Not so long ago, if you asked most people what kind of salt they used, they’d give you a quizzical look and reply, “Uh… just salt?”
But these days, you can find dozens of different varieties in almost every grocery store and dozens more in specialty shops.
So what kind should we be using? And what do professional chefs reach for when they’re cooking?
That’s what we — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, the co-hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast — recently asked celebrity chef and restaurateur Jet Tila when he joined us to reveal some of his favorite cooking secrets.
“My grandmother only cooked with iodized salt because it was all we had,” Tila said. “It was $0.39 for that round tub of Morton’s, and it was salty as hell, and it made everything delicious.”
However, iodized salt, which is a “table salt” made with iodine (non-iodized table salt is also available) and has a finer grain size than kosher or sea salts, is now seen by many chefs as more of a “speciality salt” that’s great for specific recipes or culinary processes.
″[I use] iodized salt for popcorn, for curing, for pickling — because it’s really, really salty,” Tila said. “And it’s super fine, so for popcorn, I don’t think there’s a better salt.”
Tila said “99% of the time” he’s using kosher salt in the kitchen — specifically Diamond Crystal, which he claims the vast majority of pro chefs use.
“Sorry, Morton — I gave you the plug on the iodized but not for the kosher,” he said, laughing. “The grains are larger and fatter — they’re like snowflakes, so they melt more and they’re less concentrated.”
Tila emphasized that kosher salt will “do everything” and can be used in every step of a recipe, but different brands will have different tastes and properties, so tasting and adjusting measurements if you switch between them is vital.
Many chefs also like kosher salt because it can be handled more easily than iodized or…
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