SALT-----And the CRUNCHIES

[blaise]

Once again, this is more for the less experienced.

  I used to think--salt is salt-----then the sea salt fad started, with all the health claims----good and bad. Not going to discuss that.

  If you ever took a bite of sausage or any food for that matter, and hit the "Crunchies" ----sort of like sand in your food, it may be the type of salt. Crunchy salt is OK on a pretzel, I'd prefer my sausage crunch free.

  Below are some picks of some common salts----each jelly jar has exactly 7 grams of salt in 1/4 cup of room temp. water and shaken for one minute. None of the four salts below has anti-caking agents or iodide. Check the results.

Standard Kosher salt---large grains, will not dissolve completely. You will get better results from Koshering salt (flaked).

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• blaise
• May 5, 2017

Just trying to see how bad a pic I can take.

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• blaise
• May 5, 2017

Canning salt-----completely dissolves.

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• blaise
• May 5, 2017

Himalayan pink salt, large grain----absolutely the worst salt----unless you are sand blasting your teeth.

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• blaise
• May 5, 2017

Redmond powdered pink salt, from Utah. I use this salt to coat nuts when smoking, tastes good and sticks to the nuts very well. But even ground to a flour consistence, it still won't dissolve well.

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• blaise
• May 5, 2017

Don't know about you guys but I want my salt well dissolved so I get an even distibution throughout my sausage. Hope this will help someone.

Blaise

 

[SmokinAl]

Pretty interesting.

Any sausage recipe that calls for salt I have always used Kosher salt.

Al

 

[uzikaduzi]

this could be just me, but i normally mix my spices in cold water before adding to the meat and then mix the meat thoroughly to get good binding... besides fry tests, all my sausage gets a minimum of a day's rest in the fridge... i don't think i've ever gotten a crunch bite of salt in any of the sausage i make and while i personally buy morton's kosher i've used others that i've had on hand in a pinch... maybe 1 minute of shaking in water isn't as effective at dissolving salt than what i do.

 

[DanMcG]

Interesting findings, I use Mortons pickling salt most of the time.

 

[blaise]

Without going into a history of salt -----added ingredients, or how they are made. I am referring to the "new fad sea salt craze". In particular the Himalayan mined pink salt----from the Himalayan mountains of Pakistan and from Utah, U.S.A.  These are the salts that will not completely dissolve, no matter what you do----boil them, pickle them, ferment them------you will get crunchies and poor distribution. 

Blaise