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It wasn’t terribly long ago that “salt” referred exclusively to highly processed, mineral-stripped table salt, dispensed from shakers. It was only, arguably, with the advent of food television that home cooks gained a deeper understanding of the true purpose of this ingredient: Salt should not be used to indiscriminately blanket dishes with a snowdrift of in-your-face salinity. Rather, food should be salted in stages to encourage multidimensional flavor, in turn enhancing sweetness, suppressing bitterness, bolstering umami. Salt should marry flavors, enabling dishes to taste like their best selves.
So while table salt still has a purpose, both pro and home kitchens have become increasingly equipped with a variety of other options, like vibrantly hued finishingsaltsand downy flakes of British Maldon.
Need some help wading through the wide, wonderful new world of bespoke salts? We asked a handful of experts to open their spice cabinets—so you can better determine what belongs in yours.
Kristen Miglore, Creative Director of Genius at Food52
When tarting up one’s pantry, it’s hard not to get wooed by crystalline rainbows of red Hawaiian salt, Nepalese black salt, and seal-colored sel gris. But ask an expert, and they’ll invariably contend the most essential seasoning agent is widely available at supermarkets and pharmacies, packaged in an unassuming cardboard box. "Diamond Crystal Kosher is my forever go-to. I love the way its uniform flakiness flings over and sticks to food,” Miglore said.
This quick-dissolving kosher salt is her touchstone when it comes to recipe testing. (All brands aren't created equal, Miglore warns: Morton, for instance, produces a much saltier result.) “I also keep fine sea salt on hand, as a stand-in anytime table salt is called for," she said. "And a big bucket ofMaldon, which my husband tenderly calls 'the big salt,' for sprinkling at the table."
Clint Snowland, Executive Chef for Bluestone Lane
Located in Pakistan's Salt Range, the Khewra Salt Mine is the second largest salt mine in the world, as well as one of the oldest, and it's the source of Sherpa Pink—which gets its rosy hue from upwards of 85 minerals and trace elements, including calcium and potassium. The sodium chloride content is actually relatively low, allowing the tiny grains to gently pump up the volume of dishes without rendering them overtly salty. It’s this very quality that’s endeared this salt to Bluestone Lane’s Clint Snowland, who depends on Sherpa Pink to add depth of flavor to the brand’s Australian café staples.
“It easily makes it into my top three salts, not least for its appearance and color,” he said. “It’s perfect for garnishing, and adding a less impactful—but still rich—flavor to any dish. It’s available in all forms, from coarse rocks to fine powder, and it's midrange in price too–making it a perfect win-win salt.”
Rosa Ross, Chef, Cooking Instructor, and Author
Descended from one of the oldest Portuguese/Asian families in Macao, and among the earliest disciples of luminaries such as Marcella Hazan, James Beard, and Jacques Pépin, Rosa Ross went on to become a leading expert in Macanese cuisine. So it’s unsurprising that her favorite salt—hand-harvested and sun-dried Portuguese flor de sal—underlines those culinary influences.
“It can be used as a finishing salt, but as it is relatively affordable, I grind coarse grains and use them in cooking,” Ross said. “The taste is fresh and clean and not overwhelmingly salty. It blends flavor in stews, is great sprinkled on steaks and chops, and really shines on fish.” And while she’s generally able to source hers from a little deli on the corner of Prince and Thompson Streets in New York, Ross assures us that it’s readily available online.
Ken Oringer, Chef and Partner of JK Food Group
"Right now, I’m living on Bona Furtuna sea salt with organic lemon from Sicily,” said the restaurateur behind establishments such as Coppa, Toro, and Little Donkey, in Boston, Bangkok, and New York. “We use it on everything from raw crudos to chestnut pappardelle with wild boar ragu."
Bona Furtuna (which also makes olive oil, sauces, and pasta) works with generations-old salt producers in Trapani to create custom blends that make use of dozens of plant species growing wild on its estate. The sprightly lemon is just one option; Sicilian salt gets mixed with everything from oregano flowers and dried basil to foraged fennel pollen and fennel seed.
Gavin Fine, Chef and Owner of the Fine Dining Restaurant Group in Jackson Hole, WY
Restaurateur Gavin Fine thinks of salt as so much more than seasoning. He and his chefs use it for everything, including salting water for pasta, curing meats, and pickling vegetables. The team really goes to town when it comes to finishing dishes; they smoke salt in-house, for instance, for sprinkling atop crudo. Not that they’re above taking help from other purveyors. “These days I’m really into Chook Chicken Salt," Fine said. "Made from powdered chicken chicharrones, its umami flavor is delicious with eggs, fatty fishes, and tortellini."
Adrienne Cheatham, Chef and Cookbook Author
Adrienne Cheatham came up in fine dining kitchens, and was a longtime executive sous chef at Le Bernardin. So it's no wonder she developed a penchant for pristine fleur de sel, which—she’s quick to stress—has as much of a place in home kitchens as it does in Michelin-starred restaurants.
Fleur de sel is made by skimming the naturally occurring salt formed on the top layer of seawater as it evaporates from shallow pools near the coast of Brittany and other parts of France. “The salt forms delicate pyramid-shaped crystals that are thin, and provide a wonderful texture when used as a finishing salt,” Cheatham said. “The flavor is different from salt derived from deposits under land. It’s as light and delicate as the crystals themselves, evocative of the sea, with a clean minerality that enhances flavors without making them feel salty.”
“Clearly,” she laughed, “I’m passionate about salt."
