Cooking with Salt

I just got off the phone with Mark over at The Meadow and I am now spilling over with ideas and uses for the salt blocks.  It turns out, despite my own misguided thoughts, that the salt blocks can take direct heat from either gas flames or an electric source.  I also believe that using them on a French flat top will work quite well.  My initial thoughts about using the blocks to cook on or to cool on revolved around heating them in an oven.  Yet, my conversation with Mark broke down those barriers.  By being able to directly heat the salt blocks means we can directly cook on them.  We now have a salt griddle.  And what does one cook on a griddle?  Eggs of course.  We put the salt block over a medium heat and let it get nice and hot.  Then, we added a pat of butter to the block and once it was melted Aki cracked an egg on top of the pool of sizzling butter.  Viola, we were cooking on a block of salt. 

The direct application of heat opens a huge portfolio of possibilities.  As for the cold side of things, we have a block in the freezer to serve raw fish, vegetables and meats on, although I'm not sure exactly what yet.  For those out there with liquid nitrogen on hand, think about the possibilities.  Salt frozen fruits and vegetables.  Salted raw fish in frozen and semi frozen states.  The ideas are just beginning to blossom.

Oh yeah, and if the cost of the salt blocks was a bit too much for you before, it turns out new sources have allowed the prices to drop substantially. They are now quite a bit more affordable than they were just last week.

Comments

[Brent]

Cooking on a slab of salt is cool and all but how did it, you know, taste?

[Aki]

It tasted like a perfectly seasoned fried egg. I actually put a few grains of salt on the yolk because I like them well seasoned, and I flipped the egg for a nice over easy. It absorbed salt from the block and cooked perfectly. The one thing you'll need to watch out for is fat, because the block is flat and any excess will run down the side. I intend to try searing meat next, although I may put the block in a skillet to avoid a waterfall on my range. I want to see how well it seasons something a bit thicker than an egg.

[Ken N]

Aki, the skillet works well. I place the block in my cast iron skillet and cook salmon on the salt. It's heavy, but I can use the workout.

[kayenne]

is it possible to scrape out a "gutter" near the sides of the top of the salt block to help collect the melted fat? these you can either siphon off or else, one of the gutters should run to the end to allow oil to drip into a waiting bowl.

more than that, is it possible to scrape out even lines to imitate "grill pans" to mark your meats cooking on top? or even to totally gauge out a square depression, leaving a margin on the sides to create a shallow fry plate?

[Phil Fortson]

I'll be interested in reading about the results of proteins prepared with the salt griddle. How long does it take to heat the block and are you able to acheive a temperature that will produce a maillard effect. It would also be interesting to know the properties of this salt. Some salts begin to go molten at 435 degrees F and range up to 1200 degrees. I imagine this salt falls on the higher end of that range. Can't wait to get a few and experiment with a few ideas.

[JOHN DORY]

how do you clean the salt block between uses

[Pong Sirioput]

The salt block would make an attractive shelf.

[Ken Narcavage]

Yes, Maillard can be achieved. I don't know the temp that this salt goes molten, but I know its above 550F. To wash, just rinse (and soap if needed) with warm water. When it dries, it has a new sheen on the surface... I love the organic nature of these blocks... never the same surface twice.

[Paul Buchanan]

I saw these blocks in New York at David Burkes but they were much rougher. Yours seem to be cut very nicely and flat. How would one procure a few if you don't mind me asking about your new and much more reasonable source?

[nika]

Pure crystalline NaCl has a melting point of 801C (1474F), when heated to above 801C (1474F) it emits toxic fumes of chloride and sodium oxide. (http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/S3338.htm)

These blocks are obviously not pure so the inclusions change the properties of both the slab as a whole (the crystalline lattice) as well as the chemical reactions that you might get.

I learned from McGee that biohazard considerations were not (have yet to be?) evaluated for the "dirt essence" collected from the low temperature "distillation" of soil. There are many organisms that have evolved to have dormant lifecycle stages that reside in soils (such as endospores in the case of bacteria, including lovely organisms like anthrax). Endospores are marvels of survivability, they are extremophiles in a sense and can survive quite extreme environments. A sloppy low temp "distillation" might be a good way to collect these and activate them, hard to know, until it happens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endospore

This sort of lack of attention to detail makes me wonder if anyone has looked at what out-gasses from these salt blocks. I have googled and googled and I do not find anything that talks about this sort of evaluation. Outgassing likely occurs well before the melting temp of NaCl.

I know that the Japanese (Morimoto on TV) use salt blocks for cold applications. This is a very different proposition than using it in a heated application.

I would love to see if anyone knows of any data that evaluates these safety concerns.

[Dan]

That's a good point about the toxicity of the salt blocks. And exactly how resilient are they? do you have to treat them like non stick pans or can you scrap and bang them around with no remorse like a griddle?

[The Meadow]

Ken, you can purchase the Himalayan Salt Blocks online from www.atthemeadow.com/salt in a variety of sizes and shapes. Feel free to email us with any questions. You may also be interested in our salt blog at www.saltnews.com.

[sygyzy]

Yesterday I inquired about blocks and they are not very expensive at all. I guess it's very possible that the price miraculously dropped recently, though that doesn't seem to make much sense. Regardless, it's a different way to cook for sure but it does not seem to impart much except the ooh and ahh presentation factor.

[BBoye]

This stuff is awesome! I’ve been using these Himalayan Salt plates since 2004... buying (at a great price) directly from POSH Salt (www.poshsalt.com) the people who invented the idea and actually produce the plates. The fact that POSHSalt is THE actual and original source of these “Saltware” plates is a pretty well kept secret. I found out about them from a breif mention in NY Magazine back when they first introduced the concept to restaurants in NYC. Small company, great people. They will design and custom cut the most amazing stuff. Definitely worth checking out and if you ever get a chance to visit their studio/warehouse/showroom in NJ it will really blow your mind.

[John Paul Khoury]

Tapanade sounds great! This last weekend I did a olive pomegranite relish that went great with range fed New Zealand lamb. Here's the recipe:

Pomegranite/Green Olive Citrus Relish

1 each pomegranate-- seeds separated
1/2 cup green olives -- pitted and chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint chiffonade
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper -- to taste

Toss all ingredients together and let sit a room temperature for at least 1 hour.