One important thing I've found (I'm not a professional, just a home cook) about the different kosher salts is the Morton salt with the bigger crystals dissolves slower in your cooking so you need to salt, stir, taste, wait, stir again, taste, wait, stir again, taste and if it needs more then repeat the process. With the the Diamond Crystal it's smaller, hollow crystals dissolve faster so you can salt, stir and taste faster with less waiting for the salt to dissolve. Basically I'm saying you can over salt more easily with the Mortons because when you salt and taste the salt may not have fully dissolved if you haven't allowed enough time.
As Jack says… “You can always add more…” BUT, you cannot remedy over salting. Also, use table salt for salting water for cooking foods like pasta. Once dissolved, salt is salt. Table salt is much cheaper than Maldon, or kosher salt. This is the ONE case in which over salting can be repaired… just add more water.
I apologize if someone has covered this but...everyone who eats the greater portion of their meals at home should buy and use some iodized salt for health reasons. My husband switched to kosher salt when he was watching all the cooking shows. My son was diagnosed with an enlarged thyroid and when my husband was diagnosed with that as well, I realized it was due to an iodine deficiency. They rarely ate outside the home but it was not a problem for my daughter and I because we ate out more frequently.
Over 40 years ago when I was growing up I asked what iodized meant on the Morton salt box. I remember my mother telling me it contained iodine which was very important to consume and it's something we don't get enough of in our diets. I've never bought any other kind of salt.
Eat seafood or seaweed and some other types of foods and you’ll get iodine. The problem with “table salt” which contains iodine is they put other chemicals in it to avoid caking - just as he said - THATS NOT HEALTHY. It’s like America is so worried about a free market and making money it’s screwing over the consumer who is having all the health problems from said issues.
I've been using Redmond Real Salt for nearly 30 years, and it's the most delicious salt in the world. It's an ancient sea salt mined in Utah, totally unrefined, with no additives. Not only is it an amazing product, but I love that it's 100% produced in the USA by American workers.
I used Morton coarse Kosher in my Christmas cookies (…😏), and it made occasional tiny bursts of saltiness that were absolutely delightful, even in the sugar cookies.
I learned a lot from a thyroid doctor when I had to go on a 100 % iodine free diet for 10 days. Every root vegetable has natural iodine in them and all salt has a tiny amount of it. When the nurse handed me the list of what I could eat it would of wasted less paper to list what I could eat.
I have Meneire's Disease, to control the symptoms (vertigo), I follow an extreme low sodium life style. I intake via fresh fruits and vegetables approximately 500 mg of sodium per day.
I’ve lived in the goiter belt and always had iodized salt. I moved out of the goiter belt and developed a goiter. Now I keep iodized, kosher, and pink salt in the pantry.
@@bsteven885 in the 1920s it was the northern states as there was a higher per capita incidence of goiter. I’m referring to the southern states as there is little to no iodine in the soil.
I prefer the Diamond Crystal over Morton. It's softer and dissolves faster. I also use Baleine sea salt and Himalayan pink salt for their flavors. Maldon is my go to for a toasted bruschetta and thick sliced summer tomatoes. Plain table salt is the pantry mule for salting water for pasta or boiled potatoes. It's nice to have a variety. If I could only have one spice, it would be salt. And if I had to narrow it down to just one type, I wouldn't care what it was.
Morton's Kosher *does* have an anti-caking additive called Yellow Prussiate of Soda. Diamond Crystal's kosher has no additives whatsoever, and seems to be more common in culinary circles. If you want to use salt with the fine granularity of table salt, but without anti-caking additives, look for canning & pickling salt. It will clump (cake), however, in warm humid environments. Not a big deal though. Just use a fork to break apart the clumps.
I'm surprised he didn't talk about Himalayan Pink salt. I love it. I use "fine" grind on the table and "coarse" grind for cooking. I believe it's got Magnesium in it.
I only use fine pink Himalayan salt now for everything. I understand that some of the sea salts have been found to have plastic from the ocean in them.
Fine if he were to mention pink salt; but cooking on a budget does not include splurge on salt. I’m an every day home cook for my family and ATK has helped with many good recipes, equipment selections and product selections. Don’t think I’ll ever have pink salt in the budget.
Best sea salt I’ve found is Eden “Celtic” sea salt from Brittany off the French coast. Wonderful mineral content, very tasty, very “salty”. I only use it as a table (finishing) salt. I’ve had one 14 oz. jar for years now. I have no tie to the company and don’t guarantee you’ll love it like I do, but I’ve never had a guest say it’s awful. Most love it. Let me know!
For a finishing salt, I really like Himalayan salt in a grinder. The grinder I have actually puts out a coarse, irregular grind on the coarsest setting. Partly because the crystals start irregular in size to begin with.
Here in the UK it’s vice versa with Kosher/Maldon’s. Kosher very expensive only available online at Amazon, Ebay type sellers & Maldon’s although not cheap it’s far more affordable than Kosher. Love ATK even though it can be difficult to find ingredients & equipment recommendations, I do understand it’s aimed at an American audience.
The Morton and Diamond Crystal are both 3 lb, but the DC package looks about 1/3 bigger. I think a lot of disservice is done when recipes say kosher salt without saying which. I bet a whole lot of dishes have been ruined because of this sloppiness when people used Morton’s. I switched to DC recently when it became available in my tiny town. It takes a lot of getting used. I end up under salting often. Luckily, that’s a problem easily fixed.
@@barcham recipes for baking that don't specify weight are almost always developed using _table_ salt, not kosher salt. To suggest that they should specify "which" kosher salt to use when they don't actually call for it is silly. If you want to sub in your preferred kosher salt, just use one of the numerous free charts or conversion tools to determine the weight of the listed table salt and measure your kosher by weight.
I got a sample pack of a whole bunch of different specialty salts. There were a couple of pink varieties, a black, a volcanic, I dibt remember the others. I was excited to try them. They all tasted like really salty salt. Since then, I have table salt and kosher salt.
My mother used Diamond Crystal table salt when I was a kid growing up. I've used Kosher and Sea Salt but now I use Pink Himalayan for everything. I get it from a company based out in Washington State and I love it.
@@t.martin3179 The brand is called Salt Works. I've been on a journey to get on track with my health. I've never had high blood pressure but I am diabetic and started researching Pink Himalayan salt and it's health benefits several years ago.
Sea salt in the last 10 years or so is nothing but hype promoted by the celebrity chefs. The only exception has been ATK and Cook’s Country - good show!!!
@@pavelow235 It really doesn't. Sea water has lots of other minerals that are removed to make sea salt. If you boil down sea water to all of its minerals it's bitter and disgusting.
My favorite is Redmond Real Salt from underground mine in Utah. I like getting minerals naturally. I can tell a difference. I believe you could have given more information instead there are a lot of questions in the comment section.
I've switched recently to Redmond Real Salt. The only issue I have with it is trying to get the right amount in my recipes. 1t of table salt =? Redmond Real Salt.
I definitely agree ,would love to see Jack cook some of his specialties.It would be a treat.Ive watched this show for years and everytime I'm looking for a recipe I look it up at America's Test kitchen .Speaking of which, I need a good Sauerbauten (not sure of the spelling ) recipe American version.
For *all* my cooking, I ONLY ONLY ONLY use good 'ole granulated table salt. It's super consistent, inexpensive, and universally available. And I dispense that salt from a simple 10 ounce size stainless steel restaurant shaker - never any issues with "salty spots" (psst, psst…it's the height of the sprinkle, not the type of salt). Furthermore, Salt Boxes are messy, cumbersome, and potentially unsanitary. In the world of cooking hype, and there's an everloving F-ton of that, there's nothing I'd like more then to see the "kosher salt" hype go away. But hey, I guess it makes some people feel (or appear) more "chefy". Me, I save the fancy, overpriced, chunky salt for rimming Margarita glasses - by far the best use for it. My 2¢…cheers!
Wholeheartedly agree! More importantly is using iodized table salt. Without iodine, which is hard to get enough of in ordinary diets, thyroid problems abound.
@@michele-kt I usually alternate between iodised and plain salt when I buy salt from the grocery store. I certainly haven't been able to taste any difference as some people claim. Depending on your diet, iodine deficiency can be an issue. Dairy (milk and cheese) and fish are good sources of iodine. I make my own moka pot espresso latte every morning (cuz a certain nationwide coffee chain, that shall remain nameless lol, charges waaay too much. Plus it's much more convenient to make at home). And I've been cooking more seafood. Which is kinda difficult for where I live since I'm nowhere near fresh seafood - only frozen is available. In fact, I just made fish last night for me and my wife. Pan seared with soy sauce and bacon drippings sauce. Along with rice, also cooked with a whole fish fillet and a splash of soy sauce and sake then mixed into the rice…very yummy!
Very informative about the salt Jack!! I learned some things I didn't know about salt!! Love all you guys!! Always watch the show!! Love the cook books!! I have been watching for years!! 💖🍄
I use Morton’s Kosher salt for just about everything, and I love salt. The taste is so much better, it’s a lot harder to over salt something with Kosher salt to me. We have Sea Salt in a grinder from Costco for adding salt to food, otherwise, for cooking, it’s the Morton’s Kosher salt, it’s good stuff.
It is my prefered salt and has been for years. Last year I tried the Maldon's finishing salt and I love it! I use a pepper flake shaker because the flakes are so large and it works great!
I live in Salt Lake City. Morton is the only kosher salt sold by most grocers as it is a local product. Interestingly, Morton merged with Thiokol Chemical Corporation to be come Morton-Thiokol, who built solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle program. Morton-Thiokol later became...ATK.
Very interesting, had to google that. Wikipedia shows all the various mergers: "Thiokol (variously Thiokol Chemical Corporation(/Company), Morton-Thiokol Inc., Cordant Technologies Inc., Thiokol Propulsion, AIC Group, ATK Thiokol, ATK Launch Systems Group; finally Orbital ATK before becoming part of Northrop Grumman [...]"
How much sea salt do I need to toss over my shoulder to get the equivalent luck when tossing table salt? Jack is usually so much more thorough... Happy New Year to all:)
This was a great summary about salt varieties, their textures, origins and measurements. I've been using Kosher salt for all of my cooking and baking needs for the last decade and I was wondering why I have to add more salt that I used to years ago when I used regular table salt. The mystery has been solved. Thank you, Jack!
Jack has been cranking out a lot of really high quality videos recently. In any case, I have all of the salts shown here and 3 or 4 more. I find the Morton's coarse kosher tends to bounce off of less moist foods if I'm seasoning from a height, so Diamond Crystal is my main jam for seasoning raw food. I tend to use the Morton for brines, broths, pasta water, etc. It's also better for scrubbing cast iron since the crystals are bigger and harder. Having table salt around is really useful for following baking recipes that don't list ingredients by weight.
In the past years I only use Redmond sea salt, it's organic (and certified Kosher) - and its provinence is known, as it's mined from protected salt beds. Redmond Real Salt is unrefined sea salt mined from an ancient seabed in Utah where it’s safe from modern pollutants. It’s pure, unprocessed, and full of (60) trace minerals that give it one-of-a-kind nutritional benefits and a subtly sweet flavor that brings out the best in each bite. Himalyan sea salt has been found to often have been mined from polluted beds and waters and in unsanitary conditions, which is something I don't want to be eating. I also always have black salt (namuk) on hand, it is critical in certain cuisines and for its flavor in many vegetarian dishes.
I think it's more like sea salt, irregular and it's a finishing salt, so don't use it in cooking, just at the table. It'll add a taste, but also a texture to the finished dish.
Hi Jack, I absolutely love Halen Môn Sea Salt! l like their Salt so much that l carry some with me in my pocketbook! (I’m a grandma and I have everything in my pocketbook! 😂) Halen Môn sells a tiny metal Tin of their Salt for £1.70. The tin comes with a sliding top it’s blue and white and it’s only 5cm X 2.5cm big. I don’t repeatedly spend £1.70 for a new Tin of Salt, you can just refill it from a larger container. Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2022 is filled with Love, Joy and Good Health for all of us! ♥️😘👵🏻
Couple years ago a sea salt mine in my family's hometown closed down and my cousin and I drove a car there to scope up literally big rice bags of sea salt under the stars. Now I think that place might just be a high way of some kind.
One thing not mentioned is that Kosher salt (esp. Diamond Crystal) ends up with flat flakes that makes it adhere to meat better than sea salt, which can be rounder/bumpier. That is why it is called "Kosher" salt, not because it is kosher itself, but is used in making some meats kosher. Some suggest it might be more accurate to call it "kosherizing" salt to help diffuse that myth.
More need driven than required I add canning and pickling salt to my pantry. It is just salt with no additives but ground much more finely than even table salt. I brine, cure and smoke a lot of meats and find the finer grains dissolve into marinades and cures much more easily. Also the finer grains blend better into spice mixtures for sausage making. Another smaller problem is that sometimes the iodine in table salt doesn't play well with other curing chemicals.
I've been frustrated with wondering how much kosher salt to swap out for table salt. I bought both brands of kosher salt that you presented and became more frustrated because of the large difference in crystal size. I didn't grow up around cooking so I'm working on learning the basics. This is one of the most helpful videos I've found. Correct salting is vital! Thank you
Table salt is dirt cheap. Get some and keep it around for when you're following older baking recipes that don't specify salt type or weight, and use the kosher when you're freestyling your own stuff.
I cook with Diamond crystal kosher salt. I used one container of Morton kosher salt (easier to find in stores) but since I’m used to diamond crystal, I ended up too salty sometimes. I order diamond crystal online now.
Morton also sells a "pickling salt" that is just table salt without additives (because the additives would make the water in your jar of pickles cloudy). So grateful that he didn't claim that "sea salt" is more flavorful than the others. It isn't. They are all just salt.
I'm making the oven crispy fried chicken recipe tomorrow and bought a 12" Lodge Cast Iron Skillet today just for that recipe! I didn't want to ruin my LeCreuset pans which have a finished enamel that wouldn't be the same anyway. Very excited to also try the garlic fried chicken skillet to oven recipe too! Happy New Year! Your entire team is awesome.
@Sue Birnstin Be sure to season your pan first. Don't believe the "pre-seasoned" hype. Wipe it down completely with oil or bacon grease, place it upside down in a 250°-275° oven overnight. There you have it! I've had mine for 20+ years. Bought it at the Lodge factory in Cleveland, TN. The more you use it, the less non-stick it becomes. Enjoy it for the rest of your life!
I’m not fancy enough for that finishing sea salt, or those other varieties of finishing salt. Kosher salt works for everything…even finishing. You do blind sensory comparisons of different samples and there will be no difference, guaranteed. Everyone who says, “oooooo Moulden salt is the best!” Tastes that price tag and want to validate with their “better taste”.
Not true at all. You've clearly never tried it. I use Maldon to top certain savory baked goods and the texture is very distinct and very evident. It's like the difference between something friend in flour and something fried in panko.
@@dio52 lol, no. You’re incorrect on your assumptions. I’m a food scientist who has done a ton of sensory work with various food products and beverages. It never fails when someone knows something has been done to the food they have a bias for it. And if that thing that was done is tied to being more expensive a person always has a positive bias towards it. This is why you do blind comparisons, difference testing and triangle testing.
Thanks informative .I like the.Himalyan pink salt in a grinder I try to pay attention to what salts I use & types .some sea salts have electrolytes that are helpful .Also like the new all access website .
Yes, that's why I only buy Redmond sea salt, as it's mined from protected ancient, unpolluted, seabeds in Utah - they also publicly post the independent analysis that is done on their sea salts composition. Redmond sea salt is also certified organic - and Kosher...I definitely would pass on Himalyan sea salt with its unknown provenance, often unsanitary harvesting conditions and "mysterious" composition.
Himalayan salt is just salt. It comes in various forms from fine grind to coarse to flakes to big boulders. There are no health benefits to it, no extra minerals in any measurable quantity. It does look nice on the table and is a great way to waste money if you have some to waste.
I love ATK, but when did salt get so complicated? Trying to convert amounts for different types is a nuisance. Over 40 years ago when I was growing up I asked what iodized meant on the Morton salt box. I remember my mother telling me it contained iodine which was very important to consume and it's something we don't get enough of in our diets. I've never bought any other kind of salt.
I recently visited salt ponds in Maras, Peru (in the foothills of the Andes) and brought back pink salt, along with some other pigmented salts from the area. I haven't tried cooking with it yet. I have no idea how to use the salt, but I'll "experiment" as recommended.
What did I learn today? You can substitute one delicate herb for another, or one woody herb for another. That's really useful information - so often one herb won't look so fresh, but another of the same type will, and knowing the substitution rule gives a cook more flexibility.
I stopped using sea salt after reading several articles about microplastics found in sea salt. Land mined salts like kosher salt, Pink Himalayan, or Redmond's salt are a better option.
I have no clue why people say "there's two types of Kosher salt you can buy at the grocery store" - maybe if you live in a large city. But regionally in the small location I live you can only get Morton. I have to go out of state to get Diamond Crystal. since that's a minimum 3 hour drive, I'm using Mortan whether I like it or not.
Mr. Bishop, ALL salt is the same: they are chemically the same and they ALL come from the seas (ancient, dried up, or current). The only differences are in trace elements (added or otherwise) and grain shape and size.
Helpful info. Thanks! Given what Jack described about the varying weights for similar volumes of the various kinds of salt, I have a question. ATK regularly specs “salt” in recipes but makes no mention of which type is being used and calls for it to be used by volume. Particularly for baking recipes, wouldn’t it be best to give either a weight OR at least specify if the salt being used is table, Diamond Crystal, or Morton?
As a person that suffers from hypertension, I don't add salt to cooking (not even pasta water), I only use chunky finishing salts before serving. Significantly less sodium in the overall finished dish and, I PROMISE, just as delicious :-)
@Emilia A I was recently diagnosed for hypertension and given a prescription. My trick for getting my salt satisfaction is to use a squeeze of a fresh lemon in addition to a little salt.(avoid the fake plastic lemon juice at your peril). Use it at the end tho, when the food is on your plate/bowl. It gets lost/diluted when added to the preparation. You're welcome!
You didn't mention popcorn salt, which even more fine than table salt. Popcorn salt is akin to confectioner's sugar, like table salt is akin to granulated sugar.
What about Himalayan salt? I use the pink one in my cooking; alternating between that and the Morton Kosher salt (sometimes mainly used for cleaning my meats).
I prefer Morton Kosher Salt for regular daily use and Malden as a finishing salt, it's great on many sweets. I have a box of Diamond Crystal I've been using for salting pasta & potato water just to get rid of it. It's probably just habit and what I'm used to, most people I know prefer Diamond Crystal over Morton.
I use himalayan salt at the stove top and use a seasoned salt at the dinner table. And for the the finishing of the fancy food I use a brined salt that I get off of amazon
I remember them stating a while ago when watching on PBS if they call for kosher salt, they mean Diamond Crystal. If they just call for "salt", it's table salt.
Fleur de sel is the same thing, essentially, as coarse sea salt, but it forms in a different way. Good for finish, when you want a certain texture, but a waste of money in a stew.
And the differences in salt demonstrate that the best way to measure salt in any recipe is to WEIGH IT. I am quite disappointed that Jack does not mention that in this video.
The problem is the amounts involved can be at the very bottom of most kitchen scales sensitivity. A teaspoon of table salt is ~5.5grams and you are going to struggle to get a scale that measures that reliably.
2:55 It's true that Jack doesn't explain the importance of weight in the explicit terms you'd like, but he does at least mention the crux of the problem.
@@KenS1267 Just about any digital kitchen scale for sale on Amazon for less than $20 will reliably and accurately provide weight to within 1 gram. I have even found some that claim accuracy to 0.1 Grams. This is as good as you could expect to get unless you are doing scientific experiments or weighing pharmaceuticals. I routinely weigh yeast down to 2.5 grams for some recipes and have never had any trouble.
@@barcham Within 1 gram is not nearly accurate enough when you are aiming for 5.5g, that's a margin of error of nearly 20%. You can get away with that with yeast because more or less yeast, at least at that level, simply doesn't matter. But if you're ever wondering why your proofing times vary so much that's the primary culprit. You put in more or less yeast.
Morton's kosher actually does have an anticaking agent added. While it is not noticeable in cooked dishes where it is dissolved I personally taste it on applications where it has not such as salting tomatoes for a sandwich or finishing something with it.
