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Any Good Dish Is Worth Its Finishing Salt

Photo by JADEN HAIR

Sprinkle citrus-flavored sea salt on top of a dish to give it zest.

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By JADEN HAIR

Tribune correspondent

Published: June 3, 2008

Updated: 06/03/2008 06:12 pm

If I had to just choose one thing, my "killer app" in the kitchen, it would be salt. It doesn't matter what cuisine I'm cooking, salt is the basis of flavor in a savory dish. Call me a salt snob, but I stay away from the regular table salt. The granules are way too fine, the anti-caking agent just sounds gross, and added iodine is sooooo 1920s.

The taste reminds me of ... um ... getting smacked in the face with a salt lick dipped in a vat of bitters?

Normally, I use kosher salt in the kitchen, mainly because of the texture and cheap price. I really like the feel of kosher salt in my fingers as I'm seasoning, and I've learned to season by sight, feel and taste. I'm just too lazy to bust out the measuring spoons because, each time, I have to wash and wipe dry the set of awkward, clanging, dangling spoons for fear of tainting the oregano with chili powder or powdered sugar with vanilla extract. How inefficient! Wouldn't it be cool if spice jars came with twist lids that doled out the spice in teaspoon increments? What a great product idea. (And if you steal it, at least take me out to dinner.)

But I digress.

I also use sea salt and serve it at the table. Sea salt is evaporated sea water, and you'd be surprised at how many different types of sea salt there are: Australia's Murray River pink salt crystals, salt from the tropical salt beds of Bali, gray salt from France and even Hawaiian black lava salt. The colors are naturally occurring, and the taste? Imagine standing at the clear, blue water's edge of the Mediterranean, closing your eyes and letting the crashing waves mist your face. I call that a $12.95 (for 8 ounces) vacation!

Normally, because of its price, I reserve sea salt as a "finishing salt" to sprinkle on a dish either at the table or after the cooking process. But guess what I discovered at the market? Affordable sea salt! Look for Alessi Sea Salt at the market or Pure Ocean sold by SeaSalt.com. Pure Ocean is kosher-certified, if that's important to you. If you see other brands of sea salt at the market, look at the label and make sure that the only ingredient is salt.

So, now that sea salt is finally affordable enough to play with, let's take it one step further and talk about combining spices and herbs with sea salt to create flavored salts. One of my favorites is orange and lemon zest, which is perfect for summertime dishes and keeps in a jar for months.

It's great on any seafood, steamed vegetables or grilled chicken. Cut back on the amount of salt that you normally use during cooking, and instead sprinkle the citrus-flavored sea salt on top of the dish to finish. You can certainly cook with the flavored sea salt, but using it as a finishing salt really lets the flavors sing.

The formula is simple: spice or dried herbs plus fine-ground sea salt. If you're using fresh ingredients (such as citrus zest), make sure you dry them out in the oven first. Other combinations that work well: chili powder and lime zest; toasted and ground Sichuan peppercorn or even lavender and mint, which is great on lamb or eggs. If you don't want to make your own, check out SeaSalt.com, which has some fabulous fusion flavors, including Espresso Brava (great on steaks), Spicy Curry and Soy Sauce Salt.

CITRUS-FLAVORED SEA SALT
2 tablespoons lemon zest

2 tablespoons orange zest

1/4 cup sea salt (fine)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Set a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet, and spread out the lemon and orange zest. Bake for 30 minutes or until the zest has dried. Combine with sea salt. Store in covered glass jar on counter.

Jaden Hair is a cooking instructor and author of the blog Jaden's Steamy Kitchen at steamykitchen.com.

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