The Great Smoked Salt Experiment

I want to thank you for sharing your scientific process on attacking this project and your diligence for the comprehensive tutorial. 

Why and what do you use smoked salt for? I have not heard of this. 

Thanks, Joe

beuler said:

Why and what do you use smoked salt for? I have not heard of this. :icon_question:
Thanks, Joe

Click to expand...

I use it as a finishing salt.

Thank You Sir

Some pizza recipes call for smoked salt to add complexity to the formula.

Great work!

I made a smoked siracha salt at work that turned out pretty good. We used it on house made chips.

1# Maldon sea salt flakes
3 TBL siracha (can add more if you like more spice)

Smoked at 250 for 3hrs and allowed to sit in MES over night as it cooled. I loded a 12" AMNTS half way with oak and allowed it to burn out from the start.

jarjarchef said:

I made a smoked siracha salt at work that turned out pretty good. We used it on house made chips.

1# Maldon sea salt flakes
3 TBL siracha (can add more if you like more spice)

Smoked at 250 for 3hrs and allowed to sit in MES over night as it cooled. I loded a 12" AMNTS half way with oak and allowed it to burn out from the start.

Click to expand...

That sounds really good!!! You ever make gaufrette chips? I do them occasional to compliment an amuse bouche...

Man that looks great, I'll have to do some of that

Gary

Welshrarebit said:

That sounds really good!!! You ever make gaufrette chips? I do them occasional to compliment an amuse bouche...

Click to expand...

I have but not lately.

Can I just say thanks for a great write up! It is pretty much exactly what I was looking for as I am just about to start my smoking life with a proq cold smoke generator. I really like the experimental scientific method applied to this and would love to see some similar articles on other foods, but I can't seem to find any?
Are there any other write ups like this with varying smoke times and their effects noted? Also the rest time after smoking to allow the flavour to absorb and mellow?
I will definitely try to do some myself but as I am just starting out and my time with my smoker is limited at best I don't really want ruin my first batch...
I plan on doing a meat and fish free first run with cheeses, butter, garlic, salt and chilli but can't wait to start smoking everything!

Just attempted my own smoke today and sadly it didn't turn out too well. :'(
I had it in my char Griller with a homemade cold smoking method I've used for cheese dozens of times (a soldering iron in a stainless cup filled with chips) and after 4 hours the color was indistinguishably different , which was strange since I also had some cheese that looked nice at that point. I also had some Rosemary going (which I plan to mix in with some of the salt and jar it up for Christmas gifts) and the Rosemary had a fairly decent and sufficient smoky aroma too it after the cold smoking.
So after reading this post I decided to add some heat, so I threw in some charcoal and chips in the fire box and gave that 2 hours (all I had left in me for the night) and though the salt started to take on some color, there is no distinguishable scent or flavor.
Anyway, I think I'll try sticking she batch into my MES when I have some time next week, as a control I'm also going to start a new batch at the same time.
As a note I am using 2 stainless steel fine wire mesh strainers to hold the salt.

beuler said:

 
Why and what do you use smoked salt for? I have not heard of this. 

Thanks, Joe

Click to expand...

Why would you use it?   because smoked salt adds another dimension to anything, I have been known to use it as a finishing salt on my salad.

What would you use it on? Use it on fish, Meats, Anything. finish off a fried egg and you would swear it came right off the camp fire.

Keep on Smokin,

Tom

Travisty said:

Just attempted my own smoke today and sadly it didn't turn out too well. :'(
I had it in my char Griller with a homemade cold smoking method I've used for cheese dozens of times (a soldering iron in a stainless cup filled with chips) and after 4 hours the color was indistinguishably different , which was strange since I also had some cheese that looked nice at that point. I also had some Rosemary going (which I plan to mix in with some of the salt and jar it up for Christmas gifts) and the Rosemary had a fairly decent and sufficient smoky aroma too it after the cold smoking.
So after reading this post I decided to add some heat, so I threw in some charcoal and chips in the fire box and gave that 2 hours (all I had left in me for the night) and though the salt started to take on some color, there is no distinguishable scent or flavor.
Anyway, I think I'll try sticking she batch into my MES when I have some time next week, as a control I'm also going to start a new batch at the same time.
As a note I am using 2 stainless steel fine wire mesh strainers to hold the salt.

Click to expand...

What I have found is that with salt you need a large surface area so you have more area for the smoke to contact and you need to stir the salt to bring salt from the bottom of your container to the surface. the deeper (salt amount) the vessel is that you are using the more often you would want to stir the salt up. I use paper plates (two - three stacked for strength) to put my salt on and run a fork thru it every hour or two .

Tom

Originally Posted by Oregon Smoker  

What I have found is that with salt you need a large surface area so you have more area for the smoke to contact and you need to stir the salt to bring salt from the bottom of your container to the surface. the deeper (salt amount) the vessel is that you are using the more often you would want to stir the salt up. I use paper plates (two - three stacked for strength) to put my salt on and run a fork thru it every hour or two .

Tom

Click to expand...

Stainless Steel Spatter Screens for stove-top skillet cooking work great for kosher salt...haven't tried them with table salt, but the mesh-size may be a bit too large. With screens, there's no fuss...cover with a thin layer and smoke away. Screens work great for dried spices, peppercorns and other smaller items, as well.

Eric

Yeah, I was using 2 large fine wire mesh strainers, ive seen others use these successfully. I thought about grabing the spatter screens instead, but seemed like it may be to hard to not make a mess. I stirred up the salt about every 30 min or so, but like mentioned I didn't get anything but burnt salt, which I think may have also lost its savor. I am planning to throw a fresh batch info the MES 30 this week and let it run for 6-8 hours until im happy with the color, may go up to 12 since I really want this to be a unique and smoky Christmas gift. I was trying it in my charcoal first on cold then on heat but it was just too hard to control, and I guess I didn't go into it with enough commitment to see it through since it was freezing and snowing outside.

Yeah, with screens, you need to place it with the wire ring/frame up, and the screen-side touching the grate. When loading with salt or other material, spread from the center outwards. Start with a smaller amount than you think you want, and when you add more, again, add to the center and spread outwards. keep your material slightly away from the edge for the possibility of potential upsets...handle gently, keep it level (plumb) and you won't have any spills. With salt and other finer particles, a layer of about 1/8" or less will smoke in just a few hours without any stirring or movement. The smoke will migrate through the tiny gaps between the particles, given enough time. The bottom and top portions will get more smoke, yes, but you will be blending this all together when you package it up for storage/shipment. Unless you're going to use just a few grains from a particular sample, you won't notice any variations in the density of the smoke which adhered to the material. It's pretty much a load, it smoke, it enjoy it process. Multiple screens offer you the opportunity to smoke multiple materials simultaneously, or, load them all with the same thing for a larger batch.  You just have to embrace the fact that, yes, your batch sizes will be at least a little bit smaller than if you placed a bowl/pan/foil/tray in the smoker loaded somewhere between 1-4" deep...which requires some continuous maintenance for relatively uniform smoke application by stirring/folding. With screens, little to no mid-smoke maintenance is required. Vertical cabinet smokers are somewhat advantageous for projects such as this due to their ease of access to the smoke chamber grates, smoke wood, etc, but for those willing to smoke salt and such, you already knew that...

Eric

Alright!

My second attempt at smoking salt went well! Unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures as I had planned too, but it was a busy day and I did at least take a few.

I started with my MES at 100 degrees, and started an AMNPS with hickory dust but I could not keep it going (but that is for another discussion later, I just haven't figured out how to work the thing yet), and the heat wasn't enough to keep the chips smoking in the MES, so I ranked her up to 150 an had to leave for a volunteering event I was doing for a few hours. I came back 4 hours later and she was actually still smoking (thought the chips would have burned through already). The salt had a nice color on all the outsides so I mixed her up and then it had a cool calico effect to it.

Refilled some chips and again tried to get the AMNPS going this time with pellets (again, another issue for another post later, but it has been suggested that I should use the tube instead of the maze due to my elevation), and again I couldn't get it to stay lit. So I cranked the smoker up a bit more this time to 200 and left it there changing chips again for the next few hours. I alternated between Hickory and Mesquite.

I had some issues with being able to tell if it was getting smoky at all and was going strictly on the coloring to determine my stopping point. This was due to the fact that me, my house, my clothes and everything were all very smoky, so I think I just could not tell. I ended up pulling the salt out at 9pm, so it was in for a total of 11.5 hrs. Again, I wasn't assured that it was sufficiently smoky, band just wanted to make a note of this in case others are having the same concerns, perhaps I could try a trick in the future like they do at the perfume stand at Nordstrom to smell some coffee beans between each scent.

So, after the smoke I jarred the salt up into these little jars I found at a craft store for $1 per, and to test for smokiness I brought one with me to work today (the following day) and opened her up mid day. She is very nice!  It has a pretty strong and nicely flavored smokiness to it, and again the color is good, but not as dark as I thought it would/ should be for having been in for so long on warm. Especially considering the post "the Great Salt smoking experiment" and the results he had.

So I bottled up 5 jars of salt, and im going to jar up five more mixed with onion powder and some rosemary I smoked last week, giving to 5 people the 2 smoked seasonings!


smoked in fine mesh strainers and stirred occasionaly


I found this furniture dollay at Lowes for $20, makes for an easy wheel base for the MES!


Final Coloring


All ready to go out for Christmas! (you like the nativity stable I made?)


was a jar of smoked salt my sister brought me back from Paris. It is norweigian smoked salt, and it is very good! I was hoping the taste would come out like this, but I think they must have used some flavoring or something.