups kosher salt or rock salt

2 bay leaves broken to pieces

1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped

2 teaspoons black pepper

½ cup water

Preheat the oven to 425F.

1. Brown the roast , in a skillet, using the olive oil until brown from all sides. About 2 minutes from each side.
2. Mix together the salt, herbs and the water until it resembles wet sand.
3. Pat the salt mixture on the top and sides of the beef so it covers it completely and tightly.
4. Roast in the middle rack for 25-30 minutes for medium-rare.
5. Let the beef stand 5 minutes. Break the shell, and remove. Slice the meat into ½ inch slices.

Potatoes with vinegar and sea salt

The salt is used as all purpose salt, and therefore the potatoes and the water need to be salted generously.(I loved the Maldon sea salt with this recipe)

3Lbs small Yukon Gold potatoes or any other boiling potato

21/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablespoons tarragon, finely chopped

11/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

6 cups of water + 2 tablespoons sea salt to boil the potatoes in. The water should taste like sea salt.

1. cover the potatoes with salted water. Simmer for about 12 minutes. Drain.
2. While still warm, stir in the vinegar, tarragon and the sea salt. Let stand for 5 minutes and add the olive oil. Toss together.

Smoked sea salt brownies:

8 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup unsalted butter/ 2 sticks

5 eggs

3 cups sugar

¼ teaspoon smoked sea salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon sea salt such as Fleur De Sel or Maldon

2-1/2 cups chopped pecan, toasted

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

1. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat; set aside.
2. In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes.
3. Blend in chocolate mixture, flour and smoked salt until just mixed. Stir in the nuts.
4. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly and sparingly the sea salt on top of the batter surface.
5. Bake brownies for 35-40 minutes. (I like to under cook them a bit). Cool and frost if desired, but that is not necessary.