Rock/Salt
There are few things odder than the looks you get when you tell someone that you are reading a cookbook. Reading, they ask, not just looking through for recipes? Many cookbooks, particularly those from popular or celebrity chefs ,attempt to inject a bit of their homespun background as they write about those flavors of childhood when coming home or being out on the beach and the memories of those simple foods that started them on the path to working and experimenting with food. Some of these cookbook authors (and ghost writers) are quite talented and write with such flair and poise that you're tempted to see if their recipes are really as spectacular as their words (some of this appeared in an earlier post on menu writing). But in general, cookbooks are just that, a collection of recipes that we browse through for ideas and inspiration, or perhaps guidance when wanting to cook a roast or puff pastry and not quite knowing all the specifics. Those poor authors, their words often cast aside as we flip past the first 30 pages and right into the recipes (or worse, straight to the index to just look up a certain pasta recipe). Samin Nosrat is a bit different however, her "cookbook" as simple and basic as her title, Salt Fat Acid Heat...with the science behind it all. What?? The science behind cooking, as in why water boils and such? Uh, no...her title says it all and her book is perhaps best explained by Michael Pollan (one of her pupils, of sorts) in his introduction: A well-written and thoroughly tested recipe might tell you how to produce the dish in question, but it won't teach you anything about how to cook, not really. Truth be told, recipes are infantilizing. Just do exactly what I say, they say, but don's ask questions or worry your little head about why. They insist on fidelity and faith, but do nothing to earn or explain it...Think how much more we learn --and retain!-- when a teacher doesn't just enumerate the step-by-step instructions but explains the principles behind them. Armed with reasons, we no longer have to cling to a recipe like a lifeboat; now we can strike out on our own and begin to improvise.
As with the title, her book breaks down cooking into four basic elements, only reading about each element is fascinating in itself. Take salt for example, a mineral of the earth (vs. a spice such as pepper or cumin), one that comes only from the ocean (even those deeply buried salt mines were once oceans; you might remember that while visiting Arches National Park the ranger advised us that underneath our feet was a mile and a half of dried salt left from the ocean that once filled the area). Salt comes in many forms and consistencies which means that just by changing brands you might be adding far too much salt should you follow a recipe (Morton has twice the saltiness of Diamond since one is processed through rollers and the other left to dry as natural crystals). Why do or should you salt meats hours or days before cooking? It comes back down to nature which wants equilibrium; whether through osmosis or diffusion, salt and water will want to balance. As she writes on salting a chicken: Sprinkle salt on the surface of a piece of chicken and come back twenty minutes later. The distinct grains will no longer be visible: they will have started to dissolve, and the salt will have begun to move inward in an effort to create a chemical balance throughout the piece of meat. We can taste the consequence of diffusion -- though we sprinkle salt on the surface of the meat, with the distribution that occurs over time, eventually the meat will taste evenly seasoned, rather that being salty on the surface and bland within...Water will also be visible on the surface of the chicken, the result of osmosis. While the salt moves in, the water will move out with the same goal: achieving chemical balance throughout the entire piece of meat.
Salt, of course, is everywhere and necessary for our survival. Get too little salt and you'll feel faint; let it continue and you could enter the serious stages of hyponatremia which could cause your brain to swell and place you in a coma (or worse); your first thought of losing such a large amount of sodium is likely sweating in intense heat or drinking too much water (ultra marathoners are at high risk for both situations); but common drugs such as NSAIDS and even recreational drugs such as Ecstasy can drop your sodium levels dangerously. This happened to my mother while taking naproxen, a common NSAID (such as aspirin or ibuprofen) which caused her to fall several times over the course of a few months (it was the combining of the NSAID and other medications, a situation her doctor had to work with until the right balance was achieved...she is still on the naproxen as the other drugs were balanced out). For many of us, taking in too little sodium is a distant thought for salt is everywhere in the typical U.S. diet, particularly in processed and fast foods; a single typical steak sandwich at a Quiznos (a chain popular in the U.S. and one similar to the Subway sandwich chain) has 4320 mg. of sodium, over double the recommended daily intake of 2000 mg. for an adult male (just add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce to your sushi and you've nearly met that 2000 mg. RDI). Check your ingredient /nutrition tables out there while shopping...a can of processed green beans = close to 1000 mg. of salt with even such items such as cottage cheese and soups through the roof (manufacturers try to make it seem less threatening by upping the servings per can: a can of coconut milk may say only 14 grams of fat per serving but the can has 5 servings which becomes 70 grams of fat...those same sort of listings are done with sodium levels). Too much salt and our bodies go into hyperdrive, our blood pressure climbs and our hearts pumping faster to speed the salt through our kidneys for cleansing. The result...stroke, kidney failure and more.
Salt, of course, is of all things a rock and while we consume it, the processing of it accounts for just 6% of how we use it. In my state (home of the great Salt Flats, another natural salt bed formed from a receding ocean and one often used for racing high speed vehicles attempting to break the land-speed record), salt used to be spread on our streets to help melt icy roadways (a practice in decline due to salt's corrosive effects on water and drain pipes); in other areas salt is used to temper down a water's hardness or used in agriculture or chemically split apart to produce chlorine and caustic soda or to help glaze pottery as the salt vaporizes in heat. One friend told me of its ability to prevent creosote and to add a handful of rock salt to my hot fire blazing away in my fireplace...a mistake. I never did find out if it's creosote-removing abilities were true but I did find that rock salt will explode like popcorn, one of the pieces whacking me in my eye and requiring a trip to the emergency room (the piece had scratched my eye but the eye --being the only part of our body that heals without scarring-- luckily caused no permanent damage other than my no longer listening to my friend's country wisdom). Molten salt is even used for heat storage and one entrepreneur thinks that another such use (for molten salt) could be to store used uranium rods from nuclear plants and thus use the stored heat again (he already has funding from several sources including Peter Thiel). Dig deeper and you can find salt's history in archeological digs (often used to preserve meats before refrigeration) religious ceremonies and even the beginnings of wars; says Wikipedia: The voyages of Christopher Columbus are said to have been financed from salt production in southern Spain, and the oppressive salt tax in France was one of the causes of the French Revolution. Author Mark Kurlansky went even further and wrote an entire book about the history and uses of salt, one simply titled Salt, A World History (a fascinating read in itself).
Our bodies want and need salt (we animals have more salt in our tissues than do plants), and as author Nosrat points out, we can acquire this necessity in delicious ways. And while we in the U.S. might think that salt and pepper are like twins used worldwide, we might be surprised to find pepper doesn't appear as often as we think on dinner tables (although salt is almost always there): In Morocco, shakers of cumin are commonly set on the table along with salt. In Turkey, it's usually some form of ground chili powder. In many Middle Eastern countries, including Lebanon and Syria, it's the blend of dried thyme, oregano, and sesame seeds known as za'atar.
We cannot survive without salt, and yet our bodies cannot store much of it, our cravings for it all tempted by the rather unsalty oceans that surround us (their saltiness is just 3.5 %). For author Nosrat, educating you to cook is but part of her goal...everyone can cook, she says: Have you ever felt lost without a recipe, or envious that some cooks can conjure a meal out of thin air (or an empty refrigerator)?...Anyone can cook anything and make it delicious. Whether you've never picked up a knife or you're an accomplished chef, there are only four basic factors that determine how good your food will taste...This book will change the way you think about cooking and eating, and help you find your bearings in any kitchen, with any ingredients, while cooking any meal. You'll start using recipes, including the ones in this book, like professional cooks do -- for the inspiration, context, and general guidance they offer, rather than by following them to the letter. I promise this can happen. You can become not only a good cook, but a great one. I know, because it happened to me. And it all comes down to four basics --salt, fat, acid and heat-- something all of us can discover by, of all things, reading a cookbook.
As with the title, her book breaks down cooking into four basic elements, only reading about each element is fascinating in itself. Take salt for example, a mineral of the earth (vs. a spice such as pepper or cumin), one that comes only from the ocean (even those deeply buried salt mines were once oceans; you might remember that while visiting Arches National Park the ranger advised us that underneath our feet was a mile and a half of dried salt left from the ocean that once filled the area). Salt comes in many forms and consistencies which means that just by changing brands you might be adding far too much salt should you follow a recipe (Morton has twice the saltiness of Diamond since one is processed through rollers and the other left to dry as natural crystals). Why do or should you salt meats hours or days before cooking? It comes back down to nature which wants equilibrium; whether through osmosis or diffusion, salt and water will want to balance. As she writes on salting a chicken: Sprinkle salt on the surface of a piece of chicken and come back twenty minutes later. The distinct grains will no longer be visible: they will have started to dissolve, and the salt will have begun to move inward in an effort to create a chemical balance throughout the piece of meat. We can taste the consequence of diffusion -- though we sprinkle salt on the surface of the meat, with the distribution that occurs over time, eventually the meat will taste evenly seasoned, rather that being salty on the surface and bland within...Water will also be visible on the surface of the chicken, the result of osmosis. While the salt moves in, the water will move out with the same goal: achieving chemical balance throughout the entire piece of meat.
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| Argentina's Salnas Grandes, a natural salt flat far from any ocean |
Salt, of course, is everywhere and necessary for our survival. Get too little salt and you'll feel faint; let it continue and you could enter the serious stages of hyponatremia which could cause your brain to swell and place you in a coma (or worse); your first thought of losing such a large amount of sodium is likely sweating in intense heat or drinking too much water (ultra marathoners are at high risk for both situations); but common drugs such as NSAIDS and even recreational drugs such as Ecstasy can drop your sodium levels dangerously. This happened to my mother while taking naproxen, a common NSAID (such as aspirin or ibuprofen) which caused her to fall several times over the course of a few months (it was the combining of the NSAID and other medications, a situation her doctor had to work with until the right balance was achieved...she is still on the naproxen as the other drugs were balanced out). For many of us, taking in too little sodium is a distant thought for salt is everywhere in the typical U.S. diet, particularly in processed and fast foods; a single typical steak sandwich at a Quiznos (a chain popular in the U.S. and one similar to the Subway sandwich chain) has 4320 mg. of sodium, over double the recommended daily intake of 2000 mg. for an adult male (just add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce to your sushi and you've nearly met that 2000 mg. RDI). Check your ingredient /nutrition tables out there while shopping...a can of processed green beans = close to 1000 mg. of salt with even such items such as cottage cheese and soups through the roof (manufacturers try to make it seem less threatening by upping the servings per can: a can of coconut milk may say only 14 grams of fat per serving but the can has 5 servings which becomes 70 grams of fat...those same sort of listings are done with sodium levels). Too much salt and our bodies go into hyperdrive, our blood pressure climbs and our hearts pumping faster to speed the salt through our kidneys for cleansing. The result...stroke, kidney failure and more.
Salt, of course, is of all things a rock and while we consume it, the processing of it accounts for just 6% of how we use it. In my state (home of the great Salt Flats, another natural salt bed formed from a receding ocean and one often used for racing high speed vehicles attempting to break the land-speed record), salt used to be spread on our streets to help melt icy roadways (a practice in decline due to salt's corrosive effects on water and drain pipes); in other areas salt is used to temper down a water's hardness or used in agriculture or chemically split apart to produce chlorine and caustic soda or to help glaze pottery as the salt vaporizes in heat. One friend told me of its ability to prevent creosote and to add a handful of rock salt to my hot fire blazing away in my fireplace...a mistake. I never did find out if it's creosote-removing abilities were true but I did find that rock salt will explode like popcorn, one of the pieces whacking me in my eye and requiring a trip to the emergency room (the piece had scratched my eye but the eye --being the only part of our body that heals without scarring-- luckily caused no permanent damage other than my no longer listening to my friend's country wisdom). Molten salt is even used for heat storage and one entrepreneur thinks that another such use (for molten salt) could be to store used uranium rods from nuclear plants and thus use the stored heat again (he already has funding from several sources including Peter Thiel). Dig deeper and you can find salt's history in archeological digs (often used to preserve meats before refrigeration) religious ceremonies and even the beginnings of wars; says Wikipedia: The voyages of Christopher Columbus are said to have been financed from salt production in southern Spain, and the oppressive salt tax in France was one of the causes of the French Revolution. Author Mark Kurlansky went even further and wrote an entire book about the history and uses of salt, one simply titled Salt, A World History (a fascinating read in itself).
Our bodies want and need salt (we animals have more salt in our tissues than do plants), and as author Nosrat points out, we can acquire this necessity in delicious ways. And while we in the U.S. might think that salt and pepper are like twins used worldwide, we might be surprised to find pepper doesn't appear as often as we think on dinner tables (although salt is almost always there): In Morocco, shakers of cumin are commonly set on the table along with salt. In Turkey, it's usually some form of ground chili powder. In many Middle Eastern countries, including Lebanon and Syria, it's the blend of dried thyme, oregano, and sesame seeds known as za'atar.
We cannot survive without salt, and yet our bodies cannot store much of it, our cravings for it all tempted by the rather unsalty oceans that surround us (their saltiness is just 3.5 %). For author Nosrat, educating you to cook is but part of her goal...everyone can cook, she says: Have you ever felt lost without a recipe, or envious that some cooks can conjure a meal out of thin air (or an empty refrigerator)?...Anyone can cook anything and make it delicious. Whether you've never picked up a knife or you're an accomplished chef, there are only four basic factors that determine how good your food will taste...This book will change the way you think about cooking and eating, and help you find your bearings in any kitchen, with any ingredients, while cooking any meal. You'll start using recipes, including the ones in this book, like professional cooks do -- for the inspiration, context, and general guidance they offer, rather than by following them to the letter. I promise this can happen. You can become not only a good cook, but a great one. I know, because it happened to me. And it all comes down to four basics --salt, fat, acid and heat-- something all of us can discover by, of all things, reading a cookbook.
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