Salt 201 – How to Add a Little Flavor to Your Salt

Ok steak chefs, now that you know the main difference between different salt types and when to use which when seasoning steak – Read Salt 101: Everything you need to know about salt…if you missed it. 

Let’s talk salt work.

More specifically, adding a little flavor to your salt.

As you may recall, salt is a natural preservative because of its water absorbent properties. So, enough salt will remove water from any food, thus removing the environment needed for bacteria to multiply and ruin the food.

When the moisture absorbed by salt has specific flavor characters, the salt inherits those flavor characters. So, essentially, you can mix all types of fresh herbs, peppers and more with salt, and create a salt that tastes like that herb, pepper, fruit etc.

The possibilities aren’t endless, but there are plenty of options. All you really need is some coarse salt, a food processor or mortar and pestle, and you’re good to go.  (Note, don’t grind the salt fine, that’s not the point). So get out there and experiment a little with flavored salts, we’ve listed a few of our favorite ideas below.

• Habanero salt – If you love spice – really love it – dice up some habanero peppers and add with some sea salt. Be sure to shake the final salt every day for the first few days to make sure the salt doesn’t cake up, but you should have some super spicy salt to add a little heat. Tip: You can really do this with any pepper.  Think ghost pepper salt, Carolina reaper salt or maybe a comparatively mild jalapeno salt. 
• Smoke salt – As we have mentioned before, smoke is considered the real 6^th taste.  It stands to reason that finding a way for salt to absorb smoky flavor is an easy win for any kitchen cabinet. Just add liquid smoke – literally smoke turned into liquid – and sit back as the salt absorbs the smoky goodness. The next time you want to fry a steak or burger on the skillet, but want to give it a smoky grill flavor, just grab your smoke salt.
• Herb salts (rosemary, basil, sage…) – An herb salt is a great way to have some herbs and salt in one move.  Also, if you have some extra herbs that are going to go to waste, why not preserve some of that fresh flavor for the cold months.   
• Mixed flavored salts – Once you have a few single flavor salts you dig, think about combining multiple flavors to create your own, complex flavored salt.  Maybe a smoky lemon salt, or habanero cilantro salt. There are plenty of possibilities out there – get inventive and see what works.

Keep it salty, steak lovers!