Kosher salt

Sel casher

What it is

It is named for what it does rather than what it is: the coarse flakes draw blood out of meat quickly, which is the koshering step, and Jewish butchers made the grade standard. Two American brands dominate and behave differently — Morton's rolled flakes pack roughly one and a half times as much salt into a spoon as Diamond Crystal's hollow pyramids, so a recipe written for one oversalts with the other.

In the kitchen

Weigh it, or know which brand the recipe means: one teaspoon of table salt equals about two of Diamond Crystal but only a heaped one and a quarter of Morton. The flakes are for pinching and for dry-brining, where you can watch them dissolve; for baking, use fine salt by weight.

Goes with

Chicken Beef Potato Tomato Butter Egg

Same species

Alaea red Hawaiian salt Sodium bicarbonate Fleur de sel de Guérande Himalayan pink salt Kala namak (Indian black salt) Kansui

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