Alton Brown is one of my favorite food personalities. He brings humor and science to the whole cooking process. When my wife calls the ring tone is the theme from Good Eats. So you might think that my use of kosher salt would come from the influence of AB. Not so! It was actually Michael Chiarello when he was still on PBS. He made Yellow Squash and Zucchini fries and seasoned them with kosher salt. We did not get Satellite TV until the fall of 2003. We now only have basic cable so no Good Eats, No Reservation, or Dinners, Drive-ins, and Dives!
I know that a lot of praise has been put on sea salt, but my old standby is always Kosher Salt. I have a whole bag of sea salt at home that I do not uses because it has the texture and feel of small rocks in the mouth. This is not unusually because salt is actually a rock. My sister tells me I need to get a ceramic sea salt grinder. I think that is a uni-tasker and my kids need clothes more than freshly ground sea salt. Kosher salt is cheap and ready to go out of the box. However, I have had excellent sea salts that add a lot to a dish, just my everyday salt for me is kosher salt.
I keep several salts in my pantry. Kosher salt for everyday use, table salt for uses in certain recipes and popcorn, Rock Salt for Ice cream and for encasing fish or shrimp for cooking, sea salt I have been using it in my Neti pot. I have a variety of season salts and such too. I vary the types that I put on the slugs that frequent the back steps. Table salt is still the champ for that!
I do recommend that everyone try kosher salt, it is easy to pinch and sprinkle and it gives a big salt flavor. Kosher salt crystals are flat squares. It is "kosher" because it was useful to butchers to pull out blood from meat without desolving. This would help render them "kosher". Well, this is another product that is not a big investment only a few dollars. You do not have to be Jewish butcher to know the benefits of kosher salt.
While Michael Chiarello might have put me on kosher salt it was AB who introduced me to the flip top salt cellar. I have two.
Good Eatings,
The Hungry Preacher
I'm not a huge fan of kosher salt. I prefer fine ground grey salt (when I can find/afford it) and regular unbleached sea salt for everything else. I don't use the coarse grey salt unless I'm coating meat (roast beef or pork) or putting in a dish where it will dissolve.
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