Talking of Flavoured Salts
The modern take on Pantry condiments seems to be using salt in ways that we perhaps would not have thought of before. Years ago when I first learned to cook salt was used to cure something or to season a dish. Today in common practice flavoured salts seem to be a final "garnish" and a little sprinkle only is required. Recently whilst loitering on the BBC Good Food website I came across a post on flavoured salts. That post is here:
The flavours included here are:
Chicken salt, Dukkah salt, Seaweed salt, Lemon salt and Smokey chilli salt.
Compared to the price that you will pay in the supermarkets these make unique little additions to your Pantry or cupboard shelf and you make as little or as much as you want. Why not try out the individual flavours in small quantities and then make some up to add to a Christmas hamper.
[In the UK we have a range of shops called Tiger (Flying Tiger) and they actually sell little glass herb/spice jars for about 50p each if I remember correctly. You can always jazz up the jars with some homemade labels as well and then add individual flavoured salts to give as part of a Christmas pressie. Flying Tiger also have a superb range of herbs, and spices in large bags at very reasonable prices. You can get a variety of different herbs like dried Ramsons (wild garlic) at very reasonable prices. Sometimes in the charity shops as well you can find some nice little stands that have lost their original containers but which could be re-utilised to make a personal spice rack. The beauty of a gift like this is if you re-purpose it means that individual has a totally bespoke and upcycled gift, with something made by the sender as well which gives something of their heart to the recipient. Much nicer in the long-run I believe.
Anyway this is not an advert for them just some ideas I have come up with as I go around my daily travels].
After discovering the post on the Good Food website I then found this rather interesting one on Steele House Kitchen blog Steele House Kitchen - Flavoured Salts. There are some different techniques for curing salt here including using wet ingredients to flavour salt which I had not come across before. Full instructions are given on how to do this. The flavours included here are:
Rosemary and Lemon salt, Red wine sea salt, Citrus salt, Thyme salt, Tea leaf and Lavender, Dried mushrooms and sage, Dehydrated fruits, Garlic, Sundried tomatoes, Lavender, Chilli, a combination of mixed dried herbs and Sriracha and Lime salt. There are some very different combinations there.
One of the reasons why I collect cookery books and recipes is that each individual has a different take on how to do things which make life more interesting and every so often makes you think about how you are actually doing things and you end up having a lightbulb moment. Not long after finding the Steele House Kitchen post I then found one on Kitchn.
Very similar "flavours" but with the addition of different types of salts (you are not restricted to just sea salts) and also flavourings including:
Herbs, spices, Chile peppers, edible flowers, different citrus peel (its a good way of using up valuable peel), tea leaves or powder (Matcha) Dehydrated fruits, Dehydrated vegetables (such as tomatoes, garlic and onion) and Saffron and Fennel salt and vanilla and cinnamon.
And finally but not least the Country Living website
Flavours here include Porcini salt, Smoked Paprika and Ancho, Celery salt, Lime and Ginger salt and Herbes de Provence salt.
I have been making my own Celery salt for many years as I keep it in to serve with pickled eggs (hens) and also quail eggs. OH is a pickled egg aficionado.
I first came across flavoured salts many years ago in an old herb book I liberated from a Charity shop which suggested that fresh herbs could be preserved/dried in pretty glass jars with a layer of salt and then a layer of herb to the top of the jar which flavoured the salt which could be used in cooking but equally so could the dried herb. I have preserved Fennel and Dill this way ever since and also Bay leaf salt.
To be honest there are lots of different recipes scattered all over the Internet, it is just that some of the flavours I had not heard of before and am eager to try. There are loads of recipes on Pinterest as well. I quite like the sound of Rosemary, Orange and Thyme flavoured salt and Bacon and Shitake mushroom.
Well ladies I think I am going to be having a play with a few new flavours over the next few weeks or so.
Catch you soon.
Pattypan
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