Make a Bunch of Aromatic Salts, Damn It
My social media feeds are now overflowing with pictures of bread, boules and sourdough. This is fine and makes sense, but I rarely relieve stress with baking. However, I love the immersive kitchen project, and creating a collection of fancy salt is just a fun, low-rise and deceptively simple task that we all need right now.
Live food with Taco Bell Salt
Fancy Salt is a scam of sorts, especially the flavored flakes. You can make flavored salt with herbs, citrus zest and whatever wine you have, but times like these seem to require chaotic seasoning like Taco Bell salt , at least they do for me:
As with any flavored salt prepared with wet flavor, the process is fairly straightforward. Just mix the sauce with salt, dry the mixture in the oven and grind into a powder. To make Taco Bell salt you will need:
- 6-10 sachets of sauce, depending on how much salt you like. Six will give you a Taco Bell flavoring, but you need a little more to get the heat out.
- 1/4 cup plain table salt
Combine the sauce and salt in a food processor and beat until a smooth, sandy mixture is obtained. Spread it out on a parchment baking sheet and place it in a 200-degree oven for at least two hours until the salt is dry. Put it back in your food processor, grind it into a powder, and live by adding the essence of your favorite trash to all of your crunchy snacks.
Use these scraps
Did you know that tomato peels, pepper peels and just about any shredded vegetable scrap can be turned into bright and aromatic salt? Well, maybe you should . The video above explains the process in detail, but it’s pretty much the same for any scrap :
Just take the peel, weigh and mix with an equal amount of coating salt. Spread the strips on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the 200-degree oven until they are as dry as possible. Grind the strips in a food processor to make a fine, salty powder. If the salt seems a little damp, don’t worry about letting it dry completely, just spread the salt on a piece of parchment, put the parchment back on the baking sheet and put it back in the 200-degree oven. until dry. Grind it again in a food processor or use a mortar and pestle for an even finer powder.
Make flaked finishing salt in a multicooker
The disappearance of Maldon – or “snack salt” as I like to call it – may not seem like a real “tragedy,” but that doesn’t mean it’s not unpleasant. Luckily, you can make your own crispy crunchy crystals with kosher salt, water, and a slow cooker of some sort (I used my Instant Pot).
This post has all the details, but it’s just a matter of preparing a supersaturated solution and then slowly descending from the water to form large, beautiful flakes. A ratio of one gram of salt to four milliliters of water works well, and you can increase or decrease it as needed.