Kosher Salt

In most professional kitchens you will find kosher salt, if not sea salt and other varieties of salt which are so in vogue nowadays. The passing fad was flavored oils, the new trend is herb salts, spiced salts, and other salts they'll charge you a fortune for but that you could easily throw together in your kitchen for far less.

Kosher salt is my salt of choice for every day cooking. It's available in most supermarkets. The salt itself is not kosher, that is, conforming to Jewish food laws, but because of its large crystal size it is good for absorbing moisture, making it excellent for curing meats. To remove any traces of blood from meat as is often required for making meats kosher, they are often soaked and salted.

Kosher salt contains no iodine, so doesn't provide that metallic taste probably unrecognizable to you if you have been using regular table salt for any length of time. Once you start using it for a few days, however, you will notice that flavors come through more brightly and clearly and aren't muddled by the metallic taste of iodine. The other useful trait of kosher salt is its large crystals. It's easy to pick up a pinch in between your fingers to salt food, and you'll get a feel for just how much you need once you start using it on a regular basis. Try it, you'll like it.