Salt

Not all salt is created equal, everyone knows this. When people start taking cooking seriously, it’s one of those things everyone searches on google, “what makes kosher salt special?” or “difference between regular salt and kosher.” We’ve all been there. I won’t bore you with the details since google can give you better answers on the differences of salts so what I will do is tell you which salts you need at home without giving you bullshit explanations on why you need a certain salt that you will never use.

Table Salt
This is your regular salt you get from a bag or box at the supermarket. You can buy the cheapest one you can find. You will use this when you have people over that you don’t really like. It’s the salt you add to water when steaming things, or for a science experiment. You need this because you won’t be using your more expensive salts for stupid shit like this.

Kosher Salt
Now this is the salt you will always be using for cooking. Need to salt the water for your pasta? Use this. For seasoning anything and everything? Yup, this. There’s two main brands, at least in the US, which fight like the Capulets vs the Montagues, it’s Morton and Diamond Crystal. There’s no right or wrong, it’s just a matter of who introduced you to it and how feverishly you will defend their honor. Morton is a finer grind, which makes a “pinch” slightly saltier than the “crystals” from the Diamond brand. This is why when it comes down to exact recipes like baking, you always weigh the white stuff.

Finishing Salt
This is your expensive salt, the fancy stuff you find at specialty stores and rarely in your neighborhood grocery store. Most of these will be labelled “fleur de sel”, which translates to salt flower. This salt is the stuff that forms as a thin crystal on top of evaporated seawater. Some people say it has less sodium than regular salts, but I’m not sure about that. There’s one brand I trust above all others, and that’s Maldon Sea Salt. They make it in the town of, you guessed it, Maldon in England. It has flakes that naturally form into tiny pyramids that look amazing when you sprinkle them on food. To state the obvious, you use it at the end when garnishing a dish, hence why it’s called a finishing salt.

That’s it. That’s all the salt you need at home. You don’t need to buy black, pink, green, or whatever colored salt they sell in a fancy container. You don’t even need that block of Himalayan Pink Salt to “cook your steaks on” because you’ll do it once and never do it again. Don’t even buy smoked salts, they’re a waste of money.