kosher salt?

[twistertail]

How much of a difference does it make if I use regular table salt instead of kosher for a brine? I read to only use half the amount.

 

[fatback joe]

Some people say the anti caking agents, and Iodine in regular table salt give it an off taste. Personally I can't say that I can tell a difference. I use Kosher, but that is just becuase that is what I use for darn near everything without even thinking about it.

Adjust the amounts and use regular old salt if that is what you have.

 

[richtee]

Another can of worms here. LOL!

Iodized salt should NOT be used for brining. The iodine content of the salt will tend to migrate into the meat, effectivly giving you half a cup's worth of it in your food. It will affect the taste, and some folks...like me...are sensitive to iodine.

The difference between iodized and kosher- aside from the iodine content- lies mainly in it's physical form. Table salt is cubic in nature, while kosher tends to be crystallular. The cubic form packs much more densely than the crystal form, hence the 2-1 ratio in volumetric measurement. If you have a good scale this can be acertained by weighing like volumes of each.

Canning salt is kosher salt that has been "cubed" for a 1-2 <on edit-NO! 1-1...DOH> volumetric equivalent to table salt.

Hope this clears it up a bit.

 

[richtee]

BUMP!!! I messed up. Fixed it tho!

 

[fatback joe]

This just happened to be posted on another site that I visit daily.......

Understanding Salt to Make a Better Brine


Besides being the only mineral you eat, salt is one of the fundamental catalysts of food chemistry. Salt, is of course salt. Aside from the elements that make salt, it is always the same no matter how it is packaged. But just as you donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to drink a nice glass of distilled water, you may not want to mix up a brine from certain “kinds†of salt. It all has to do with two factors. How coarse is your salt and what did they add to it in the box?
Crystal Sizes: Salt comes to you in crystals. These crystals can be of different sizes depending on how the salt was prepared. Everyday table salt tends to be of a very specific crystal size. Coarse, kosher, sea and other salts come in different crystal sizes. Now, I know what you are thinking. What difference does it make? One, the larger the crystal the faster and easier salt will dissolve in water, but the slower it will dissolve on the surface of meats.

Two, the smaller the crystals the heavier salt is by volume. Now, thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s the real key here.
Size Matters: Let me explain. One cup of normal, everyday table salt can weigh twice as much as some brands of kosher salt. So imagine that you have a cookie recipe that calls for 1 tablespoon of kosher salt and you put in one tablespoon of table salt. You just added twice as much salt as necessary. You could end up with some salty cookies. Similarly when we mix up brines to make a better turkey (pork tenderloin, chicken, etc.) we need to make sure that we add just the right amount of salt. We do this by weight, not by volume.

Which Salt: I said that some brands of kosher salt can weight half as much as typical table salt by weight. One of the problems with kosher salt is that it isnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t as consistent by weight. So why use it? Kosher salt is very pure salt. No additives are added to prevent caking and no iodine is added to keep your thyroid happy. This means it gives us one of the purest options to put salt and only salt into our brines. We choose the flavors, not someone else. If you want to use a different kind of salt, thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s perfectly up to you, just weigh it before you use it.

How Much Salt? : The traditional brine is made from a ratio of 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water. This is based on table salt. 1 cup of table salt weighs in at 10 ounces. So we want 10 ounces of salt (by weight) per gallon of water. Kosher salts can weigh between 5 to 7 1/2 ounces per cup, so in these cases we would need between 2 cups to 1 1/2 cups of kosher salt per gallon of water. The two most popular brand of kosher salt weigh in like this: Morton Kosher = 7 1/2 ounces per cup and Diamond Kosher = 5 ounces per cup.

So regardless of the salt you prefer, choose a salt that is pure for your next brine. Once you have the basic formula together you can add your sugars, herbs, spices and whatever else you put in your brine.

 

[twistertail]

Thanks a lot guys, didnt know salt could be so complicated. Going to try a whole turkey and want to brine it first, this will help. Thanks.

 

[richtee]

Well done, Joe!

 

[payson]

I've just got to add that Kosher salt, sea salt, artisinal salts, etc... are all more texturally pleasing than regular old iodized table salt. Most people don't think it makes that big of a difference but it absolutely does. Just like fresh ground pepper trumps the pre-ground crapola, nice salt is a must in my kitchen!