Salt & Pepper - What do you use?

[Peter_Metzger]

I know I’m a Neanderthal, Luddite and cretin, but I’m waiting for a thread to inquire as to the best air to breath when cooking … I assume someone has already covered the question of the best type of water to use.

[M.Kaplan]

For most cooking, I grind large grain sel gris from Ile de Re by Esprit du Sel in a mortar and pestle.
For finishing, Matiz Flor de Sol flakes, alder smoked sea salt from the San Francisco Salt Co., or Maldon flakes.
For pepper, high quality whole Tellicherry ground in a brass Turkish spice grinder

In addition, I’ve picked up varieties of pink and black Hawaiian, pink Himalayan, sea salt with piment d’Espelette, and a few others that caught my eye.

[Alan_Rath]

Another Penzey’s users here, for both salt and pepper. I get the shaker grind in the bottle for cooking, and the Tellicherry peppercorns for a couple of grinders I use (coarse and fine). Then their coarse sea salt to go in the grinder, which is what I use for almost everything, both cooking and seasoning, unless a recipe requires quite a lot of salt.

[ToddFrench]

[Rob_Isaacs]

@Sarah Kirschbaum

They may all be the same in terms of quality, but they are not the same in terms of saltiness. You have to be careful if you ever use recipes, for instance, because Mortons Kosher (blue box) is much saltier than, for instance, Diamond Kosher (red box), which is what most restaurants use (to my knowledge) and what most cookbooks use as their reference. Some very good cookbooks will point out that quantities need to be adjusted if you are using the blue box as opposed to the red. Nothing wrong with blue box, you just need a different quantity than with red.

Next time you see both boxes side by side it’s clear why the Mortons is more salty. The Diamond Kosher is about a third larger box but they are both three pounds. Measuring by volume will not give the same results. I completely over salted some pasta at my brothers house because I wasn’t used to using the Morton salt. He held up both boxes and said “both are three pounds”, I never forgot that lesson.

[Magnus_Solhjell]

I can’t recommend Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat highly enough, and its chapter on correct salting in particular. I have way to many cookbooks, but that book has completely changed the way I cook.

[Chris_Foley]

I like Seneca Salt Company Grapevine Smoked Sea Salt and Spice Islands Tellicherry Peppercorns.

[Craig_G]

@Siun o'Connell

my son and daughter swear by their Vulcan Salt mix

That seems logical.

[Randy_Bowman]

@Scott G r u n e r

@Randy Bowman

I don’t grill much any more and I fell in love with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and Pepper way back in 1971, when the salt contained MSG. Food I found to be boring came alive with flavor. Still use Lawry’s though it’s not the same/as good. Trying to determine the appropriate amount of MSG to add or use.

I hear change in smoking habits also changes taste for salt. Chef’s that smoke tend to over-salt more commonly, etc.

Funny, Carrie uses a minimum of salt on anything and complains things are too salty. Today, I noticed just how salty the multi-grain crackers are that were just fine 4 weeks ago so it is probably true.

[T_Welch]

Grecian Formula

[Jay_Miller]

@Craig G

@Siun o'Connell

my son and daughter swear by their Vulcan Salt mix

That seems logical.

[Chris_Blum]

@T Welch

Grecian Formula

[Siun_O_Connell]

@Craig G

@Siun o'Connell

my son and daughter swear by their Vulcan Salt mix

That seems logical.

[P_Willenberg]

I cook with Fleur de Sel Bitterman's Fleur de Sel - Bulk Salt | Gourmet Sea Salt | Bitterman Salt Co. | Wholesale Salt

and finish with flake Bitterman's Flake Sea Salt | Gourmet Sea Salt | The Meadow – Bitterman Salt Co.

good info on that website too. he’s got shops in Portland and the West Village, natch.

[Mel_Hill]

i’ve noticed quite a discrepancy between diamond crystal and Morton kosher when measured in volume and that is why I use a scale for measurement when baking.
Penzy’s extra bold pepper
and a variety of finishing salts including a grenache salt that my wine importer sister sends me every year. my favorites are the malden and the malden smoked

[CFu]

diamond all day every day.

[Tom_G_l_a_s_g_o_w]

@Mel Hill

i’ve noticed quite a discrepancy between diamond crystal and Morton kosher when measured in volume and that is why I use a scale for measurement when baking.
Penzy’s extra bold pepper
and a variety of finishing salts including a grenache salt that my wine importer sister sends me every year. my favorites are the malden and the malden smoked

Measuring by weight is the way to go, especially for baking.

[Poppy_Davis]

A couple of years ago my grocery store was out of Diamond so I bought Morton. I ended up ruining several dishes by oversalting, so I threw out the box. I’m sticking with Diamond.

[Betty_C]

So many recs for Penzy. I’m gonna pick up on this, ooh.

[Rob_S1]

Diamond for cooking but I love high quality balinese for finishing. Massive hollow four sided pyramids. Have a hard time melting so provide great crunch and look great.