April 1, 2008

Salt....that's all I can say.


I must be out of the culinary sundries loop. Did you guys know about smoked salt? Not me! How utterly embarrassing! Maybe I did know...you know how old I'm getting (see previous post)...and I just forgot. I'm mortified. How could I have possibly missed this? Am I spending too much time with the butters? The chocolate? The bloody berries????


I saw my first jar and just about went ballistic. SMOKED SALT. Brilliant! I immediately dropped my bag of wasabi potato chips and rushed to check out with my bottle of alder smoked salt.


First off, I opened her up right in the car and took a taste. Criminy! Campfire in fall, first snow, my favorite elk hunting gun by my side. Another taste (the woman parking by me is just staring at me licking salt), and I taste flat iron steak on the grill, Argentina Shiraz, chewing tobacco, my college sweatshirt, stained with God knows what, and a leather bridle on a Grand Canyon mule (don’t ask, I like to lick stuff...cow salt licks too, although those are terrible).




Twitter, twitter, my mind is in a whirl.

I figure I better come up with some food to put this on, otherwise, I’ll OD on smoked salt and won’t that be a story for the emergency room! The best my refrigerator could do last night was to offer up some pork chops. Alrighty then, that will work just dandy. I mixed the salt (which has it’s own special shelf now)


The Patron Saint of Salt, St. Joseph (ok, I just made that up...)


with some rubbed sage, and black pepper…rubbed those suckers down with the mix, and seared them, about 4 minutes each side. Then I had some beautiful beef stock on hand, so poured about 1 cup over, covered the skillet and let the chops simmer for about 12 minutes. In another pan, I pan roasted some sliced button mushrooms in some butter and olive oil and added to the simmering chops after they browned. Served this with a nice arugula salad with tomatoes, pine nuts, Parmesan, and a very light slip of olive oil, rice vinegar, lemon juice, pepper and SALT. Oh, how I love this salt.

16 comments:

Deborah said...

I've never had smoked salt - but you can bet I'll be looking for it now!!

Thistlemoon said...

We just got some - a chardonnay smoked salt. Really good with veggies. I know, it was a moment for me too! LOL!

Birdie said...

Smoked Salt is great! I use it all the time!

and just remember, good things grow in old dirt!! LOL

Catherine Wilkinson said...

Deb,
Hit that link for "smoked salt"...that's a good website and source!

Jenndz,
Holy Smokes...Chardonnay! Awesome. Yes, it was quite a revelation! I'll never be the same.

birdie!
You been holding out on me???
I'll be using mine all the time too! I actually just had a lick a few minutes ago!

Peter M said...

Catherine, I've been using a hickory salt for years...especially on ribs...go nuts, you'll luv it!

Julie said...

I love some of these new salts they have they impart such great flavor.

RecipeGirl said...

I'm definitely not well-versed in "salt," but it sounds like you're pretty excited about it! I'll be on the lookout for some!

Jenny said...

Hmmm, I don't believe I've heard of it either. I'm a sheltered child! Your dish looks great! Have a great week!

Emily said...

I've never used smoked salt before, but I've heard of it. So it's that good, huh? I'll have to buy some.

Watched the video, btw. That guy is magical. He dresses cool.

Anonymous said...

that's hilarious. it has its own shelf. haha. i've never heard of smoked salt either. sounds good though. and the meal looks delish. how much did the salt cost??

Catherine Wilkinson said...

peter,
hickory smoked? That's too good to be true! I'll look for it!

julie,
I agree...what a find for me.

recipegirl,
I tend to go "overboard" on these new finds of mine! I found mine at World Market, but they have a website

jenny,
You ARE a sheltered child! Go salty, girl! Congrats again on HOF!!!

emiline,
That guy is Cris Cross, who I actually think is a douche bag, but he's an amazing magician.

ash,
I think it was $5.99...check out their website! I've got it highlighted in the post. I also keep all my lottery tickets on that shelf..lol!

Anonymous said...

hehehe...i'm still giggling!
Aren't you excited by new food discoveries? Next, you have to start making your own flavored salts. Investigate. Investigate.

KayKat said...

Smoked salt? Really? Hmm ... ok, I'll be looking for it this weekend :)

Marianne said...

A wonderful site to visit if you are new to "salts" is Eric Gower, www.thebreakawaycook.com nice blog too.......

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Catherine..yiou are not the only smoked salt newbie out there.

Catherine Wilkinson said...

zen,
This is just the best stuff. i'm totally addicted now...pitiful. Is there a 12 step program for this?

Kaykat,
I hope you find it!

Marianne,
Thanks for the tip...I'll be sure to visit!

Val,
Isn't it great to find something new? This stuff is great!

 
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"The Dish" by Catherine Wilkinson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.