Greg Who Cooks
Executive Chef
I like sea salt and I think it's better, but I have no concrete basis to prove it to anybody beyond stating my opinion. Here are my reasons:
1. Sea salt has additional minerals and salts that give a subtle taste change compared to pure table salt. However I can't quite pin down what it is. It just tastes more complex to me. (Has anybody else noticed any different or more complex taste of sea salt?)
2. Table salt is intentionally made to have uniformly small grains, probably to make it come out of a salt shaker easily. Sea salt is widely available with fine, medium or coarse grains, and is often less expensive sometimes even much less expensive particularly if you buy it in large packages from ethnic markets. (I get mine at Asian markets.) Perhaps table salt comes in fine, medium and coarse but I've never seen it sold other than fine.
3. You often see TV chefs seasoning their dishes by pinching salt out of a dish. If you've ever tried this I think you'll agree that it's much easier than shaking salt out of a container, and much more accurate too since you develop a feel for how much salt is in your fingers and it's very easy to get the amount you want. I usually use coarse salt in my dish for stove top seasoning. The coarse grains make it easier to pinch the desired amount.
4. I like medium sea salt for table seasoning (rather than fine salt) because of its non-uniformity covering the food. When you eat food salted this way you sometimes get little flavor explosions rather than having your food uniformly salty. (Granted, some people want uniform seasoning.)
5. Medium or coarse salt is particularly nice for salting bread tops before baking, like for example making focaccia.
6. I can think of only two reasons why table salt would be any more desirable than fine grain sea salt. Some people who are on certain sodium restricted diets use "lite salt" which is a mixture of potassium- and sodium-chloride so as to get equivalent saltiness but with less sodium. And since table salt is often iodized it provides a source of iodine for people who need that, although IMO we get plenty enough iodine as long as we are eating a healthy diet and a variety of foods.
So what do you think? Table salt or sea salt?
1. Sea salt has additional minerals and salts that give a subtle taste change compared to pure table salt. However I can't quite pin down what it is. It just tastes more complex to me. (Has anybody else noticed any different or more complex taste of sea salt?)
2. Table salt is intentionally made to have uniformly small grains, probably to make it come out of a salt shaker easily. Sea salt is widely available with fine, medium or coarse grains, and is often less expensive sometimes even much less expensive particularly if you buy it in large packages from ethnic markets. (I get mine at Asian markets.) Perhaps table salt comes in fine, medium and coarse but I've never seen it sold other than fine.
3. You often see TV chefs seasoning their dishes by pinching salt out of a dish. If you've ever tried this I think you'll agree that it's much easier than shaking salt out of a container, and much more accurate too since you develop a feel for how much salt is in your fingers and it's very easy to get the amount you want. I usually use coarse salt in my dish for stove top seasoning. The coarse grains make it easier to pinch the desired amount.
4. I like medium sea salt for table seasoning (rather than fine salt) because of its non-uniformity covering the food. When you eat food salted this way you sometimes get little flavor explosions rather than having your food uniformly salty. (Granted, some people want uniform seasoning.)
5. Medium or coarse salt is particularly nice for salting bread tops before baking, like for example making focaccia.
6. I can think of only two reasons why table salt would be any more desirable than fine grain sea salt. Some people who are on certain sodium restricted diets use "lite salt" which is a mixture of potassium- and sodium-chloride so as to get equivalent saltiness but with less sodium. And since table salt is often iodized it provides a source of iodine for people who need that, although IMO we get plenty enough iodine as long as we are eating a healthy diet and a variety of foods.
So what do you think? Table salt or sea salt?