22 replies to this topic

[Rorschach]

I just had to share this with all the other foodies out there. Can't wait to try this cooking technique:

Salt-Roasting

P.S. I own no stock in any salt companies.

[LJ]

And when that high blood pressure kills you I wont say "I told you so" !

[Caramia]

Oh my! That looks delicious. Please let us know how your experimentation goes. I may need to do some of my own... I wonder how salmon would translate?

[amor de cosmos]

i've seen that on iron chef but I didn't think it was very practical for home cooking. the article says it can be done at home but what are you supposed to do with the leftover salt? the author said he used up 18lbs of salt in two weeks, isn't that a little excessve?

edit: I recall one episode of the original Iron Chef where Alain Passard roasted a chicken like that but he used ground up dragee almonds instead of salt. Dragee almonds are almonds coated with sugar & are usually silvery bright colours.
http://en.wikipedia....rg/wiki/Dragées
It's one of the top 10 dishes ever created on the original Iron Chef. It was the only dish he prepared & even though it was one of the best ever on the show he still lost.

[VicHockeyFan]

i've seen that on iron chef but I didn't think it was very practical for home cooking. the article says it can be done at home but what are you supposed to do with the leftover salt? the author said he used up 18lbs of salt in two weeks, isn't that a little excessve?

That's about right. The Canada Food Guide recommends we eat a minimum of a pound of salt per day, and a maximum of 1/8 of your body weight.

[Caramia]

/blink

That seems excessive to me, caking things in it and then discarding it - no problem. Consuming that much? Really?

Was it the Canadian Food Guide that listed Ketchup as a vegetable?

[Rorschach]

A tomato is a fruit, so what does that make Ketchup? Anyway, salt is dirt cheap and so I don't see it as a waste.

I think this is akin to soaking a turkey in brine to tenderize it before roasting. The process of osmosis is at play with salt-roasting and brining. Neither process increases the saltiness or salt content of the cooked food to any great degree.

I personally use brine in the preparation of slow-cooked barbecue salmon and I will try salt-roasting a nice salmon fillet and see how it turns out.

My existing salmon recipe is pretty good and I doubt it can be improved. The salmon is soaked for several hours in a brine of salt, sugar and water. The process of osmosis infuses the moisture into the cellular structure of the salmon. I season the salmon with just paprika and cook it over low indirect heat in the barbecue adding alder chips to the fire throughout for a smoky flavor. It takes about four hours to cook skin side down. But it's the best.

I'm going to try this with a salmon fillet and mix some paprika into the salt mixture to see if I can get the same effect the food critic got using rosemary. I'm thinking about 15 minutes at 400F will be about right.

[amor de cosmos]

A tomato is a fruit, so what does that make Ketchup? Anyway, salt is dirt cheap and so I don't see it as a waste.

I didn't mean waste of money, I meant a waste of salt. The guy probably used up a year's worth of salt in two weeks.

[aastra]

Does the cooked salt have to be discarded or can you salt it away and use it again later?

[Rorschach]

I think it would probably absorb flavours and odors. If you wait for it to cool completely, you can run it through a coffee grinder and use it again, but since you're cooking for maximum flavour with this method, I would not use re-use the salt. My wife uses more salt in her bath sometimes so I've long ago got used to buying a lot of coarse salt.

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ plus, the success of this method seems to hinge on the salt's ability to intensify the heat effect of the oven, and -- ok, I'm no chemist -- wouldn't that change something about the crystalline structure of the salt after it has done its work? If that's the case, you probably couldn't reuse it -- it might just crumble & fall apart the second time, vs. building a hard shell, no?

[Ms. B. Havin]

PS: If you find out more about the history of this method, please post it, Rorschach. I'm fascinated by the "waste" aspect, given that salt used to be such a valuable commodity.

[Rorschach]

It's odd that people will pay $20 for large amounts of groundnut oil to deep fry a turkey or make fish and chips, but are concerned about wasting salt which is cheap and plentiful. Salt's value in the past was due to scarcity and demand. It has been used as a food preserver for centuries before refrigeration. The qualities that made it a good preservation method are the same things that facillitate salt-roasting and brining.

I'm not sure it's the heat aspect so much as the chemical reaction between salt and moisture. High concentrations of moisture will migrate to low areas of moisture and this is a one way trip. It's about the same as reducing beef drippings into gravy to intensify the flavour. This occurs because the water is removed and the flavour concentrated. The salt-roasting is reducing and concentrating the flavour of the food.

As the author has pointed out, you have to start with good food. If you are trying this with frozen and thawed fish from a China fish farm, you're not concentrating a good flavour to begin with. However, if you're getting fish from the local fish monger in Victoira, chances are you'll have quite a delicacy on your hands.

I'd say try yourself it on a small scale with a couple of Tiger Prawns from Costco. They have some good ones there I've used before in a saute-type preparation. I tried cooking them last night by salt-roasting and it came out very intense and the small amount of seasoning I used became very powerful, so go easy on that. This cooking method, like any, takes a little practice.

My first impression is to keep it simple. Baked potatos cooked this way came out absolutely perfect for me -- that was my cheap first experiment. I used Russet potatos and scrubbed them thoroughly so that there was no trace of dirt on the outside.

[LJ]

That's about right. The Canada Food Guide recommends we eat a minimum of a pound of salt per day, and a maximum of 1/8 of your body weight.

I didn't see a smiley face after your statement so I have to assume that you are just grossly mistaken.

The Canada Food Guide indicates that 1200mg, which equals .042 of an ounce of sodium per day is an adequate intake.

Doctors reccommend that you reduce your salt intake as much as possible with a goal of 2500mg (.09 of an ounce) per day or less.

If you are eating a pound of salt per day you wont be on this forum long.

[Mike K.]

I'm pretty sure VHF was kidding

[Holden West]

VHF has a high sodium tolerance. His margaritas are salt with a little tequila on the rim.

[Rorschach]

Looking into this technique it seems to be something from ancient Roman times. I'm trying to get a handle on the chemistry of it all and it's somewhat similar to making crack cocaine out of regular cocaine -- the chemical process involves making a compound that is not water soluble into into something that is water soluble and so better absorbed -- i.e., flavour.

I assure all cookers that the process does make the cooked items salty. The salt is simply the chemical that triggers another process. There is no danger of excessive sodium intake by using this cooking method. Just brush off any excessive salt that may stick to fatty surfaces. The only way this will increase your salt intake is if you leave the salt on the surface of the food you eat.

[amor de cosmos]

I thought the salt would draw out some moisture & concentrate flavours?

[Rorschach]

It will convert fat soluble elements into water soluble elements and the solubles will be concentrated in the food. So it will still be moist, just a different kind of moist -- the difference between oily fat droppings and a gravy or reduction or sauce within the food. That's how that intense flavour occurs with this process.

[Caramia]

I think I will try this with potatoes and perhaps a yam tonight. Any special tips or advice Rorschach? Did you pierce them with a fork like you normally do before sealing in salt? Do you just mix the spices with the salt, or spice the exterior and then bury in the salt? (I was thinking fresh rosemary and thyme for the potatoes, smoked paprika for the yam.) How long did you cook them for?