Salt Part 1 - Intro and Making Smoked Sea Salt

Salt will no doubt be a recurring topic, or at least side not. It is a naturally occuring mineral and is probually the most important food items in the history of man. Besides beer, and maybe water if no beer is present.

For centuries salt's biggest claim to fame is that salt stops the growth of harmful bacteria, acting as a preservative. This works because of osmosis: that a liquid with salt will attract pull out water of anything it cal, including living cells. Bacteria are just cells that need 6 things to grow: Food-Acidity level (ph > 4.5) - Time - Temperature (between 40f and 140f) - Oxygen - Moisture. The simple addition of enough salt will drain and disrupt the moisture level enough to prevent the bacteria.

Salt also changes the properties of water, such as increasing the boiling temperature.

Salt also works as one of two powerful flavor enhancers, turning something bland into extremely flavorful.


Salt And Health


1: Salt is good for you
Salt is GREAT for you, well 1 gram a day is great for you. More if your active. That isn't very much, and in these days of Mcdonalds and processed food we can easily have 10x that amount.

2. Salt is bad for you!
The main concern with salt is that it causes high blood pressure. However, there is a lot of evidence that disputes this. While salt does have in influence on blood pressure, it is shown to be a very small influence. If your diet is well rounded and get decent and regular excersize, consuming x5+ the recommended salt intake is very unlikely to cause problems.

3. Some salt is  iodinized. We need iodine
Yes we do need iodine. No, we probually don't need it in salt. Iodine occurs naturally in the oceans and in a large amount of the world's soil.. Before the US had the ability to ship seafood and produce around the country those in the middle states often had iodine deficiency. Iodized salt first came about as way of fortifying a cheap and readily available food product for distribution in impoverished areas, such as third world countries. Essentially, this was an effort to fight malnutrition; more specifically, iodine deficiency can lead to more serious health conditions (it can effect both the brain and the thyroid). Although the average American's diet contains enough trace amounts of Iodine to meet their daily threshold, not everyone is so lucky. It is much healthier for many reasons to eat seafood, veggies and dairy on a regular basis than rely on iodized salt if possible.


What salt should I get?

I recommend two types of salt: Cooking and Finishing

Cooking: For any dish that has salt dissolve into it, I never use sea salt. I love sea salt,  but most of the time I find it to be a waste. I get canning salt. Canning salt is pure NaCl. Most table salt has an anti caking agent that changes the taste and properties slightly, or iodine that can discolor food when cooking. For one, caking agents don't dissolve in water so when adding salt the particles will form and make the water cloudy. If your using table salt as a finishing salt in a shaker, add some dry rice to prevent caking.

Finishing: Sea salt is amazing. True sea salt that is. It has a visual apeal, a texture and a depth of flavor packed into something so small. Rather than a salt shaker, having a jar of fine sea salt to sprinkle should be a staple.


Sea Salt

Fleur De Sel - Finishing
Harvesting: Evaporated through solar and wind power

Physical appearance: Irregular shapes, ranging from small to medium large crystals. Color ranges from whit to cloudy

Moisture: high

Taste:  light taste with a moderate mineral level

Physical properties: The irregular shapes create a “slow acting” taste in the mouth. Smaller crystals will dissolve instantly on the tongue as the larger crystals provide a crunch and long lasting flavor. The high moisture level will help the salt from not dissolving into liquid. Good for dishes that have high water content.

Pairs best with: Steamed Veggies, grilled chicken, eggs.

Sel Gris – Finishing or Cooking

Sel Gris

Harvesting: Evaporated through solar and wind from the bottom of Fleur de Sel batches

Physical appearance: Large/coarse. Varying gray color coming from clay.

Moisture: Very high

Taste:  Deep taste with a high mineral content 

Physical properties:  The high mineral content makes this salt work well for dissolving into sauces/ brines because it adds a lot of flavor. The high water content means that is won’t absorb as much salt from what it is on. Good for seasoning protein before cooking as it won’t dry it out and will form a nice crust when cooked

Pairs best with: Steak, lamb and root Vegetables.

  

Flake Salt (Maldon) -  Finishing

Sea Salt Flakes

Harvesting: Water heat evaporated in a kiln

Physical appearance: Thin shaving that vary in size

Moisture: low

Taste:  Salty with a low mineral level

Physical properties: Due to the high surface area and low mineral level, flake salt with dissolve quickly on the tongue giving a bold taste.

Pairs best with: Sprinkled on top of a salad, seafood, deserts.

Rock Salt (Himalayan) Finishing or Cooking

Himalayan Sea Salt

Harvesting: Salt deposits from ancient seas that have evaporated away.

Physical appearance:  Large rocks that can be purchased in a variety of shapes such as: Serving Dishes, blocks, irregular rocks and pre-ground.

Moisture:  Little or none

Taste:  Ranging from low to moderate mineral levels. Rock salts can be slightly spicy or sweet depending on where it was harvested from.

Physical properties:  The largest appeal of rock salt is visual. With notes of pink marbling they work well as a serving dish, or as pieces to be shaved onto food as serving. Its lack of moisture makes is quick to dissolve and works well for pasta water and some sauces.

Pairs best with: Serving dish for Sashimi.

Specialty Sea Salt - Finishing:  Varies based on which salt. Usually naturally infused with flavor such as black ash or red clay

Harvesting: Varies

Physical appearance:  Varies, usually vivid colors

Moisture:  Varies

Taste:  Varies, but usually earthy with high mineral content

Physical properties:  The “specialty” part usually means that there is a depth and vividness added that would b loss y using it for cooking. The vivid colors work well by using them with contrasting colors to make a visually popping dish

Pairs best with: Visually contrasting dishes that hold up to the deep flavors

Smoked Sea Salt- Cooking and Finishing

 Harvesting:  Sea Salt that is slow smoked for 12+ hours

Physical appearance:  Dark, slightly brown or tan colors

Moisture:  Usually some what moist as it holds the smoke flavors better, but could become dry during the smoking process

Taste:  Deep smoky flavors

Physical properties:  Use the same as the salt which it resembles the most. Works well for sauces and cooking as its deep flavors go a long way

Pairs best with: Game meat, deserts/ ice-cream, eggs, BBQ.

Project:  Smoked Sea Salt two ways

Those of us that know the joys of owning a smoker have more than likely experimented with a lot of possibilities. Sure there is the obvious like smoked jerky and salmon, but there is nothing like smoking a burger for 10 minutes before putting it on the grill, or smoking some cheddar and mozzarella cheese. I am about to move into a studio apartment and I don’t think they would appreciate my smoker coming along. As I am about to pack it up and send it off to a good home, a wanted to make something that would fill my smoky craving for a long time. Smoked sea salt is an easy way to give food the classic smoky taste that far exceeds any liquid smoke I have ever tried. Subtle in small doses, magnificent in larger ones. It truly is a great item to have in one’s cupboard.

Start with the Salt.

While sea salt was a must, I wanted something with a low mineral content that would let the smoke be the star. I also needed something that was relatively course so that air and smoke could travel through it, and moist enough to absorb some of the smoke flavors. I went to Limbo, home of the wall of spice, to have a look at what they had. I ended up buying a pound of the pacific coast sea salt.

What to burn.

There is an art to choosing the right wood to burn. Actually, any sort of plant matter can be good for smoking. I often save banana, orange and other fruit peels for smoking. For the salt, I went with a couple of more neutral option. I used a mixture of Alder and Cherry which to give a slight sweetness and notes of fruit. If avoidable, wood should not be soaked with water before putting it in the smoker. It adds a bitter flavor and will just steam the salt, or whatever else is being smoked. For small pieces being thrown on high heat, soaking helps to prevent the wood burning too quick or catching on fire. Either use larger wood chunks or an electric smoker like mine.

Two ways?

Having just one kind of smoked salt isn’t very fun when you can have two. I was inspired by a local tea shop in my home state of NH and decided to try and make Smoked Tea Salt. I am going to smoke tea leaves for the first hour then switch over to the Alder/ Cherry wood mix and then add the other batch and smoke for about 10 hours. When completed I am going to toss the smoked tea salt with Matcha – a fine powder made from green tea leaves. I am hoping for a slightly sweet salt with a proper balance of tea and smoke notes that would pair well with honey, vanilla and dairy. The regular smoked sea salt would pair well with tomatoes, chocolate, dairy/cheeses and game meats.

Let the fun begin!

I plug in my electric smoker and begin to prepare my salt. I use shallow pant that lined with about ½ inch of salt. Tea leaves go in and I wait for the smoke to start, and then I put in the first batch. About an hour later I put the 2^nd batch in and replace the charred tea leaves with the wood mix. I check every two hours if the wood needs to be replaced. Due to time constraints I only smoke it for about 7 hours.

Results

Smoked Sea Salt ----------------------Tea Smoked Sea salt

The flavors are good and they have a very pleasant smoked aroma but it wasn’t as strong as I hoped for. I Decide to give them a another 4 hours in the smoker the next day. I used part of each batch so that I would have four different smoked salt: a short and long smoked sea salt and a short and long smoked tea salt. 


The 2nd round of smoking produced the flavors I was looking for. An intense hit of smoke that fades as the tongue quickly reaches the mineral saltiness in the center.


Uses For Smoked Sea Salt





I use smoked sea salt for nearly anything. Mostly rustic dishes, the smoke is going to be subtle and paired with the sea salt so you shouldn't mix it with anything that is going to over power it too much. I recently made a tomato sauce with smoked sea salt and saffron that was very good. It goes great in chili, or sprinkled on steak or a burger. I found some tortilla chips that had a very low amount of salt in them, and made nachos with My Pork from last week and sprinkled the smoked sea salt on top. The result had a great flavor but sprinkling the salt made for a slightly un-even seasoning. Next time I would make a salsa with the smoked salt to dip th nachos into, a perfect solution.




Smoked Tea Salt can be a little bit more difficult to fully utilize the taste of tea. One quick idea is the combination of vanila ice cream, honey, and smoked tea salt.

I tried it two ways: First is I drizzled honey over the vanilla ice cream then sprinkled the smoked tea salt on top. The salt was attracted to the honey and as I ate it, the ice cream filled my mouth and as it melted the honey and salt ended each bite with a refreshing pop of flavor. '


Next smeared a thin layer of honey on a himalayan salt plate (any bowl or small plate would work) and I put it in the freezer to harden slightly. I then put a scope of ice cream on top and then sprinkled some smoked tea salt. This created a whole new dish than before. The crunch of the salt and the almost solid texture of the honey made what seemed like an ice cream sandwich. The flavors worked perfectly together and a simple change to how the dish is prepared changed it drastically

French Vanilla Ice Cream w/ Honey and Smoked Tea Salt

Honey Plate w/ French Vanilla Ice Cream and Salt Topping

Any other ideas for smoked tea salt?

Meat - It's Dinner

As an on-off Octo-lacto vegetarian I have a love for meat that can only be gained by having too much time apart. While I respect those that choose to be vegetarian for moral reasons, that isn't my main motivation. I truly feel that all creatures deserve a fair life and a respectable death, and factory farming very rarely provides that. On top of that, I feel like consuming animals loaded with drugs/ hormones that are bred to be deformed with quick growing meat and that has chemicals released into their body from all the stress they undergo isn't what I would call healthy or tasty. I try to buy my meat local and from small operations. The price is usually higher, and while there is no guarantee that conditions are any better it is a step in the right direction. Either way, humans have evolved to be omnivores and I am not one to argue with evolution. Meat and seafood in moderation is my philosophy. For more info on this I recommend reading the book “Eating Animals”.

Rant over. Let’s cook some pork!

First, what is meat? Basically four things: Water, muscle, connective tissue and fat.  How each of these react to heat when cooking is going to be important. With heat, connective tissue and fat will soften/dissolve. Heat will also toughen up muscle fibers, making them constrict and push out all the water and flavor in the process. This is also true for “shocks” to the meat. Adding a cold piece of meat to a very hot liquid or surface could tighten up the muscle fibers to an undesirable extent. A fine balanced needs to be reached to get the texture of the meat perfect, and changed based on what animal and what cut. 

I am going to start with pork shoulder. This cut of meat is best cooked slow at a lower heat. I am going to use my trusty slow cooker and poach it in a liquid solution, but what? Pork has a good meaty flavor but is relatively bland, and works very well with a complex sweet flavor and earthy vegetables. I decided on  onions, garlic, chicken broth, seasoning, and honey. How much though is going to take an understanding of how the liquid will flavor the pork. 

As I mentioned, meat already has water. A lot of water, actually. Around 70% by weight. As the pork cooks liquid gets pushed out naturally so we need to find ways around it. First one is by changing the water, adding salt is a common technique. Salt will increase the pressure of the water and help push it into the meat. This principle is why brines work. Next technique is that while heating the muscles will have it constrict and push water out, but while it cools it will absorb some of that moisture back. So, a salt solution to help from the beginning, then having the meat cool in a flavorful broth. To be practical and save some money, if about 2 pints of liquid is needed to cook the pork in we mainly need to focus on the small amount of cooling liquid. 

I am going to set it up as this:

Cook the pork shoulder in a solution of 1 part honey, 3 parts chicken broth and 6 parts water. Once cooked, I am going to have 4 batches of meat cool in different solutions.

• Dry
• Hot Water
• Hot Cooking Broth
• Hot Cooking Broth that is reduced by ¼

This will hopefully give some insight into what effects this cooling process has. 

It's done!

Half hour before taking the meat out, I took some broth out. I reduced it, seasoned it, and added more honey to taste.

I took out the pork and weighed out 5 oz portions for each cooling jar.


Results:

Dry
weight: 4.7 oz
taste: tough with an ok flavor.
results: Water evaporated out and concentrated the flavor, but left the meat tough and dry

Water

weight: 4.8 oz

taste: tough with a bland flavor.

results: A bit of a surprise but made sense when I thought about it. If the liquid has more salt it will create a pressure to infuse the meat, and a liquid that has less salt will suck the salt, liquid and flavor out 

Broth

weight: 5.3 oz

taste: tender with a subtle flavor.

results: When breaking the meat apart the difference was obvious. The pork came apart with little effort at all. When trying a bit the flavors were subtle but pleasant. 

Reduced Broth

weight: 5.3 oz

taste: tender with a great flavor.

results: Looked and brook apart similarly to the regular broth solution, but tasted like it was turned three notches up. The same result could of been obtained by seasoning the broth more. However. by reducing and seasoning the broth that is needed, money is saved and I had more control over the flavor

Now what to do with all this pork?


Making the pork took very little effort, but made me hungry anyways. Do I made a quick wrap with the reduced broth batch. I wanted to add a little complexity so I decided to broil  some in my toaster oven. This will cause the fat and the protein to have the millard reaction and sugars from the honey to caramelize:

Made a quick wrap with sour cream and spinach. A tasty and very complex sandwich for something that looks so simple:

For the rest
I put the rest of the pork in the fridge, it will last 4-6 days and can be frozen, but it will be eaten before then. The pork works for tacos, nachos, chili and many other uses




Recipe
Ingredients:

• 6 pound pork shoulder (picnic cut) trimmed of fat and cut into large golf ball pieces
• Onion cut in half and peeled
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Can of chicken broth
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• Water to cover meat

• 3 Tablespoons honey
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook in slow cooker on low for 10-12 hours

2. 20 minutes before taking the pork out, remove 12oz of liquid and strain into a sauce pan. Simmer until reduced by 1/3. 

3. Let the reduced broth cool to the temperature of hot soup, add honey and season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Remove pork from the slow cooker. If necessary, brush off debris with paper towel. Add to reduced broth in a zip-lock back or appropriately sized bowl. 

5. Let cool to "warm" then break meat apart with fork.

6. Store in fridge for 4-5 days or use immediately