kosher salt v coarse sea salt

[Lollie]

We recently made a cured salmon recipe we saw on both Emeril and martha Stewart. Both rerwquired kosher salt. At our local store the kosher salt was out and we purchased soarse sea slat. What is the difference bewteen the two? Our salmon came out fine but salty. We're trying to decide if it's due to the wrong salt or the wrong puondage ( the recipe called for 2 lbs. we used 1 1/2). Please let me know. Thank you.

[Beth]

I've only tried one cured recipe, and it was a flank steak. I bought special salt, rinsed it after curing, and it was still so salty I didn't care for it. Kosher salt meets the dietary rule for those who keep a kosher diet, but the type of salt wouldn't matter as much as how fine or coarse it is. I think kosher and coarse sea salt are usualy pretty interchangable. Maybe we don't like the curing, or maybe it's a process neither of us got right the first time.

[Annette]

From the Cooks Thesaurus:

kosher salt = coarse salt Notes: Like pickling salt, Kosher salt is coarse-grained and free of additives which
tend to cause pickling solutions to cloud. The difference is that Kosher salt is certified to meet strict Jewish dietary
standards. Substitutes: coarse pickling salt OR table salt (smaller grains, use half as much; doesn't cling as well
to food; iodized salt can cause pickles to cloud.) See also: salt

My guess is the process itself is what is unpleasant. :-)

[Laura B]

According to Shirley Corriher in Cookwise, the different kinds of salt have different structural compositions. This has an impact on amount of actual salt in a given volume. She says that to get the equivalent amount of actual salt that is in 1 tablespoon of granular salt (table salt) you have to use 1 1/2 tablespoons of Morton's Kosher or 2 tablespoons of Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. Sea salt must have a higher concentration of salt than Kosher salt. So, whatever amount of Kosher salt called for in your recipe, apparently that was too much salt if using sea salt.


[This message has been edited by Laura B (edited 07-10-2000).]