Kosher salt

[richsilver]

Anybody ever seen kosher salt in Thailand? Many, many recipes call for it and I used to use it routinely in the US, but here I can only find sea salt which is not the same.

[Naam]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_salt

[ToddWeston]

Kosher salt?

Isn't all salt 'kosher'?

It's regular course salt that doesn't have iodine so when I see it in a US recipe I use sea salt or Maldon flakes. Lots of quality salt available here.

[wayned]

Sea salt and "kosher" salt are the same, they are untreated sodium chloride. The sea salt available here, 15 baht/kilo at my local Ma and Pa store, is courser than the kosher salt that you buy in the box in the US but is the same. All you have to do is put it in a mortar and pound it a little to get the texture that you want. It does have a higher moisture content because it is not dried so if you put it in a food processor to grind it finer make sure that you clean it well after you do it. Most of it comes from the "salt farms" along highway 35 between Samut Songkhram and where it meets highway 4 south to Hua Hin.

[richsilver]

So if a recipe calls for 2 Tbls of kosher salt all I "have to do is put it in a mortar and pound it a little to get the texture that you want." How do I know the texture that I want if I don't have any kosher salt to compare it to?

[ToddWeston]

So if a recipe calls for 2 Tbls of kosher salt all I "have to do is put it in a mortar and pound it a little to get the texture that you want." How do I know the texture that I want if I don't have any kosher salt to compare it to?

I don't know - I avoid US recipes that do the Cups/Tbls/teaspoon thing, it so far off the mark and is useless for baking. Try to find the same recipe in metric if it calls for 10 grams it's 10 grams. If it's going into batter or any sort of liquid it's moot how much you use your pestle - generally when I use pickling or course salt I would say it's half the size of sea salt.

Check out Tops Centralworld Food Hall top floor they have an extensive collection on offer. Some of the Australian sea salts are fantastic, but my absolute favourite is Maldon salt flakes.

[wayned]

If you used it in the US and you don't remember what it looked like your memory is worse than mine and mine is bad! I forget where I put my eyeglasses at least 2 times a day>

[tolsti]

Seems like kosher salt is more hyperbole than reality...

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/03/ask-the-food-lab-do-i-need-to-use-kosher-salt.html

[jaideeguy]

Sea salt and "kosher" salt are the same, they are untreated sodium chloride. The sea salt available here, 15 baht/kilo at my local Ma and Pa store, is courser than the kosher salt that you buy in the box in the US but is the same. All you have to do is put it in a mortar and pound it a little to get the texture that you want. It does have a higher moisture content because it is not dried so if you put it in a food processor to grind it finer make sure that you clean it well after you do it. Most of it comes from the "salt farms" along highway 35 between Samut Songkhram and where it meets highway 4 south to Hua Hin.

I don't think that it is sea salt, as it comes from the ground. I've seen natural salt from areas near Chiang Mai and that's a long way from the sea, but at any rate, I use it for a brine for my meat smoking and can buy it at local markets for 5 to 10 thb/kilo...........same as 'morton' at a tiny fraction of the cost. Granted it is a bit crude and comes in flakes, but a mortar and pestel will make it any texture you want............I use the herb grinder attachment on my cheapo blender and works fine.............not rocket science!!!

Quite frankly I don't see any harm in using iodized salt, as the amount of iodine is so minute and in a brine solution, it may be of some benefit in killing bacteria??

[wayned]

It really is sea salt. If you've ever traveled on highway 35 the places where they produce it are along side of the road. They look almost like rice paddies but they just flood them with sea water and let the sun and evaporation due the rest. You can buy it by the bag from 1 to 50 kilos along the road in many places. The salt that I buy at the market is a 50 kilo bag that the merchant has portioned into 1 kilo bags. They are large mixed size crystals that can be pounded to the size that you want, but it does have a high moisture content.

[ToddWeston]

Sea salt and "kosher" salt are the same, they are untreated sodium chloride. The sea salt available here, 15 baht/kilo at my local Ma and Pa store, is courser than the kosher salt that you buy in the box in the US but is the same. All you have to do is put it in a mortar and pound it a little to get the texture that you want. It does have a higher moisture content because it is not dried so if you put it in a food processor to grind it finer make sure that you clean it well after you do it. Most of it comes from the "salt farms" along highway 35 between Samut Songkhram and where it meets highway 4 south to Hua Hin.

I don't think that it is sea salt, as it comes from the ground. I've seen natural salt from areas near Chiang Mai and that's a long way from the sea, but at any rate, I use it for a brine for my meat smoking and can buy it at local markets for 5 to 10 thb/kilo...........same as 'morton' at a tiny fraction of the cost. Granted it is a bit crude and comes in flakes, but a mortar and pestel will make it any texture you want............I use the herb grinder attachment on my cheapo blender and works fine.............not rocket science!!!

Quite frankly I don't see any harm in using iodized salt, as the amount of iodine is so minute and in a brine solution, it may be of some benefit in killing bacteria??

Iodine does not kill bacteria on contact, it does break cells walls on contact though. A holding/brining time of at least 20-60 minutes is needed depending on the iodine concentration. An iodine residual of 0.5 to 1.0 milligrams per litre should be maintained, one teaspoon of table salt has 380 mcg / .38 milligrams which I believe table salt standard, so in theory assuming you're brining your meat for hours (up to 24 ? ) would be beneficial.

[jaideeguy]

"Do I need to use kosher salt?"

More and more I see recipes specifying kosher(ing) salt or sea salt in recipes. I'm all for using gourmet ingredients but Serious Eats even proposes using sea salt to preserve Meyer lemons! Does there remain any use for which the much more affordable regular American-style iodized salt is preferred, or should I just use what I have left and only stock the higher-end stuff?

—Sent by Anonymous

First of all, let's get one thing straight: chemically there is virtually no difference between table salt, kosher salt, and fancy sea salt. All of them are close to 100 percent pure NaCl (sodium chloride), with a few trace elements thrown in. In the case of table salt, those additives are there to prevent it from caking (hence the old, "When it rains, it pours," Morton's slogan), while for sea salt, they come along for the ride when the salt is harvested from the ocean.

copied from http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/03/ask-the-food-lab-do-i-need-to-use-kosher-salt.html

long and interesting article on salt..........good read. Wayned, I don't doubt that you are refering to real sea salt, but the salt that we get from our ground near CM is not the same. Maybe has some ground minerals and who knows what else, but to quote a locally famous German sausage maker that distributes his products all over LOS : 'Salt is salt'.

I've seen the same salt that is used in water softeners and salt water pools and is is the same locally mined salt that I use in curing my meats..........measured by weight, not volume.

JDG

[jaideeguy]

"Iodine does not kill bacteria on contact, it does break cells walls on contact though. A holding/brining time of at least 20-60 minutes is needed depending on the iodine concentration. An iodine residual of 0.5 to 1.0 milligrams per litre should be maintained, one teaspoon of table salt has 380 mcg / .38 milligrams which I believe table salt standard, so in theory assuming you're brining your meat for hours (up to 24 ? ) would be beneficial. "

When I brine pork for bacon, it is brined for 10 to 14 days......... and has nitrate to make sure all the nasty bacteria is dead and safe. That's the standard for dry/wet curing pork.

[ToddWeston]

"Do I need to use kosher salt?"

More and more I see recipes specifying kosher(ing) salt or sea salt in recipes. I'm all for using gourmet ingredients but Serious Eats even proposes using sea salt to preserve Meyer lemons! Does there remain any use for which the much more affordable regular American-style iodized salt is preferred, or should I just use what I have left and only stock the higher-end stuff?

Sent by Anonymous

First of all, let's get one thing straight: chemically there is virtually no difference between table salt, kosher salt, and fancy sea salt. All of them are close to 100 percent pure NaCl (sodium chloride), with a few trace elements thrown in. In the case of table salt, those additives are there to prevent it from caking (hence the old, "When it rains, it pours," Morton's slogan), while for sea salt, they come along for the ride when the salt is harvested from the ocean.

copied from http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/03/ask-the-food-lab-do-i-need-to-use-kosher-salt.html

long and interesting article on salt..........good read. Wayned, I don't doubt that you are refering to real sea salt, but the salt that we get from our ground near CM is not the same. Maybe has some ground minerals and who knows what else, but to quote a locally famous German sausage maker that distributes his products all over LOS : 'Salt is salt'.

I've seen the same salt that is used in water softeners and salt water pools and is is the same locally mined salt that I use in curing my meats..........measured by weight, not volume.

JDG

Agreed salt is salt with some minerals from the ground or the sea as added benefits. All these fancy names reminds me of someone saying I only use organic honey - isn't all honey organic

Too bad the bacon takes so long I could devour a few rashers about now.

[butterisbetter]

So if a recipe calls for 2 Tbls of kosher salt all I "have to do is put it in a mortar and pound it a little to get the texture that you want." How do I know the texture that I want if I don't have any kosher salt to compare it to?

The biggest brand of Kosher salt in the USA is Mortons. By volume, 3 units of Mortons equals 2 units of table salt. So for example a cup of Morton's would equal 2/3 of a cup of table salt. (To complicate matters, the ratio for Diamond Crystal Salt is 2 to 1.)

You could experiment with a simple, inexpensive recipe, taste the results and adjust accordingly..

[butterisbetter]

Actually, for certain kinds of pickling, table salt is not suitable because of the various additives it has which interfere with the activities of various lactobacillus bacteria. Also, table salt is said to cause discoloration. You can get pure sodium chloride at the various laboratory supply houses in Chiang Mai. Last time I bought pure sodium chloride it was 15 baht per kilo in a 1 kilo pouch and a lot less when bought in a 50 kilo sack.