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Gourmet salts

post #1 of 36
8/22/10 at 10:48am
Thread Starter 
Is there anything more pretentious and unnecessary in the kitchen?
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post #2 of 36
8/22/10 at 11:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness View Post
Is there anything more pretentious and unnecessary in the kitchen?

Gordon Ramsay
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post #3 of 36
8/22/10 at 11:15am
I grew up with Morton's. On and in everything. Sea, grey, fleur de sel, la baleine, maldon flake, red and smoked salt were a welcome addition to my food.

lefty
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post #4 of 36
8/22/10 at 11:31am
I'd like to think I have a pretty sensitive sense of taste. But I sure can't taste a difference between the fancy salts some of my friends and family have and the plain salt I use.

I find that the price difference isn't worth it to me. . . I would rather use the money for better quality herbs and spices where I do taste a large difference.

Of course I figured out that growing my own herbs is cheaper and results in better tasting herbs than buying them at the grocery store.
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post #5 of 36
8/22/10 at 11:48am
Depends what you mean by gourmet salts.
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post #6 of 36
8/22/10 at 12:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milpool View Post
I'd like to think I have a pretty sensitive sense of taste. But I sure can't taste a difference between the fancy salts some of my friends and family have and the plain salt I use.


Put some iodized table salt on your tongue. Cleanse with water, then try some maldon flake. Get back to me.

lefty
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post #7 of 36
8/22/10 at 12:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lefty View Post
Put some iodized table salt on your tongue. Cleanse with water, then try some maldon flake. Get back to me.

lefty

1) I don't use iodized table salt. I use plain unadulterated salt. Kosher salt or the like, etc. Whatever is cheapest.

2) I'm not going to spend money on some expensive salt for yet another taste test when all my previous experiences have indicated no additional value in more expensive salt.
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post #8 of 36
8/22/10 at 12:48pm
You win.

lefty
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post #9 of 36
8/22/10 at 12:54pm
Holy hell. I just looked up what that salt costs that you suggested. I can buy a bottle of bourbon for that.

Bourbon > salt
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post #10 of 36
8/22/10 at 12:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
Depends what you mean by gourmet salts.
And various other iterations such as smoked salt, rose salt, lavender salt, etc. Anything 'artisanal' and sold for 50 € per kilo or more.
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Originally Posted by lefty View Post
I grew up with Morton's. On and in everything. Sea, grey, fleur de sel, la baleine, maldon flake, red and smoked salt were a welcome addition to my food. lefty
My brother-in-law and I cooked together one day to see if we could pick them out in different versions of the same dish. The differences in flavour are so subtle as to be indistinguishable from one another in preparations, even on something as basic as grilled entrecôte. He trained at Lenôtre, btw. You are tasting the placebo effect of marketing.
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post #11 of 36
8/22/10 at 1:32pm
Most of those (other than plain sea salt) you named aren't intended to be cooked into dishes like "common" salts.
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post #12 of 36
8/22/10 at 1:36pm
There's definitely a difference between iodized salt and kosher salt, but not so much beyond that (at least that I can tell). I like sea salt for some things though, such as for mixing with crushed black pepper for steaks and such. The more uniform size helps a bit to prevent one of the two tastes from overpowering the other since they both touch the tongue at the same time. With smaller salt crystals the initial taste is purely pepper, and it's too powerful.
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post #13 of 36
8/22/10 at 1:41pm
I've been to a choclate tasting where one maker did several fleur de sel variations across dark, milk and caramel treatments. Each used a very different salt. The dark chocolate with a smoked black salt was exquisite, and very different from the "most normal" caramel with flaked sea salt.
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post #14 of 36
8/22/10 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by holymadness View Post
[IMG] You are tasting the placebo effect of marketing.
Yeah, that must be it. I said "put on tongue," not "cook with." One of my favourite foods is a tomato off the vine sprinkled with a good flaked salt and eaten like an apple. Second to that would be a chocolate covered almond sprinkled with sea salt. Edit: CG beat me to the punch. lefty
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post #15 of 36
8/22/10 at 1:55pm
I would never spend money on them, but there is a clear difference in taste. Most of my taste buds have been burned off by a lifetime of spicy foods, but there is no way you can't taste the difference.
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