# Kosher VS Table salt



## chefred (Jun 8, 2006)

so i just started this new job as a sous chef and the executive chef has this thing about useing kosher salt he says that it makes things to salty because the salt keeps desolving and the salinity keeps going up..he likes to use table salt for everything and that is just total oppisite of what i have always done and been told anyone every hear of this before
P.s. i dont know if this is important but he is Austrian


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## ras1187 (Oct 3, 2006)

Have you suggested to him using less salt?

Cooking : Culinary Q&A : Kosher vs. table vs. sea salts : Food Network

Some related readings...


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## atltournant (Apr 24, 2007)

I've always been told the same thing as you have....but everyone is different.I only use table/iodized salt in baking.

Funny that he's saying "too salty" for a European,because most Europeans just use too much salt to begin with.Just like with spicy food,your palate can also get desensitized to salt,so I've noticed many Europeans I've worked with that [in my opinion and personal taste] use entirely too much of it.


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## blade55440 (Sep 9, 2005)

The reason it makes things too salty is because he's not giving the salt enough time to dissolve and mix in before he goes tasting it. Making him go hog wild on the salt trying to get it where it needs to be BEFORE anything is fully dissolved.

I prefer kosher salt because it's way milder than table salt. Table salt is just too sharp in my opinion.


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## aprilb (Feb 4, 2006)

Kosher salt is just ... well ... salt... I've also found you can get away with less.

Your post made me think that your chef likes chunks of salt in his food! :lol:

Granted KS takes longer to dissolve and incorporate into whatever you're cooking, but if you wanted it to go faster you could grind it I suppose. 

A lot of brands of table salt also use all kinds of de-caking agents so that it doesn't lump. Yuk. I won't buy pre-shredded cheese for the same reason. 

I can't imagine having to turn out sauces so fast that it doesn't have time to simmer and the salt doesn't have time to dissolve. 

April

April


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## shel (Dec 20, 2006)

Hi,

Teaspoon for teaspoon, your chef is wrong. You can read why here: Why Season with Kosher Salt? | COPIA.org You can even see that there's a difference between Kosher salts.

Also, Cook's Illustrated compared Diamond Crystal Kosher salt with Morton's in their Nov/Dec 2006 issue, and noted that the Diamond Crystal was less salty measure for measure.

Of course, you may have other brands and types of salt where you are, and that your chef is using, so specific figures and salt ingredients may not be the same as the examples shown here. Regardless, with all theinformation posted here, you've enough information to look into your local options and make the appropriate choices.

Shel


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Europeans, in the opinion of THIS European, don't use too much salt. I'm always amazed when I go to Australia to find that chefs often over-salt a dish.. I have always assumed it's because of the climatic differences between our countries.

I only use Maldon Sea Salt. Never tried Kosher salt.


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## atltournant (Apr 24, 2007)

Oops,didn't mean to offend! I'm just used to seeing some chefs [those zany French!] with a container of salt in their jackets on them at all times.If it was salty to my taste,it was perfect to theirs..Then again,they never blanched veggies;they would boil the life out of them! Army green haricot verts,anyone?


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

I had used coarse kosher salt over regular table salt because it was easier to handle. Personally I found it to make things less salty since it really didn't measure our the same using volume as the scale. I was trying to cut back on the amount of salt in recipes and this seemed to produce good results without having to go back and re-write all of my recipes.

Now I don't have anything but unbleached unrefined real sea salt. I don't use the coarse variety much because it does take a long time to disolve and can produce the results that Chefred mentions his Exec finds. Mostly I used the table version. For what it's worth, the sea salt seems to be easier on the cardiovascular system. Now I'm not sure if there is any evidence (medical or otherwise) to substantiate this but it has shown a difference in my blood pressure and sodium levels.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Altournant: I suspect you may have come up against some really awful French chefs in your experience...

I've never known the French to over-cook veggies - nor to over-salt them. But then, that's my experience of eating in France, maybe yours is different 

Oldschool. If you can get hold of it, try Maldon. Most British chefs swear by it... it has a unique flavour and I use if both for cooking and for grinding for the table.


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

Thanks Ishbel!

I found it at the Saltworks . Looks like there are some really great salts available there as well.


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## atltournant (Apr 24, 2007)

Ishbel,unfortunately,you are correct! :lol:


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## greyeaglem (Apr 17, 2006)

At my last job we had a guy who used to make everything too salty. I think this thread explains what was happening, as I didn't know, he didn't know and the head chef didn't know what was happening. We had a soup that he made and the chef had tasted and approved that everyone complained about later as being too salty. All they had there was Morton kosher salt. I never used it because I was generally using bases for most of my assigned dishes and almost never used plain salt. Maybe your chef won't mind you using kosher salt if you show him you know how to handle it. In the hands of my co-worker, it just wasted a lot of time and food.


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## brianthecook (May 2, 2007)

In our jobs we taste allot of food. our palate becomes less sensitive to things that we taste on a regular basis. Spicy becomes less spicy salty becomes less salty. When you season you have to take this in to account. My general rule of thumb is if I can taste the salt in a dish where salt is not one of the focal points, then it is too salty for the average patron.


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## inabox (Nov 27, 2006)

Well the chef I work for likes to use fry seasoning salt for everything...I my self like sea salt


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## andyg (Aug 27, 2007)

There was a previous thread that went into a lot of detail about different kinds of salts. I think Luc H explained that crystal formation was a lot of the difference between salts.


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## luc_h (Jun 6, 2007)

AndyG,

I think you are referring to this thread:
http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/food-...-chloride.html

Many expressed their opinion here.

Luc H


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Ish, I can tell you why.....salt makes you thirsty- it's so we can drink more beer :beer: It's NOOO accident


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